Mortgage Options

The different types of mortgages

What’s the difference between a repayment, interest-only, fixed and variable mortgage? Find out here.

(Also see: our guides & advice on first time buying, buy-to-let, and remortgaging.)

Repayment mortgage

Over the term of your mortgage, every month, you steadily pay back the money you’ve borrowed, along with interest on however much capital you have left. At the end of the mortgage term, you’ll have paid off the entire loan. The amount of money you have left to pay is also called ‘the capital’, which is why repayment mortgages are also called capital and interest mortgages.

Interest-only mortgage

Over the term of your loan, you don’t actually pay off any of the mortgage – just the interest on it. Your monthly payments will be lower, but won’t make a dent in the loan itself. At the end of your term, you have to pay the total amount in full. Usually, people with an interest only mortgage will have investments or additional savings, which they’ll then use to pay the mortgage off at the end of the term.

Fixed rate mortgage

‘Rate’ refers to your interest rate. With a fixed rate mortgage, your lender guarantees your interest rate will stay the same for a set amount of time (the ‘initial period’ of your loan), which is typically anything between 1–10 years. When this initial period ends, you’ll be switched to the lender’s default rate (or standard variable rate).

Standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage

SVR is a lender’s default, bog-standard interest rate – no deals, bells or whistles attached. Each lender is free to set their own SVR, and adjust it how and when they like. Technically, there isn’t a mortgage called an ‘SVR mortgage’ – it’s just what you could call a mortgage out of a deal period. After their deal expires, a lot of people find themselves on an SVR mortgage by default, which might not be the best rate for them.

Discounted rate mortgage

Over a set period of time, you get a discount on the lender’s SVR. This is a type of variable rate, so the amount you pay each month can change if the lender changes their SVR, which they’re free to do as they like.

Tracker mortgage

Tracker rates are a type of variable rate, which means you could pay a different amount to your lender each month. Tracker rates work by following a particular interest rate to determine what you pay each month (for example, the Bank of England base rate), then adding a fixed amount on top. If the base rate goes up or down, so does your interest rate.

Capped rate mortgage

These are variable mortgages, but with a cap on how high the interest rate can rise. Usually, the interest rate is higher than a tracker mortgage – so you might end up paying extra for that peace of mind. (These aren’t common these days.)

Cashback mortgage

When you sign up to your mortgage, the lender pays you a lump sum of cash (usually, a percentage of your loan). This can be around £500–£1,000. You might find that these mortgages don’t come with other incentives, like free valuations – we can check which mortgage works out the best overall.

Flexible mortgage

These usually have terms that let you overpay and underpay (pay more or less than the monthly amount you agreed with your lender) and even take a payment holiday (miss a few monthly payments) if you need to. The price for this flexibility is usually a higher interest rate. There are different types of flexible mortgage – an offset mortgage (see below) is one.

Offset mortgage

A way to use your savings to reduce the amount of interest you pay on your mortgage. You have to turn your mortgage into an offset mortgage, then open a current or savings account with your mortgage lender and link that account and your mortgage up. Say you’ve got £10,000 in your savings account, and £100,000 left to pay on your mortgage. With an offset mortgage you only need to pay interest on (£100,000 – £10,000 =) £90,000 of your mortgage.

Need a mortgage?

Whether you’re looking for a quick idea of how much you could borrow, or you want free, fast, in-depth advice, our experts can help.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP PAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE OR ANY DEBT SECURED ON IT.