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Santander Mortgage Review
Santander offers a range of mortgage options to first-time buyers, homemovers and those who are remortgaging. Learn more in our Santander mortgage review.
Santander mortgages: at a glance
Santander offers capital repayment and interest-only mortgages, as well as a range of other mortgages that include fixed-rate and tracker-rate options. Your mortgage term could be set for up to 40 years, and you can apply for a Santander mortgage online, over the phone, or at a Santander branch.
Santander Mortgages
5 to 40 years
£6,000
Capital & Interest; and Interest Only
Yes
Yes
This mortgage provider is available via our partner, London & Country Mortgages.
Think carefully before taking out any mortgage. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments.
The information in this review is correct as at the date the page was last updated. This is our review of a lender and not the products, interest rates, fees or deal terms they offer. Many lenders also offer preferential products exclusively via brokers and intermediaries. This review does not constitute advice or recommendation.
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What types of mortgages does Santander offer?
Santander first-time buyer mortgages
Santander typically offers first-time buyer mortgages up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV), meaning that it’s possible to get a mortgage with a 5% deposit. If your family is willing to help you out financially, and you wish to use a gifted deposit, Santander may be able to help here, too.
Santander remortgages
For those who want to remortgage, Santander usually offers fixed-rate and tracker remortgage deals. There may be some Santander remortgage deals available without a product fee, and some that offer a free valuation. You may find Santander will cover your standard legal fees or give cashback if you’re eligible.
Santander buy-to-let mortgages
Santander offers buy-to-let mortgages to new customers as long as you approach through a broker.
» MORE: Best mortgage lenders
Santander mortgage features
Repayment options
Santander mortgages are available on a capital repayment or an interest-only basis. You may also be able to pay part of your mortgage as repayment and the other part as interest only, combining both.
With a repayment mortgage, the repayments you make each month go towards paying off your interest along with some of the original mortgage amount, or capital, you took out. If you make every repayment in full when you should, everything you owe should be cleared by the time you reach the end of your mortgage term.
Interest-only mortgages differ in that your monthly repayments pay off the interest that you’re being charged each month but don’t contribute anything towards paying off your original loan amount.
Instead you’ll need a repayment strategy in place that aims to pay back your loan amount when your mortgage term ends. Interest-only mortgages are more difficult to obtain and often come with lower LTV limits than capital and repayment mortgages.
» MORE: Interest-only vs. repayment mortgages
Mortgage rates
Santander offers fixed-rate and tracker rate mortgages. With a fixed-rate mortgage the interest rate you are charged and pay is fixed for a set period of time – perhaps for two, three or five years, or any other length of deal that Santander is currently offering. As a result, your monthly repayments won’t change for the duration of your fixed-rate deal, giving you certainty over the amount you have to pay.
At the end of your deal, you may want to remortgage to a new deal, or alternatively, you’ll automatically move onto either Santander’s standard variable rate (SVR) or its follow-on rate, depending on when you took the mortgage out. These both have the potential to rise or fall and will usually be higher than the rate you’ve just left behind.
The mortgage rate you pay, and therefore your monthly repayments, can also rise and fall if you take out a tracker mortgage with Santander. This type of mortgage automatically follows movements in the Bank of England base rate, so it’s important to work out whether you could still afford your monthly repayments if rates were to go up.
» MORE: See Santander mortgage rates
Loan-to-value ratios
Santander tends to offer mortgages to 95% LTV, which means there are mortgage options available if you have a 5% deposit.
» MORE: Why your LTV is important for a mortgage
Mortgage offers
If you receive a mortgage offer from Santander, it will usually be valid for six months. During this period, the mortgage rate you’ve been offered should not change.
Making overpayments
If you have a Santander fixed-rate mortgage, it may be possible to overpay by up to 10% in a calendar year without having to pay an early repayment charge. If you don’t have a fixed rate, it may be possible to overpay by how much you like without needing to pay an early repayment charge. However, always take the time to check the terms and conditions of your particular mortgage for yourself before overpaying your mortgage.
» MORE: Mortgage overpayment calculator
Paying off your mortgage early
You can pay off a Santander mortgage in full at any time, but there may be fees to pay, and possibly an early repayment charge, for doing so. If you’re thinking of paying off your mortgage early, you’ll need to request a settlement figure from Santander. This will show how much you need to pay to clear everything you owe, including any fees.
Porting your mortgage
If you’re moving home and want to take your current Santander mortgage with you to your new property, you can apply to Santander to port your mortgage. Be aware that you risk having to pay an early repayment charge if you’re porting a fixed-rate mortgage but want to reduce the amount you borrow.
Mortgage calculators
Santander has a number of mortgage calculators on its website to help borrowers crunch numbers. These include a deposit calculator to work out how much deposit you may need, an affordability calculator that gives you an idea of how much you may be able to borrow, and a mortgage rate calculator where you’ll see an indication of the rate you could get and how much your repayments may be.
» MORE: See best mortgage rates
This is our review of a lender and not the products, interest rates, fees or deal terms they offer. Many lenders also offer preferential products exclusively via brokers and intermediaries. This review does not constitute advice or recommendation.
Review methodology
Product details reflect the information that was available at that time but may have changed since. We strive to give you a review on as many products as possible, but it is likely there are others available that we have not reviewed. The review is our opinion, but it does not constitute advice, recommendation or suitability for your financial circumstances.
You can view our full review methodology here.
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