Offset mortgages represent one of the biggest mortgage innovations seen in recent years. Six years ago there was hardly an offset mortgage to be seen. Now they and the current account mortgage, to which they are closely related, account for 10 out of every 100 of new lending.
What’s more, one of the UK ‘s large lenders believes that 25% of existing mortgage holders would be better off with an offset mortgage. So if you’re in the market for a mortgage you need to know what they’re all about. Otherwise you could be missing out.
Firstly, how does an offset mortgage work?
The basic idea is that besides borrowing money from the mortgage lender, you also run savings or deposit accounts with them. Then you are charged interest not simply on what you have borrowed but on what you have borrowed less the balance in your savings and deposit accounts. So, if you had an offset mortgage of 100,000 and had 20,000 in their savings account you would only be charged interest on the difference, 80,000. In these circumstances, no interest is paid on your savings the interest is offset.
It doesn’t sound like a ground breaking idea ...