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Other types of mortgages

Here are some of the other types of mortgage available:

Remortgages
You don't have to move home to move your mortgage. Many homeowners move their mortgage to a different lender to save money, or switch to a different mortgage with their current lender.

Why remortgage?
You may want to remortgage to:

Improve your home. Taking out a larger mortgage allows you to improve your existing home, without moving to a new property.
Save money. If you're paying your lender's standard variable rate (SVR), your existing lender - or another lender - may offer better rates if you move to a different mortgage.
Raise money. If you want to improve your home, or pay off other borrowings, you may be able to increase your mortgage rather than taking out a separate loan.
Consolidate your debts. Remortgaging can allow you to release some of the money tied up in your house, to pay off other debts, which may be at higher rates of interest than your mortgage.

You may want to think twice about remortgaging if:

You would have to pay penalties if you remortgage.
You have a small mortgage of £25,000 or less. This is because you may not be able to save much, or it may be under the mortgage lender's minimum remortgage amount.
Your employment status has changed recently. This is because you may need to send in your last six months' wage slips, or some mortgage companies look more favourably on people that have been employed by the same company for a while.

Buy-to-let mortgages
Buy-to-let mortgages are available if you want to buy a house and plan to rent it out, rather than living in it yourself. Some investors have taken these out as alternatives to stock market investments, although there are still a number of risks if you take out a buy-to-let mortgage.

What are the risks?
You could run into difficulties with a buy-to-let scheme if:

You cannot find tenants. You will still have to pay the mortgage (and that could mean you're paying two mortgages).
The rent may not cover the mortgage payments.
The tenants disappear without paying the rent.
The property falls in value.