How it works

Relax and take more control with easyflex

These days, many of us lead quite uncertain lives. It's no longer just those who work for themselves or those on short term contracts who can find their income fluctuating from time to time. That's why our easyflex mortgage is designed to adapt to your circumstances. Overpay, underpay, take a payment holiday, borrow back money or even borrow more money. Depending on your circumstances, an easyflex mortgage can let you do it all. So you can always be comfortable with what you have to pay out each month.

Overpay

You can overpay at any time, either through regular payments or one off lump sums. These will be shown as 'offset savings' on your monthly mortgage statement and will be offset against your mortgage. You can use them to reduce your mortgage term and so save interest, or you can pay lower monthly repayments and you'll still save interest this way.

E.g. Customer Pete

Mortgage: £150,000 @ 5.44%
Monthly payments: £915.76
Mortgage term: 25 years
Offset savings: £20,000 A lump sum Pete pays into his mortgage.

Option one - Pete decides to reduce his mortgage term. This would allow Pete to reduce his mortgage term to 19 years and 1 month. He would save £45,623.86 in interest.

Option two - Pete decides to reduce his monthly payments. He could reduce his monthly payments to £793.66. This would save him £16,750 in interest.

This is only an illustration.

Underpay

There may be times you want to pay out less for a time. Perhaps you've less money coming in or are going through an expensive period. With easyflex if you've already overpaid and built up some 'offset savings', you can make underpayments at any time.

E.g. Customers Sarah & Mike

Mortgage: £82,000
Monthly payments: £481.76
Mortgage term: 25 years
Overpayments: £200 x 36 months = £7,200
Underpayments: £100 x 24 months = £2,400
Total offset savings after 5 years: £4,800

Sarah and Mike overpaid until Sarah reduced her hours at work to spend more time with the children. They reduced their mortgage by £100 a month for a couple of years. After five years they will have paid off £5,547.76 extra capital on their loan compared to having made no overpayments and underpayments. It means they can pay off their mortgage almost three years early.

This is only an illustration.

Taking a payment holiday

Occasionally, you may want to stop paying your mortgage completely, perhaps to travel or study, or tide you over a period of unemployment. Again, easyflex allows you to take a payment holiday up to the value of your offset savings. Note you'll continue to incur interest on your loan during this period.

E.g. Customer Claire

Claire's mortgage is £450 a month but she's been overpaying by £150 a month for a year, building up offset savings of £1,800. She now wants to go travelling with her boyfriend so she takes a payment holiday and makes no monthly payments for four months; but the interest on her loan continues to build during the payment holiday.

This is only an illustration.

Borrowing back overpayments

You may want to borrow back your offset savings as a lump sum, perhaps to buy something big. Again, easyflex gives you this choice.

E.g. Customer Raj

Raj inherited £15,000 following the death of his grandfather two years ago and used the money to reduce his mortgage. He and his wife Gita now want to splash out on a new kitchen and so borrow back £10,000 of their £15,000 offset savings.

This is only an illustration. Interest continues to build.

Borrowing more money

If the amount of your mortgage is less than the maximum mortgage we'd lend you, we may also agree an additional loan. This is available with the easyflex Total mortgage. You can take this up whenever you want, just by contacting us. The money will be in your bank account the next working day.

E.g. Customer Joan

Joan takes out a mortgage of £130,000 on an income of £32,000 a year. The maximum mortgage we could lend her is £144,000 so she can borrow up to £14,000 more as an additional borrowing facility.

In fact, she borrows £8,500 for a new car, and gets this loan at the same interest rate as her mortgage with us.

This is only an illustration. This additional borrowing feature is not available on Self Certification or Buy to Let Mortgages.