Mortgage Guides
Plain-English guides to how mortgage decisions actually get made, written for the situations people come to us with rather than for the jargon lenders use.
- Written for real situations, not product names
- Updated as lender criteria and rates change
- Free to read, with no sign-up required
- Backed by advice when you want to talk it through
broad range of UK lenders
Momentum Financial Services Ltd · FRN 1011740
a real adviser, start to finish
rates, fees & total borrowing
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Where to Start
The guides below are organised by situation rather than by product name, because that is how people actually arrive at them. Nobody wakes up wanting a capital and interest repayment facility. They want to know whether they can buy the house, whether the payment will be affordable, and what will happen when the fixed rate ends.
If you are buying your first property, start with what lenders count as income and what deposit you realistically need, then look at how the offer, survey and completion sequence works. If you already own and your deal is coming to an end, the remortgage guides deal with timing, product transfers and when it is worth paying an early repayment charge.
If your income is not a single monthly salary, the guides on self-employed and contractor lending are the ones to read, because that is where the difference between lenders is widest. The same is true if you have had credit problems: adverse credit lending is a specialist market with its own rules rather than a closed door.
And if you are buying to let rather than to live in, the buy to let guides cover the rental stress tests, limited company structures and the tax treatment that makes personal ownership less attractive than it once was.
How Lending Decisions Actually Get Made
Almost every mortgage decision comes down to four questions, and most of the guides are variations on one of them. Can you evidence the income? Does the payment fit the lender’s affordability model? Is the deposit large enough and from an acceptable source? And is the property itself something the lender will secure a loan against?
Affordability is where most surprises happen. Lenders do not simply multiply your salary. They stress-test the payment against a higher rate than the one you are being offered, deduct committed outgoings such as loans, credit cards, childcare and school fees, and then apply a maximum income multiple on top. Two lenders looking at identical figures can land tens of thousands of pounds apart.
Rates move with the wider picture rather than in isolation. The Bank of England Bank Rate sets the tone for tracker and variable products directly, while fixed rates are priced off swap markets that move ahead of any announcement. That is why fixed rates sometimes fall in the weeks before a rate rise, which reads as illogical unless you know what is being priced.
The property matters as much as the borrower. Flats above commercial premises, short leases, non-standard construction, ex-local authority blocks and anything with a structural history will narrow the lender list before your income is even discussed. Several of the guides deal with these cases specifically, because they are common and rarely explained anywhere else.
Browse Our Latest Mortgage Guides
Offset Mortgages Explained
Borrowing Into Retirement
Divorce And Your Mortgage
Capital Gains Tax When You Sell A Property
Tax On Rental Income: What Landlords Need To Know
Stamp Duty Explained: Rates, Relief And The Surcharges
Non-Standard Construction Mortgages
Joint Tenants Or Tenants In Common?
Which House Survey Do You Actually Need?
Freehold Or Leasehold: What It Means For Your Mortgage
Right To Buy Mortgages: Discounts, Rules And What Is Changing
Shared Ownership Mortgages Explained
Family Deposit And Springboard Mortgages
Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor Mortgages Explained
Guarantor Mortgages And What Replaced Them
Low Deposit Mortgages: 5% Deposits And The No-Deposit Options
Where Your Mortgage Deposit Can Come From
Proof Of Deposit: What Lenders Ask For And Why
Gifted Deposit Mortgages: What Lenders Need To See
How Much Deposit Do You Need For A Mortgage?
Do You Need Critical Illness Cover for Your Mortgage?
UK Mortgage Market Update: August 2026
Self-Employed Mortgages in the UK
Remortgaging in 2026
Mortgages for Pilots
First Time Buyer Mortgage Market 2026
Mortgages for Cabin Crew and Flight Attendants
Buying a Home in 2026
Buy-to-Let Remortgaging in 2026
Buy To Let Investment Guide 2026
Read More About Your Mortgage Options
The guides go into detail. These pages are the starting points most readers come from.
First-Time Buyer Mortgages
Deposits, schemes and what lenders look for when you are buying your first home.
Home Mover Mortgages
Porting, extra borrowing and timing when you are moving to your next home.
Remortgage Advice
Coming off a fixed rate, raising capital, or moving away from your current lender.
Buy to Let Mortgages
Rental cover, stress testing, and personal against company ownership compared.
