Notes on mortgages and paying them down

What owning a home costs beyond the mortgage payment

Published 14th October 2026

A monthly running-costs budget for a new homeowner: council tax, energy, water, repairs, and what a rate change does to the payment.

Your first week in a new home: jobs to do and kit to have

Published 14th October 2026

Meter readings, the stop tap, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, council tax and your driving licence: a checklist for the first week after completion.

Published 8th September 2026

Four and a half times income is a first estimate, not the answer. Lenders run two tests and give you the smaller one. The loan to income cap, the affordability assessment, the stress test, and a worked example where childcare costs a couple £65,000 of borrowing.

Fixed, Tracker or Standard Variable: Choosing a UK Mortgage Rate Type

Published 26th August 2026

Certainty or the market? Fixed, tracker, discounted, offset and the standard variable rate compared, with where UK rates actually sit now and what the SVR default costs on a £200,000 balance.

Remortgage or Product Transfer? How to Decide When Your Fix Ends

Published 12th August 2026

The same 0.3% rate difference is worth £351 on one balance and £3,657 on another. Which option wins at which size, the six-month timeline, and the 2025 rule change that reopened switching for people who thought they were stuck.

Loan to Value Explained: How Your Deposit Changes the Rate You Pay

Published 15th July 2026

Lenders price to bands, not a sliding scale, so £100 of deposit can be worth £5,700 over a five-year fix. What each band is worth, how to build the deposit, and the 95% route if that is all you have.

Should You Overpay Your Mortgage or Invest? A UK Comparison

Published 18th February 2026

Got spare cash each month? The big dilemma: chuck it at the mortgage or invest it? The comparison in full: why a 4.5% tax-free saving needs 7.5% gross to beat it at the higher rate and 5.63% at the basic rate, what ISA and pension wrappers change, and where the certainty is worth paying for.

Understanding Early Repayment Charges on UK Mortgages

Published 1st February 2026

ERCs can turn an exciting remortgage into a costly mistake. Here's what they actually are, how much they typically cost on different mortgage types, and six ways to avoid or minimise them.

Mortgage Overpayments: Three Worked Examples with the Full Maths

Published 15th January 2026

Three illustrative calculations with the arithmetic shown. £100 a month on a £180,000 mortgage at 4.5% saves £31,038; combining a monthly overpayment with an annual bonus lump sum can knock six-plus years off your term.