A step-by-step guide to applying for a mortgage

Use our mortgage calculator to see how much you could borrow and see what your monthly payments could be. Key factors include:

• Your income.
• Your spending commitments.
• Your credit score.
• How much you’ve saved for your deposit.

Planning can help you to get an idea of how much your mortgage could cost before you apply. This may help in the long term, especially if interest rates rise.

Once you've considered how much you can borrow, think about the type of mortgage that may suit your needs best. Options include fixed rate, tracker and interest only mortgages.

• Learn more about mortgage types
• Fixed rate mortgages
• Tracker mortgages
• Interest only mortgages

Define all the factors that matter to you

Make a list of the top features your dream home should have.

• Is off-street parking more important than a large garden?
• Is proximity to city centre key? 
• What about local and distance to schools?

Explore all the options out there

When you know what you want, register with estate agents and start looking on websites like Zoopla. You cand sign up for email alerts so you’ll know as soon as a new property that meets your criteria is listed online.

When you've found somewhere that you're interest in, contact the estate agent and book a viewing.

Find out if you could get a mortgage on the property you've seen by getting an Agreement in Principle. It tells you how much we could lend you based on your income, property value, deposit amount and mortgage term.

 

Our agreement in Principle:

Provides a personalised indication of how much we could lend you.

Will not impact your credit score as we use a soft credit check.

Takes less than 10 minutes and there is no commitment.

Plus, you can download a certificate to show your estate agent.

 

Once you've got your Agreement in Principle, you can see the rates available to you and find out what your monthly payments could be.

 

Tip: Consider organising a house survey to check the property when making an offer. This can help to minimise risk and ensure you're paying what it's worth. 

You can put in an offer on the house by calling (or going into) the estate agent’s office. You'll also need to provide the estate agent with an indication of where the money is coming from and how quickly you can go ahead with the purchase.

The estate agent will then let the seller know of your offer and will then notify you whether your offer has been accepted by the sellers or not. 

The seller may not accept your first offer but, when the seller accepts your offer on the house, it's time to start your mortgage application. 

Log in and retrieve your Agreement in Principle if you saved it. Otherwise you'll need to a new one before you can apply for your mortgage.

You'll then see the mortgage rates available to you. Select the mortgage that you want, to see a personalised mortgage illustration and start the application form.

Learn about our mortgage types

Once you've completed the mortgage application, we'll hold your rate for 14 days whilst you upload your supporting documents such as bank statements and proof of identity. We'll confirm the documents you need to provide once you've completed the application form.

Once you've uploaded your supporting documents and completed all the tasks on your mortgage dashboard, your mortgage application will be submitted.

Remember, you only have 14 days to upload your documents on the mortgage dashboard.

If you are applying for a joint mortgage, then the 2nd applicant will recieve an email with details on the documents that they will also need to upload onto their own mortgage dashboard.

We'll then complete the normal affordability and credit checks before finalising your mortgage offer. 

When you've received your formal mortgage offer, your solicitor and estate agent will guide the final steps of the process for buying the property.

Once your solicitor has done all of their checks, they'll agree the date for exchanging contracts and completing the purchase with the seller's solicitor. Then, all that's left to do is planning the big move! 

Take a look at our home moving costs guide so you can start planning for the move.