Insurance and Protection
How life, critical illness, income protection and home cover fit around a mortgage.
Guides Are a Starting Point, Not Advice
Everything here is general information. It is written carefully and kept current, but it cannot take account of your income, your credit history, your deposit or the property you are buying, and those are exactly the things that determine the answer. Regulated advice means a recommendation made for your circumstances, in writing, with the reasoning behind it.
That distinction is not a technicality. It is the difference between reading that lenders typically allow four and a half times income and knowing which lender will stretch further for your profession, accept your second year of accounts, or take a reasonable view of a missed payment three years ago.
We work to the standards set out in the Consumer Duty, which means the guides are written to help you make a decision rather than to sell you one. If the honest answer to your question is that you should wait six months, save more deposit, or stay on your current deal, that is what a conversation with us will tell you.
We are based in Eltham and advise clients across South East London, Kent and the wider commuter belt. We are not limited to those areas: we work with clients right across the UK, including London, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and most cases are handled by phone and video, so where you live is rarely a barrier. You can also browse mortgages by profession.
How We Work With You
Reading is the easy part. Here is what happens when you decide to talk to someone.
A first conversation
Fifteen minutes on the phone about your income, deposit and timescales. No documents needed and no obligation at the end of it.
Gathering the evidence
Payslips, accounts, bank statements or contracts, depending on how you are paid. We tell you exactly what each lender will want to see.
Finding the right lender
We match your circumstances to lenders whose criteria actually fit, rather than starting from whoever is top of a best-buy table.
Application and offer
We submit the case, manage the valuation and underwriting, and keep you and your solicitor updated through to the formal offer.
Completion, and after
We stay involved through to completion, then come back to you before your deal ends so you never roll onto a standard variable rate by accident.
Put the guidance into figures. Try our free Mortgage repayment calculator, Mortgage overpayment calculator and First-time buyer stamp duty calculator.
Want This Applied To Your Situation?
Guides explain the rules. An adviser tells you what they mean for your income, your deposit and your timescale.
View our frequently asked questions, explore mortgages by profession, or see the areas we cover.
Mortgage Guides: Frequently Asked Questions
Are these guides financial advice?
No. They are general information, written to explain how lending works and what tends to matter in common situations. Regulated advice is a recommendation made for your specific circumstances, taking account of your income, credit history, deposit and the property, and it is provided in writing with the reasoning behind it. The guides are designed to make that conversation shorter and more useful, not to replace it.
How often are the guides updated?
We review them as lender criteria, tax rules and rates change, and rewrite rather than patch when something material moves. Anything referring to a specific rate, threshold or tax figure carries the position at the time of writing, so if you are relying on a number for a decision it is worth confirming it with us rather than assuming a page written some months ago is still current.
Which guide should I read first?
Start with the one that matches your situation rather than the one that sounds most technical. First-time buyers usually get most from the guides on deposits and affordability. Existing owners should start with remortgage timing. If your income is self-employed, contracted or made up of several sources, read those guides first, because the differences between lenders there are far larger than the differences between rates.
Do the guides cover stamp duty and the other costs?
Yes, in the buying guides. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland and has different thresholds for first-time buyers and for additional properties. Scotland and Wales have their own equivalents, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax, with different bands. Because thresholds change at fiscal events, always check the current rates on the government’s own pages before budgeting.
Why do fixed rates change when the Bank of England has not moved?
Because fixed rates are not priced off the Bank Rate directly. Lenders fund fixed rate lending in the swap markets, and those prices move on expectations of what will happen rather than on what has already happened. This is why fixed rates sometimes fall in the weeks before a rate rise and rise when nothing has officially changed. Tracker and standard variable rates follow the Bank Rate much more closely.
Do you only work with people in South East London?
No. We are based in Eltham and a good deal of our work is local, but we advise clients across the whole of the UK. Most cases are handled by phone, video and email, documents are shared securely online, and lenders do not care where your broker sits. If you would rather meet in person, that is easy to arrange if you are within reach of the office.
Can I speak to someone instead of reading through everything?
Yes, and for most people that is the faster route. A fifteen minute conversation about your income, deposit and timescales will usually tell you more about your own position than an hour of reading, because it deals with your actual numbers. The guides are there for the background and for the questions you would rather work through in your own time first.
Have a different question? Get in touch or read our full mortgage FAQs.