A fixed-rate mortgage will mean your monthly payments should stay the same until an agreed date, no matter what happens to interest rates in the market.  

Fixed-rate periods come in various lengths, for example, 2, 3, and 5 years.

Tracker mortgages follow the Bank of England’s Base Rate and rise or fall along with it. The interest rate charged is the Bank of England’s Base Rate plus an agreed margin. There are ‘lifetime’ trackers for the life of the mortgage, as well as term trackers, which may last for 2 or 3 years.

The SVR is the rate of interest that’s usually charged once a fixed rate or term tracker period ends. You can often move to another fixed mortgage or tracker product instead of moving onto an SVR. 

Some lenders may also let you take out a mortgage on their SVR. Your lender decides the rate and may increase or decrease it throughout your mortgage.

Put your savings to work with an offset mortgage.

Reduce your monthly payments or pay off your mortgage sooner by offsetting other accounts with us against your mortgage balance.

Lenders can offer a discount off their standard variable rate (SVR) for a set period of time, usually two to three years. The lower rate means that the monthly repayments work out cheaper; however, when the discount period ends, the interest rate returns to the SVR of the lender, and the monthly payments will most likely increase. It may also charge penalties for overpaying or ending the agreement early.

The interest rate on a capped rate mortgage moves in line with the lender’s SVR but is capped to prevent it from exceeding a certain maximum. This provides a measure of certainty that the monthly repayments will not go over the specified amount.

However, capped rate mortgages usually have higher rates than standard SVR mortgages as you are paying for the added security.