As someone just about to take on the biggest debt of your life you need to know EXACTLY how to find the best product AND how to apply it to your best advantage. Structuring your mortgage to its optimum cost-effectiveness is ESSENTIAL, IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW GOOD A PRODUCT YOU TAKE ON. The best interest rate applied carelessly will still end up costing you more per month than is absolutely necessary.

There are many ways you can buy potatoes. At the local corner shop or in the out-of-town supermarket. Ready washed in small bags or unwashed by the half-hundredweight. Bakers or roasters. Named or unnamed.

A lot of potential decisions, but often people just "buy a bag of tates whilst they're out shopping". Those in-the-know will buy very specifically because they understand the taste and texture benefits they'll get from a clever purchase. Those who haven't a clue will take what's on the shelf.

So, let's look at the 15 basic steps to keeping your mortgage payments down to the absolute minimum:

1. Buy your new home as well as you possibly can - (i.e.) maximise the valuation for mortgage purposes - and choose an area to live in with inherently stable, or rising, house values
   
   
2. Get a job and keep it for at least a year - the self-employed and company directors are notoriously treated less well than their employees, particularly if they have less than 3 years' accounts which show other than a regular, and rising, profit. Try that after a recession
   
   
3. Go for the shortest term mortgage possible - monthly payments will be higher, but the overall amount you repay will be less - and DON'T extend the term of your mortgage to bring the cost of monthly payments down as you really will regret it in the long term
   
   
4. Put as large a deposit down as you can - preferably 30% or more - to avoid the necessity of paying a Mortgage Indemnity Premium and punitive interest rates
   
   
5. Keep a clean credit history, but if there have been previous lapses make sure that any previous debt judgements show as paid on your credit record. Don't try for a new loan with an uncleared judgement against you, and most importantly pay off any debt judgements WITHIN THE STATUTORY 30 DAYS so that the judgement never stays on the record at all
   
   
6. Choose a large high street lender - essential when your finances get tight and you'll find that their rates tend to stay more competitive OVER THE LONG TERM
   
   
7. Opt for a repayment mortgage
   
   
8. Choose a fixed, or capped, rate mortgage when general interest rates look set to rise, and then for a term no longer than 5 years maximum
   
   
9. Avoid 'low start' mortgages & mortgages linked to specific investment contracts
   
   
10. Insist on your first-time buyer's discount if applicable
    
    
11. To maximise the tax benefits, put everything into one main residence
    
    
12. Keep the mortgage to no more than 3 times highest salary, or 2.5 times joint salaries, and exclude any overtime payments from your calculations (although state them on the application form!)
    
    
13. If you want to pay off the mortgage quicker, do so over a number of years rather than in one lump - large repayments can actually incur extra charges! - repay fastest when interest rates are high as investing in equities is a better use for your extra money when interest rates are low
    
    
14. If you intend making major improvements to the property, borrow as much as you can with the first charge mortgage loan rather than take out a separate second-charge debt
    
    
15. Any remortgaging where the amount borrowed is to increase should be to permit "home improvements" rather than to put money into a business - if you like pain just try asking for a remortgage to help expand your company

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credit  home loan  mortgage  mortgage indemnity guarantee  new home loan  remortgage  valuation