Our mortgages guide

If you're planning to support the government scheme to house Ukrainian refugees, we're supporting you by making the process as simple as possible.

You won't need to notify us if you're providing:

• a room(s) in your own home (current limit of 2 lodgers will not apply)
• a residential property you own (there’s no need to request consent to lease but you'll need to obtain a tenancy agreement).

It's important you consider whether by providing this support you are still able to afford your household bills, pay your mortgage and it doesn’t put you in financial difficulty. You may wish to look at any government guidance issued.

You should also check with your building/contents insurer to see if you need their consent.

There are different types of mortgage products with different types of interest rates. It is not possible for customers to change their mortgage deal. If you move home, are not increasing your loan and meet our lending policy at the time that you apply, you may be able to take your unexpired special rate with you to a new mortgage.

Our tracker rates are linked to the Bank of England base rate administered by the Bank of England, this rate can go up or down which will impact the cost of your mortgage payments.

Representative Example:

A mortgage of £140,000 payable over 20 years, on our variable rate of 6.25% for 20 years, would require 240 monthly payments of £1,023.30. The total amount payable would be £245,592.00 made up of the loan amount, plus interest £105,592.00.

The overall cost for comparison is 6.4% APRC representative.

What is a Representative Example:  This is an illustration of a typical mortgage and its total cost. 

The property you buy must be located within the UK. Loans can only be used to buy your main residential home.

Freehold

If the property is freehold, then you will own the property and the land it’s built on. We don’t lend on freehold flats in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Leasehold

If the property is leasehold, then you will own a temporary right to occupy the property and the land it’s built on. The property and the land are owned by someone else and they lease them to you for a number of years. Leases can last for decades or centuries. There is usually an annual charge for the lease, called a ground rent. We’ll only lend on leasehold properties with at least 70 years left on the lease when you apply.

Before you buy a leasehold, your conveyancer will check the lease terms to make sure they are acceptable. In Scotland (except in rare cases where there is a form of long lease known as a ‘tack’) all properties are owned outright by the ‘registered proprietor’.

New build or converted properties

A new property or a property that has been built or converted within the last ten years should be part of a Building Standards indemnity scheme. This gives a ten-year warranty against material defects. There are a number of acceptable schemes, but the main one is run by the National House-Building Council (NHBC). We’ll consider lending on a property that is not part of one of these schemes if it comprises of a development of no more than 15 properties and meets our current monitoring requirements.
 

There are three levels of inspection and report to choose from.

Level 1: Valuation report

This is a very brief report on the property and its market value.

This report is just for our purposes but you will be sent a copy. It’s based on a limited inspection of the readily visible and accessible parts of the property. This will not apply where we use an Automated Valuation Model (AVM).

You should not solely rely on it when making your decision whether or not to purchase the property.

Level 2: Survey and valuation

The survey is for you and we don’t receive a copy. We only receive and make our lending decision on the valuation.

The survey gives guidance on defects and other issues that may affect the property.

The surveyor will send the appropriate terms and conditions for you to read, sign and return.

Level 3: Building survey

Arranged as a contract between you and the surveyor. This is the most detailed survey available to you, which can be tailored to your needs.

You must find your own surveyor to complete this, we do not offer Building Surveys.

If you choose a Level 2 Survey and valuation, our surveyors will send separate terms and conditions that must be signed and returned to the surveyor before the survey can be carried out. These types of survey include a Level 1 valuation report, which will take place at the same time.

We do not offer a Level 3 Building Survey.
 

Mortgage terms of up to 40 years are available; the minimum term we’ll consider is 5 years. The term affects the total cost of the mortgage.

If you take out a repayment mortgage, the term also affects the monthly payment. With a repayment mortgage the longer the term, the lower the monthly payment.

However, it will take you longer to repay the loan so you will pay more interest. This means it will cost you more over the life of your mortgage.

With an interest-only mortgage, the length of the term makes no difference to the monthly payments because these are repaying only the interest charges and not the loan itself.

You need to make sure you can repay the loan balance at the end of the mortgage term.
 

There are three different ways of repaying your loan. These are repayment, interest-only, and a combination of repayment and interest-only.

Repayment mortgage

Every month, your payments go towards reducing the amount you owe as well as paying off the interest. This means that each month you are paying off a small part of your loan. Your annual statement will show your loan getting smaller. However, in the early years your monthly payments will mainly go towards paying off the interest, so the amount you owe won’t go down much at the start.

