Specialist

Mortgages

Goldman Specialist Mortgages focus on clients who have a poor credit history.

We are totally independent and as such have access to over 30 mortgage lenders and over 25,000 products! So you can be sure you are getting the best possible product according to your personal circumstances.

All our advisers are CeMAP qualified and we recently won the British Mortgage Awards 2006 – Mainstream Mortgage Broker of the year.

We pride ourselves on the exceptional service we provide to our clients. Please see our Testimonials by clicking here.

We offer mortgages to first time buyers, people moving home or for people wishing to remortgage their existing home to raise finance for any purpose or just to take advantage of a more competitive rate and reduce their monthly payments.

Choosing the best mortgage for your particular circumstances is very important, but with so many lenders and so many offers available, finding the right one can seem complicated.

So, whether you are buying your very first home, selling one to buy another, buying a holiday home or investment property or just looking for a better deal on your present mortgage arrangements we will help you to find the ideal mortgage for your needs. We have produced this guide to mortgages to help you understand the different mortgage products available.

What is a ‘Mortgage’?

A mortgage is a loan secured on your home. How does this work? You borrow a sum of money – the capital – which you either pay back on a monthly basis over a set period of time (the term) or the whole amount at the end of the term.

During the term you also pay interest to the lender. The amount paid is calculated on the capital sum borrowed and is usually expressed in percentage terms. E.g. A 4.49% means that you would pay £4,490 in interest per year on a £100,000 mortgage loan. The ‘Repaying your mortgage’ section below explains this further.

As the mortgage is secured against your home it is important to protect yourself and your home against the unexpected. In the event of you being unable to keep up your loan repayments, the lender can repossess your home. We cannot predict the future for you but we can help give you peace of mind. The section ‘Payment Protection’ gives you more information.

Repaying Your Mortgages

There are two basic ways of repaying the amount you borrow:

Repayment or 'capital and interest' mortgage
Similar to a personal loan, your monthly payment is made up of part interest and a varying proportion of the capital so the mortgage loan amount is gradually paid off year by year throughout the term of the mortgage. Provided you make all the agreed payments, the loan will be fully paid off by the end of the mortgage term.

Interest only
The amount which you pay to the mortgage lender each month consists only of interest. The original amount that you have borrowed remains outstanding for the term of the mortgage and has to be repaid in full at the end. You will therefore need to build up a suitable capital lump sum over the mortgage term to repay this amount. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have enough money to repay the mortgage at the end of the term; otherwise you could lose your home.

Part repayment/Part investment backed
This is a combination of the two payment methods, where part of the original loan is fully repaid over the mortgage term, with the other part being based on an interest only basis with the capital sum remaining at the end of the term to be repaid from the proceeds of a repayment/investment plan or other sources.

Interest Rates

Types of Interest Rate Available From Most Mortgage Lenders:

Standard variable rate
Most lenders have a standard variable rate. This is the rate before any ‘special offers’ or discounts are applied. It is set by the lender and will fluctuate roughly in line with the Bank of England base rate. It is up to the lender to decide if they wish to change the rate when the bank base rate changes, and if so by how much.

Fixed rate
Here the rate is guaranteed to stay fixed for a specific period, after which it can be expected to revert to the lender's normal standard variable rate, or you may have the option to transfer to a new fixed rate. It has the advantage of providing stability, but has the disadvantage that if the standard variable rate falls you may be paying a higher rate of interest.

Discount
This is a discount to the lenders standard variable base rate, lasting for a guaranteed period of time. Your monthly payment will fluctuate with any changes in the standard variable rate, and will revert to the standard variable rate at the end of the period.

Capped
This is a form of variable rate where the rate is capped at a specified level over a specified period of time, i.e. it is guaranteed not to exceed the capped rate during the period. The rate may full during the period, and at the end of the period will revert to the lenders standard variable rate at the time.

LIBOR
London InterBank Offered Rate is the rate at which banks notionally buy and sell money to each other. It varies from day to day and is closely linked to the base rate.

The relationship of LIBOR to the base rate can give you an indication of the possible future direction of base rates. If LIBOR is significantly above the base rate it indicates that the money market believes interest rates are about to increase. If it is significantly below, the reverse is true. The key LIBOR rate is three month LIBOR. However, rates are also quoted for one, six and 12 month periods.

Flexible Mortgage
A flexible mortgage allows you to under pay or over pay the agreed monthly mortgage payments. This will either shorten the term of the mortgage or, in the case of under payments, increase the total interest paid throughout the mortgage term. For individual scheme variations please ask for further information from your mortgage adviser.

What Happens After Your Interest Rate Period?
At the end of a fixed, discounted, or capped rate period, the interest rate payable on the mortgage will normally revert to the lenders standard variable rate at the time. Even if there is no change in the current variable rate, you may find yourself paying a higher monthly payment. For example, if you take out an interest only mortgage of £60,000 at a fixed rate of 4.5% for three years, your monthly interest payments will be £225.00 per month for the three years. If, after the fixed rate ends, the standard variable rate is then 6.5% your monthly payments will become £325.00 per month. Remember, if you have a capital and interest (repayment) mortgage, the future monthly payments will be based on the reduced loan amount at that time, not on the original loan amount.

Mortgage Term

People often assume that the normal mortgage term is 25 years, but there is no reason why you cannot choose a different term if it suits your needs and the lender agrees. If you take a repayment mortgage, the shorter the term, the higher the monthly repayments will be, but the total repayments over the term will be less as you will pay less in interest.

Affordability

What can you afford? To work out how much you can afford, write down what money you have coming in and what you spend each month. Be realistic. Think about any changes that may affect this e.g. new child, or retirement.

Calculate how much money you have available to pay for the costs associated with buying a house and to put towards the property purchase (your deposit). Remember to allocate funds for any work that you may want to do to your new property. Normally the bigger your deposit the better the choice of mortgages available to you.

Click here for Affordability Calculator

Self Certification

A self-certification mortgage is one where the lender will lend based on an income level that for many reasons cannot be proved with suitable documentation.

For self employed applicants:

• You do not have 2/3 years audited accounts.
• You have accounts but profit has been legally minimised by your accountant.
• Your current level of earning is higher than your accounts can prove.

For employed applicants:

• Your income is based on commission or bonuses rather than regular past/full monthly salary.
• You have several jobs, one full time, and one part time.
• You are a contract worker such as a teacher or a nurse.

If these scenarios or indeed for any reason you cannot prove your income level call Goldman Mortgages for the latest and most competitive self certification mortgages.

For further information – please contact our office and speak to one of our advisers 0800 811 8885 or complete our enquiry form.