Frequently asked questions

PlainMortgage is a free UK mortgage rate comparator and affordability calculator. We pull the Bank of England base rate, monthly HM Land Registry House Price Index releases, and FCA mortgage-lending statistics into one database, then expose them through calculators, comparison pages, and editorial explainers. We do not sell mortgages; we explain them.

We use the standard amortisation formula: M = P · (r · (1 + r)^n) / ((1 + r)^n − 1), where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate, and n is the term in months. For a £200,000 mortgage at 4.5% over 25 years, that's £1,112 per month. The methodology page documents the exact computation.

The base rate is the interest rate at which the Bank of England lends to commercial banks. It is the single biggest input to UK mortgage pricing. Tracker mortgages move with the base rate within days; standard variable rates follow within weeks; new fixed-rate deals reprice within months as lender swap-rate funding costs adjust. Existing fixed deals stay at their contracted rate until the fix expires.

It depends on your view of where rates are heading. Five-year fixes typically price about 0.2-0.4 percentage points higher than two-year fixes at any given moment, which is the lender's premium for locking in a longer rate. If you believe the base rate will fall meaningfully within two years, the two-year fix wins. If you believe rates will rise or hold, the five-year fix usually wins. The compare page on this site quantifies the breakeven for the current market.

LTV is the loan amount as a percentage of the property value. Lenders price risk by LTV band: 60% LTV typically gets the best rates, 95% LTV the worst, with steps at 75%, 80%, 85%, and 90%. A larger deposit moves you into a lower LTV band and unlocks better headline rates. Most UK lenders cap residential lending at 95% LTV; specialist lenders go higher with significantly elevated pricing.

As a starting estimate, UK lenders typically cap residential lending at 4.5 times gross household income. So a £50,000 single income or a £75,000 joint income could borrow up to £225,000 or £337,500 respectively. That ceiling is then adjusted downward for monthly debt obligations and credit profile, and stress-tested at base rate plus one percentage point. The affordability calculator on this site applies these rules.

No. PlainMortgage is an information service, not an FCA-regulated mortgage broker or financial adviser. The calculators are tools to help you understand the maths of UK mortgages — the decision to take out a mortgage should involve a qualified, FCA-regulated adviser who can assess your full circumstances.

No. Beyond the headline rate, important factors include the product fee (often £999-£1,499), the early repayment charge (typically 1-5% of the outstanding balance), the SVR you revert to after the fix expires, portability if you move home, overpayment allowances, and the lender's reputation for service. The total cost over the fix length is what matters, not the rate alone.

Bank of England base rate: within hours of every MPC announcement. Average headline rates by LTV band: weekly. HM Land Registry House Price Index: monthly with a six-week reporting lag. FCA mortgage-lending statistics: quarterly. The vintage stamp at the bottom of every page is the date of the most recent ETL refresh.

No. All calculators run in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server. We collect aggregate, anonymous page-view metrics via cookieless analytics, but no personal identifiers, no email addresses, and no cross-site advertising pixels. The privacy page documents this in full.

The UK government's MoneyHelper service (moneyhelper.org.uk) provides free, impartial guidance on managing mortgage debt, talking to your lender, and accessing the FCA's tailored support scheme. If you are at risk of repossession, contact your lender immediately — under FCA rules they must show forbearance, and repossession is the lender's last resort, not the first.