Mortgage of the Week

Short-Term Fixed Rate

Alliance & Leicester is offering a fixed rate deal until the 31 December 2008, at a rate of 4.84%, reverting to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 7.09%. The overall cost for comparison is 7.1% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of the mortgage during the fixed rate period. There is a valuation fee of £280 and an arrangement fee of £999 that can be added to the loan.

Long-Term Fixed Rate

Norwich & Peterborough is offering a five-year fixed rate deal, at a rate of 5.15%, reverting to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 6%. The overall cost for comparison is 5.9% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of the mortgage during the fixed rate period. There is a valuation fee of £220 and an arrangement fee of £599 that can be added to the loan.

Short-Term Discount or Tracker

BM Solutions is offering a two-year tracker scheme at the Bank of England base rate minus 0.65%, equating to 4.35%, reverting to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 6.99%. The overall cost for comparison is 6.9% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of this mortgage within two years. There is a valuation fee of £350 and an arrangement fee of £1000 that can be added to the loan.

Long-Term Discount or Tracker

Norwich & Peterborough is offering a five-year long term 1.75% discounted scheme, equivalent to a current rate of 4.99%, reverting to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 6.74%. The overall cost for comparison is 6.3% APR. There is an early redemption penalty upon repayment of this loan up to the end of the discount period.

There is valuation fee of £220.

Cashback

Chelsea Building Society is offering a mortgage at 6.59% until the 1 January 2012, with a 6% cashback on completion. The overall cost for comparison is 7.0% APR. There is a requirement to repay the cashback on early repayment of the loan within the fixed rate period. There is a free valuation and free legal work, but an arrangement fee of £595 that can be added to the loan.

Buy-to-let

BM Solutions is offering a two-year tracker buy-to-let deal at the Bank of England base rate minus 0.11%, equating to 4.89%, reverting to their standard variable rate, currently 6.95%, at the end of the period. The overall cost for comparison is 7% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of this mortgage during the first two years of the loan. There is a refundable valuation fee of £350, while the arrangement fee of £1500 can be added to the loan.

Remortgage

For those looking to remortgage, the Bank of Scotland is offering a tracker at the Bank of England base rate plus 0.24%, equating to a current rate of 5.24%, until the 28 February 2009, reverting to the standard variable rate of 7.25% for the remaining term of the mortgage. The overall cost for comparison is 6.8% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of this mortgage during the fixed rate period. This mortgage offers a free valuation, free legal work and no arrangement fee.

Lifetime Tracker

Northern Rock is offering a lifetime tracker deal at the Bank of England base rate plus 0.29% for the full term of the loan, currently equating to 5.29%. The overall cost for comparison is 5.6%. There is no Early Repayment Charge on this loan, but there is a valuation fee of £455 and an arrangement fee of £895, which can be added to the mortgage.

100% Mortgage

Norwich & Peterborough is offering a three-year discounted deal at 1.1% off its standard variable rate, equating to 5.64%. This reverts to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 6.74%. The overall cost for comparison is 6.6% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of this mortgage during the discount period. There is a valuation fee of £220, but no arrangement fee.

Capped Rate Mortgage

Skipton Building Society is offering a tracker mortgage at a current rate of 5.25%, capped for three years to a rate of 5.5%, reverting to the standard variable rate for the remaining term of the mortgage, currently 6.39%. The overall cost for comparison is 6.4% APR. An Early Repayment Charge is payable if you repay all or part of this mortgage during the capped rate period. There is a valuation fee of £220, and an arrangement fee of £449 that can be added to the loan.

Figures based on £150,000 purchase price or value and £100,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years. All figures are subject to revision, but current at time of going to press.