Making UK Mortgages More Accessible

Previously, in the UK, if you wanted to apply for a mortgage to buy a new home, the amount that would be lent to you would be automatically tied to how much money you earned. With runaway UK housing prices over the last decade, and with incomes remaining fairly stable, this method of calculating how much you could borrow on a mortgage has become out dated. Today, many new home buyers need to look for more creative ways to borrow money if they want to buy a new home in Britain.

The Affordable Mortgage

Probably the most common of the new forms of mortgage is the affordable mortgage. Unlike mortgage that fixed to your earnings, affordable mortgages are calculated based on how much you can afford to repay each month once you have taken into consideration all of your other expenses. So, for example, if you have recently bought a new car on hire purchase and will be making hire purchase payments for the next three years, these hire purchase payments will be deducted from your salary and what remains will determine whether or not you can afford to repay the mortgage loan. UK affordable mortgage loans have allowed new home buyers to borrow as much as 50 percent of their monthly disposable income in mortgage repayments, which usually gives new home buyers a much better chance of buying a new home.

The Flexible Repayment Mortgage

Growing in popularity is the flexible repayment mortgage. As mentioned, traditional mortgages take into account what you current earnings are, how much you borrow, the interest rate, and then calculates, roughly, a monthly repayment that will be fixed (variable on interest) for the remaining 20 to 30 years of the mortgage term. Real life, however, is not like that. It is highly unlikely that you’ll be earning the same in 10 years time as you earn today. A flexible repayment mortgage takes this into consideration. It allows you increase your mortgage repayments over time. As such, within parameters, you are able to borrow more on your UK mortgage than you earn today on the expectation you’ll be earning more in the future.

The Current Account Mortgage

Strictly speaking, the current account mortgage is not a mortgage at all – it’s an overdraft. As such, it is not restricted by the same lending ratio limits that traditionally apply when applying for a UK mortgage. Nonetheless, so long as you are financially disciplined enough not to be overly concerned with having to live with a large overdraft on a daily basis, this type of new UK home mortgage can mean the difference between being able to buy a house now and having to wait until you have enough of a deposit or a high enough salary to qualify for a traditional UK mortgage.

The world of UK consumer finance is forever evolving. To try and respond to recent demographic changes in the UK, and to ever rising costs of living in the UK, UK credit lenders are having to be more and more ingenious when it comes to obtaining new business. As such, if you find yourself in the position where you simply cannot afford to buy a new home on your current salary, don’t give up, look around and see if you can find a UK home lender who’ll agree to lend you the money to buy your new dream home on more flexible terms and conditions than was previously the case.

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Adjustable Rate Mortgages vs. Fixed Rate Mortgages

Buying a home can be an exciting and stressful time for anyone. While you may be excited at the prospect of owning your own home, especially if it is your first home purchase, the idea of choosing between all of the many different types of mortgages may leave you feeling confused and apprehensive.

Two of the most common choices you’ll find in the mortgage market are adjustable rate mortgages and fixed rate mortgages. Fixed rate mortgages are the most traditional type of home mortgage, offering a fixed interest rate that does not change throughout the life of your loan. There are a number of important advantages associated with this type of mortgage. First, if you are budget conscious, this type of mortgage will give you the peace of mind in knowing that your monthly mortgage amount will not change. You can budget the remainder of your financial obligations without worrying about a changing mortgage payment to throw things off.

An adjustable rate mortgage works differently. With this type of mortgage you may be able to obtain a lower interest rate than would normally be available with a fixed rate mortgage; however, the interest rate is not fixed. This means that your monthly mortgage rate may change as interest rates change. With such a mortgage you may not be able to regularly plan your budget due to such fluctuations. While there is usually a cap that will keep the interest rate from fluctuating too much, even a little fluctuation can be too much for some homeowners. Of course, there is also the possibility that interest rates will drop and if that is the case, because your mortgage is adjustable, your monthly payments will drop right along with the interest rate.

When deciding whether a fixed rate or adjustable rate mortgage is your best choice, you need to give thought to several factors. Ask yourself whether it is more important to be able to plan your monthly budget without wondering whether your mortgage will fluctuate or whether you would prefer to receive a lower interest rate in the beginning of your mortgage.

Remember that if you decide you would like to obtain the advantages of both you do have other options available to you. For example, if you feel the interest rate offered to you on a fixed rate mortgage is too high but you want the security of not having to worry about a fluctuating interest rate you can always buy down your interest rate by purchasing points. This will mean more up front costs for your mortgage; however, it may be worth it to decrease the interest rate, especially if interest rates are currently high.

If you do elect to go with an adjustable rate mortgage make sure you understand exactly how high the rates may go as well as ensure you have enough ‘wiggle’ room in your monthly budget to cushion increases if they occur. This may help to keep you out of a tight spot and possibly losing your home due to rising interest rates.

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