Whether you’re buying, remortgaging or moving to a new deal with your current lender, we’ll find your options, recommend what suits you, and give you the information you need to make a decision.
There are plenty of things to factor in when choosing a lender, and we cover much of it in How to choose a mortgage lender: 8 questions to ask. This guide focuses on the numbers: how we search, how we compare deals and how we build your shortlist. We want you to see the full picture so you can make an informed choice.
At a glance
The cheapest deal, wherever it is
We’ll always show you the cheapest deal available on the day we search, even if it’s only available by going direct to the lender.
Sorted by total cost
We rank deals by what they’ll cost you over the initial deal period, including fees and cashback, in line with FCA guidance.
A shortlist built around you
It always includes the lowest rate and the cheapest Ethical Consumer Best Buy, plus any extra lenders we think may suit your plans.
Ethics in plain sight
Every lender comes with its Ethical Consumer score.
We’ll always show you the cheapest deal
When we search for your options, we’ll tell you the cheapest deal available that day.
If going direct is the best option for you, we’ll say so. If you decide to use that option, we won’t earn anything from it, and that’s fine by us. Our job is to help you get the right mortgage, and very occasionally that means pointing you somewhere else.
How we sort your options
We sort deals by total cost over the initial period, in line with FCA guidance. That’s what the deal will cost you across your initial two, three or five-year period, including:
- the lender’s product, application and valuation fees (where there are any)
- your monthly payments
- any cashback, which we take off the total
Adding the fee to your mortgage
Most people add the lender’s fee to their mortgage so they don’t have to pay it upfront. There’s some debate in the industry about whether to count the full fee in comparisons when that happens, as you aren’t paying it on day one.
We think you should. When your deal ends, most of that fee will still be sitting on your mortgage balance, and you’ll have paid interest on it too. That’s why we call our figure “total cost” and not “total to pay”.
Exit fees and early repayment charges
We don’t usually include the admin fee some lenders charge when you leave them for two reasons:
- Most people stay with the same lender beyond their initial deal
- The fee due may have changed by the time you leave
Early repayment charges (ERCs) are a different matter. They apply if you pay off or leave your mortgage during the initial deal period, and they can run to thousands of pounds. If you might move, sell or make large overpayments during your deal, we’ll factor ERCs into our advice.
Where we look
We search every lender on our mortgage sourcing system. That includes deals only available by going direct, deals for existing customers, and deals for people who hold a premier or current account with the lender.
A small number of lenders don’t routinely share their products with broker sourcing systems, so we can’t include them. First Direct, a direct-to-customer brand, is the only big name in this group. In our experience they’re often competitive, though we’ve only once seen them offer the very best deal. For the full picture, if you’re comfortable applying without a broker, you may want to check their rates yourself.
Your shortlist
We’ll give you a focused shortlist of options worth considering. It will always include:
- the cheapest deal overall
- the deal with the lowest interest rate
- the cheapest Ethical Consumer Best Buy (more on this below)
- any other options we think you should consider, based on our experience and your circumstances
Depending on your plans, that might include lenders who:
- keep their prices consistently competitive over time
- commit to offering better deals to existing customers
- offer more flexibility if your circumstances change
- are particularly good at consent to let, if you might let out your home
- allow bigger overpayments
- offer bigger loans to existing customers who are moving
- reward energy-efficient homes or improvements through a green mortgage
We’ll recommend the option we think suits you best and explain why. Then the choice is yours.
Remortgages and product transfers
If your current deal is coming to an end, you have two main routes. You can move to a new deal with your current lender (a product transfer, sometimes called a rate switch), or remortgage to a new lender. We compare both and recommend whichever works out best for you. If staying with your current lender is the better option, we’ll tell you.
A few things work a little differently:
- Your current lender’s offers. We include the deals your lender offers existing customers alongside deals from other lenders, all sorted by total cost.
- Remortgage incentives. Many lenders offer a free valuation or free legal work when you remortgage to them. We count these in the total cost.
- Early repayment charges. If leaving your current deal early would trigger an ERC, we’ll show you whether moving still saves you money.
- No fee for like-for-like. Product transfers and like-for-like remortgages (same borrowing, same term) are free with us.
Rates change daily, so we keep watching
Once you’ve chosen a deal and we’ve applied, we keep an eye on the market. If a better deal appears before your mortgage completes or your new deal starts, we can usually switch you to it.
For remortgages and product transfers, we can start looking up to six months before your current deal ends (up to nine months in some cases). Read more about how this works.
Ethical scores
Alongside every option, we show the lender’s score from Ethical Consumer and flag whether it’s a Best Buy. Ethical Consumer is an independent organisation that rates companies on how they treat customers, climate and corporate responsibility.
We won’t try to steer your choice beyond that. We want you to make an informed decision, and we’re always happy to talk through how different lenders approach their customers, the climate and corporate responsibility. But we work hard to not apply any pressure, and make sure the choice is yours.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn’t the lowest interest rate always the cheapest mortgage?
Fees and cashback can outweigh a small difference in rate. That’s why we sort by total cost over your initial deal, which counts the rate, fees and cashback together.
Do you search every lender?
We search every lender on our sourcing system, including direct-only and existing-customer deals. First Direct is the only big name that doesn’t share its products with broker systems, so you may want to check their rates yourself.
Will you tell me if going direct is cheaper?
Yes. We’ll always show you the cheapest deal available, even if it’s only available direct and we earn nothing from it.
Will you tell me if my current lender has the best deal?
Yes. When your deal is ending, we compare your lender’s offers with the rest of the market and recommend whichever works out best.
Do you earn more for recommending some lenders?
Commission varies between lenders (which often reflect how much work their application process involves), but we don’t take it into account when making a recommendation. Our honest pricing page shows how we’re paid.
What is an Ethical Consumer Best Buy?
It’s a lender that Ethical Consumer rates highly on how it treats customers, climate and corporate responsibility. We flag Best Buys on every shortlist, and the cheapest one is always included.
Ready to see your options?
Book a free, no-pressure consultation and we’ll show you what’s available for your circumstances.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
