Are offset mortgages still a thing? Alternatives?

[Jarstastic]

I don’t have a lot of experience with mortgages. I took a 25-year mortgage out at the age of 25 on a repayment basis and nearly paid off. Only thing I’ve done is fix for 2 years from time to time.

About 10-15 years ago friends were talking about offset mortgages and these seemed to work really well for them.

Now in a position where we are going to get a new mortgage to buy a new property but also want to allow a cash buffer to help with works we want to do and school fees.

Are offset mortgages still a thing?

If not, are there any alternatives? I’ve just remembered I had a drawdown on my original mortgage which I didn’t take/get charged interest on for 2 years.

Also has a friend who had a One mortgage but assuming there isn’t anything like that on the market anymore?

Yes offset mortgages are still a thing!

Yes you can still get them.

Thank you! Will do some more research and talk to IFA.

First Direct do a good one. We have this :-)

We had a One account offset mortgage. They don’t offer them anymore, apparently there were too many people getting to the bed and not being able to repay as they had treated it like an interest only mortgage but with no repayment vehicle
As long as you are aware of this and careful you should be ok

To the END not the bed

Definitely still a thing, we always get one as we have a large pot of savings but want flexibility about using while saving on our mortgage which is our only debt. There aren’t lots of providers (currently with Accord and last time were with Scottish Widows) so you might want to speak to a broker - we use L&C.

Offset mortgages often do t have the very best interest rate you can get. It they can be brilliant if as you say, you want a buffer or if you have irregular flows of income or bonuses or save money towa4s a big tax payment, so at certain points have more in savings.

We’ve recently paid ours off, it helped us enormously, and was with the Yorkshire Building Society.

Yes. We are with Scottish Widows and we’re with First Direct. We like it because we save tax in the savings account throughout the year and it helps reduce our interest on mortgage. First direct was easier to use and overpay but they do t allow you to use bonuses in your salary calculations so we had to move providers

Were

Worth checking if the Woolwich/Barclays offset mortgages remain the only one where you can offset ISAs (held with them of course). Obviously only useful if you have ISAs but given that interest rates aren't great now it might be worth checking if you do.