Therefore when making such a large purchase it’s vital to get professional unbiased advice as making the wrong decision can become a very expensive mistake. Taking the wrong mortgage can end up costing thousands extra over the lifetime of the loan, and what appears to be the cheapest on day one will not always prove to be so over an extended period of time.

Furthermore, to add to the confusion, there are now a bewildering number of mortgage types available to select from. We’ve written an overview of some of these in the accompanying pages, but to make a truly informed decision, call us on 01279 636392 and ask for an appointment with one of our advisers.

Your home is at risk if you do not keep up the repayments on a mortgage or another loan secured on it.

Capital and interest

This is the simplest type of mortgage. The payments you make to the lender every month pay off both the capital and the interest from the loan. Provided you keep up the payments, you are guaranteed to pay off the loan by the end of the term agreed (usually 25 years).

The lender calculates your monthly repayments depending on the amount borrowed, how long for, the interest rate and how the rate you have chosen is set.

Interest only

Don’t you mean endowment mortgage? For many people, interest only mortgages are called ‘endowment mortgages’ or even ‘pension mortgages’, but strictly speaking these names describe an interest only mortgage plus the method by which it is repaid. In other words, an endowment mortgage is an interest only loan that is repaid by the proceeds of an endowment policy. Interest only mortgages can be repaid by other associated investments or savings plans such as ISA’s, or even the tax free cash lump sum (now known as pension commencement lump sum) generated from pension plans.

How they work

An interest only mortgage is where the lender (a bank or building society usually) only charges you interest on the loan you’ve agreed. You don’t pay the capital back until the end of the mortgage. The lender will usually ask you at the outset, to provide an investment plan of one type or another to repay the loan at the end of the term, such as an endowment policy or ISA savings plan, but sometimes they will leave the repayment plan entirely up to you.

Every month, you then pay this interest to the lender for the duration of the loan. The lender calculates your monthly repayments depending upon how the rate you have chosen is set. At the end of the loan period, the lender will expect the initial capital they lend you to be repaid in full by whatever means you have arranged.

Flexible Mortgages

A bit of background

The traditional UK mortgage has been with us for many generations. It was designed with the assumption that people had full time employment and could therefore cope with set monthly payments for a 25 year period. However, as many people have discovered, the traditional mortgage does not always cope well with modern employment trends, such as contract working, self employment, job sharing and part time work.

This is where the flexible mortgage comes in. It has the facility for both over and underpayments built into the loan. What this means is you can overpay your mortgage when finances allow (pay rise, bonus, an inheritance etc.), and then, providing you have made overpayments in the past, underpay when finances are tight (job loss, change in circumstance etc).

A generic example

If you overpay your loan by £50/month for say five years on a flexible mortgage, that cumulative amount is then made available as a cash reserve for you to draw on at any time during the remainder of the mortgage term. This cash reserve can normally be drawn on for such things as, taking payment holidays or making large purchases. Indeed some lenders actually issue the borrower with a cheque book and encourage them to use the account as an all encompassing bank account. However the amount you can withdraw is limited by the original sum of the loan.

The main benefit of borrowing against your ‘mortgage account’ is that mortgages are usually the cheapest form of borrowing. In other words, you’ll pay less interest on the amount you borrow!

If on the other hand, you overpay but never make any withdrawals, you can save a significant amount of interest over the life of the loan. This is because most lenders who offer this type of loan calculate the interest you pay on a daily basis (see what to look for), therefore any overpayment comes immediately off the debt and interest payments are adjusted accordingly.

Lifetime Mortgages (Equity Release)

Lifetime mortgages involve the taking out of a mortgage secured against the value of the home. There are no monthly repayments and interest is rolled up over the life of the loan and repaid upon leaving for long-term care or death, at which point the property is sold and the lender repaid. Interest can be fixed or capped. One aspect is that the loan can increase as interest is added over time to greater than the value of the property, although SHIP’s* member schemes offer a no negative-equity guarantee.

*SHIP stands for the Safe Home Income Plan and has recently been replaced by a new body the Equity Release Council, which incorporates a Ship Standard Board, a link to their website is www.equityreleasecouncil.com/home/

This is a Lifetime mortgage. Lifetime Mortgages require advisers to have specific qualifications, which a number of our advisers hold. To understand the features and risks, please ask for a meeting where we can explain more and where appropriate supply a personalised illustration.

Reversion Schemes