What is an offset mortgage?

An offset mortgage is a way of linking your mortgage with your savings to provide you with a way to use your savings to reduce the cost of your mortgage.

Instead of earning interest on your savings, you will reduce the amount of interest charged on your mortgage.

There are three ways that you can make an Offset mortgage work for you

The benefits of these options are explained below:
 

Pay your mortgage off sooner

You benefit from paying off your mortgage quicker, but keep your monthly payments the same.

or reduce your monthly payments now

You benefit from lower mortgage payments now, but keep the same mortgage term.

or reduce your payments in the future

You benefit from lower mortgage payments every time your account is reviewed annually, but keep the same mortgage term.

How does an offset mortgage work?

The way offset mortgages work is simple. By moving some of your savings into a special Offset Savings Account linked to your Offset mortgage, the interest you are charged on your mortgage is determined by the difference between the amount in your savings and the amount in your mortgage.

So the more you save, the less interest you’ll pay on your mortgage.

Your Offset Mortgage and Offset Savings Account(s) remain separate, so you'll always have instant access to your savings if you need it. You can see how Offset mortgages work on the diagram below:

Infographic

Offset Plus

Offset Plus is a great option that lets family and friends link their savings to your offset mortgage. With the help of their savings, you get an extra financial boost to help reduce the cost of your mortgage.


The more savings your family and friends link to your mortgage, the more you can reduce the interest payable on your loan.

Is an offset mortgage right for me?

See how an Offset mortgage could be the right choice for you and what you need to be aware of:

  • The reduction in your mortgage payments or mortgage term could be worth more to you than the return you would otherwise have received from placing your savings in a deposit account.
  • Whilst you can use your savings to reduce your mortgage interest, you will still have the flexibility to access your savings.
  • However in doing so, you will change how much you could save on mortgage payments or the time it takes to repay your loan.
  • Even if you don’t have a lot of savings, you can still benefit from linking the savings of family and friends with Offset Plus.
  • You have the option to either fix the interest rate on your offset mortgage for a set time or for your interest rate to track the Bank of England Base Rate for a specified period of time.
  • You have the right to repay the loan either partially or in full during the term of the loan.
  • Early Repayment Charges apply during the fixed/tracker rate period. Other fees and charges apply.
Protecting your money: Deposits in the savings element of your Offset mortgage are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), up to a total of £85,000 of the total deposits held with the following: Yorkshire Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and Egg. Please refer to the FSCS Information Sheet or here for more information.


Download and read our pdf guide:

Alternatives to offset mortgages

Fixed rate mortgages

Fix your mortgage interest rate, so it won’t change over a set period of time, regardless of what is happening to interest rates elsewhere.

Tracker mortgages

Link your mortgage repayments to the Bank of England’s base rate. The interest rate on a tracker mortgage changes with the Bank of England base rate, which means your payments could rise and fall.

Interest only mortgages

Make monthly payments to cover the interest you owe. In order to pay off the loan amount at the end of the term, you will need to have an acceptable repayment strategy.

Before you apply

You can use our mortgage calculators to get an idea of your mortgage repayments and how much you could borrow for your mortgage.

Call us or book an appointment

Speak to one of our friendly advisers about your options.

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