Interest-only mortgage

With an interest-only mortgage, your monthly payment are the interest charges on your loan – you don’t pay off any of the loan amount. This means your monthly payments will be less than if you had a repayment mortgage. However, the total cost of an interest-only mortgage will be higher because you will be paying interest on the full loan amount throughout the term. The amount you owe at the end of the mortgage will usually be the same as the amount you borrowed. You are responsible for making sure you have a plan in place to repay this amount.

Combination of repayment and interest-only mortgage

It’s possible to split a mortgage between repayment and interest-only. This means that at the end of the mortgage term you will still have an amount of the mortgage to repay. You will need to make sure you have a plan to repay this amount at the end of the term.

If you comply with the terms and conditions of a repayment loan, the monthly payments which you make will repay the loan in full by the end of the loan term. For interest only loans you will need to have a repayment strategy in place to repay the loan because compliance with the terms and conditions applicable does not ensure repayment of the loan in full.
 

If you have an interest only mortgage, you should have a repayment plan in place so you can repay your outstanding balance at the end of your mortgage term.

Important

We do not provide advice on repayment plan(s) or make any guarantees that your plan(s) will be sufficient to repay everything you owe at the end of the mortgage term. You must review your plan(s) regularly during the term of your mortgage to make sure it is on track to repay the outstanding balance.

Periodically we may ask you to provide evidence of your repayment plan(s) and this includes when you request additional services.

If you are unable to demonstrate that your repayment plan(s) remain(s) on track to repay the outstanding balance on your mortgage, we will not be able to proceed until you have provided evidence to us that you have a suitable repayment method in place for any new and existing interest-only borrowing.

Please remember it is your responsibility to ensure you have sufficient funds to repay your outstanding balance at the end of the mortgage term. If you are unable to do so, your property may need to be sold to repay the mortgage.

Our Requirements

We will only be able to complete any of the below transactions when our requirements have been met:

When you request any borrowing on an interest-only basis, you will need to provide us with evidence of your repayment plan(s) from the table below. We will make an assessment of whether the repayment plan(s) meets our requirements. This includes checking to see whether it has a reasonable prospect of repaying the amount borrowed on an interest-only basis.

If any of your existing borrowing is on an interest-only basis and you would like additional borrowing, you will need to provide us with evidence of your repayment plan(s) from the table below. We will make an assessment of whether the repayment plan(s) meets our requirements. This includes checking to see whether it is likely to repay the total amount borrowed on an interest-only basis. This is necessary where some or all of your existing debt is conducted on an interest-only basis, even if your additional borrowing is to be managed on a repayment basis.

Where any part of the mortgage is currently on an interest-only basis, you will be required to provide evidence of the repayment plan(s) intended to repay this part of the debt, before any further part of your mortgage debt is put into an interest only basis.

The repayment plan(s) you intend to use to support your interest-only lending must be on our acceptable list.

The table below details the plans we accept for new interest-only lending and the method we use to help us make this assessment.

* Minimum value does not apply for additional borrowing applications.

Note: Repayment plans cannot be accepted if they include the name of anyone not named on the mortgage.

As with any investment there is a risk that your investment will be insufficient to repay your outstanding mortgage at the end of the term and could mean that your property needs to be sold to repay the mortgage. We will not provide advice on your investment plan and strongly recommend that you take independent advice.
 

• Take time to read your mortgage offer and conditions.
• Ask your conveyancer to explain anything in the mortgage offer and conditions that you don’t understand.
• Get several quotes for buildings and contents insurance and decide which one you’re going to accept.
• First payments are taken a month in arrears so we take a full months payment a month after the completion date. We’ll write to you when your mortgage starts to confirm how much the payment is and when we’ll collect it.
   

If you repay part of your loan before the end of an early repayment period you may have to pay an early repayment charge.

Your Mortgage Illustration will outline if any early repayment charges are applicable on your mortgage and what period any charge will apply for.

The charge would never exceed the maximum shown in your Mortgage Illustration. If you decide to repay your existing Intelligent Finance mortgage early or change to another lender then we will not charge you an early repayment charge, however these charges will be applied if you decide to repay part of your mortgage. We would only apply the fee if it was greater than £10.
 

If you are considering making an overpayment into your mortgage, please be aware that should you wish to subsequently reclaim these funds at a later date, you will need to call us on 0345 609 4343 to complete a built-up reserve application. Successful withdrawal of these funds will be subject to our lending criteria.
 

If you have not come to the end of your special rate period, you can apply to take your unexpired special rate to your new Intelligent Finance mortgage.

You will only be able to move your special rate to a new loan on a like for like basis (product and loan amount). Your Mortgage Illustration and your offer letter will say if this is the case. You will only be able to take your special rate with you if you can meet our lending policy rules at the time that you apply.
 

Offsetting can seem complicated at first glance, but in reality it's very simple. Everyone wants to pay less on their mortgage, and offsetting is the easy way to do that. With your Intelligent Finance mortgage, you have two options for offsetting.

With option one you can use your savings to reduce the mortgage balance on which you pay interest.

If you choose not to receive interest on your savings, you pay no interest on the equivalent amount of your mortgage. This means you can save money, because the more you build up the balance in your Intelligent Finance savings jars, the less interest you pay on your mortgage.

For example if your combined credit balance is £10,000 and your mortgage balance is £100,000 – you only pay interest on £90,000 of your mortgage. And as you're not receiving interest on your credit balances, there is no tax to pay either.

It may not always be beneficial to offset if the interest rate payable on any of your savings facilities is higher than the rate for your mortgage facility.

Under option two you maximise the interest earned on your Intelligent Finance savings up to the maximum debit balance of your mortgage, but get no reduction in the cost of your borrowing. The interest earned on this option is liable to tax in the normal way.

The savings you make through offsetting can be used to:

• pay your mortgage off earlier
• reduce your monthly mortgage payments
• reduce the amount you owe without effecting the term.

Of course, we realise circumstances can change so you can switch between these mortgage payment options at any time.

What could you do to get your money working harder for you?

It's easy to benefit through offsetting. All you need to do is pay money in to your Intelligent Finance savings or current account. You don't even need to have a lot of savings to benefit.

Whether you use your account to start saving regularly or to transfer savings you have with another provider to us, it makes sense to start offsetting as soon as you can.

Remember you can also enjoy easy access to your savings, transfer funds, and view your balances online - anytime.

What are the benefits of my Intelligent Finance offset plan?

• Reduce the cost of your mortgage by using your savings more effectively
• Greater control and flexibility over your money
• Simple savings products with no withdrawal restrictions
• Overpayments can be made at any time
• Reduce your tax liability by using your savings to offset against your mortgage
• Choose how to receive your offset benefit – shorter term, lower payments or reduced debt.
   

Sometimes circumstances change unexpectedly such as you lose your job. If this happens, it may be difficult for you to meet all your financial commitments and you may need some help for a while. If you find yourself in this situation, you should contact us straight away so we can give you the help you need.

If your monthly payments are up to date but you are worried you may not be able to make some or all of your future payments, you should call us on 0345 609 4343. We may be able to reduce your monthly payments for a while until you get back on your feet. When you call we can discuss the various options available to you. Remember, the sooner you contact us, the greater the chance we’ll be able to find a way to help you.

What happens if I fall behind with my monthly payments?

If you miss your regular monthly payment and we haven’t agreed that you can do so, we’ll write to you. You may also have to pay an arrears charge.

If after reasonable requests you do not pay the amount due, we may also charge you the costs of recovering the money you owe us. We’ll always tell you when we intend to make these charges and how much they will be. There may also be extra legal costs if we have had to get a court order to take possession of your property. You will have to pay these and they can be high.

Our Facing Financial Difficulty page will help you with the steps you can take, what you can do next and where you can get other independent advice.

Facing financial difficulty

There are other costs that you should be aware of when purchasing a home that aren’t included in the cost of the mortgage, these could include:

• Conveyancing fees - Charged by a conveyancer for doing the legal work connected with buying your property. Fees can vary and are often based on the purchase price plus other costs
• Stamp Duty Land Tax - This is a government tax charged on land and property transactions in the UK. The tax is charged at different rates and has different limits for different types of property and values of transaction.
• Land Registry fees - The Land Registry or Registers of Scotland will charge for any searches of the property register the conveyancer asks for. It also charges for registering you as the owner and us as the lender. You must pay both these costs.
  
• Local authority search fees - The local authority will charge for answering your conveyancer’s questions about the property you want to buy, such as whether the local authority maintains the roads adjoining the property or whether you'll be responsible for this.
   

Your Mortgage Illustration will show you the APRC for your mortgage. This is a notional annual interest rate which takes account of fees and charges to reflect the total cost of your mortgage.

Your Mortgage Illustration will detail the fees which are included in this calculation. An APRC is calculated using a standard method so it provides an effective way for you to compare quotes from different lenders.

The illustration will also show an APRC based on what would happen if interest rates went up to their highest levels over the last 20 years and how much this would impact on your monthly payment.