The truth is out, you needn't worry about whether you can get one, what one you get and how you get it. This is exactly why Mortgage Consultants were devised!

The easiest way to tell you about mortgages is to see you face to face or speak to you on the telephone but you may want some more information before contacting me so I'll try and explain all below:

There are 2 main types of mortgage

• Repayment - also known as Capital & Interest
• Interest Only - also known as Endowment, ISA & Pension

Repayment Mortgage

This is the most common choice of today's borrowers. It guarantees that as long as you pay all your mortgage payments on time your mortgage will be paid off at the end. The amount you owe will decrease as the years go by.

Interest Only

Not so popular currently, due to the risks involved in repaying the mortgage. The amount you owe remains the same during the life of the mortgage and the intention is that you will save via an endowment, Individual Savings Account or Pension to pay the whole mortgage off at the end. If the savings don't do as well as expected you could find you won't be able to clear your mortgage at the end of the day but if they do well you could have a tax free lump sum.

There are then numerous deals to choose from:

• Fixed
• Capped
• Discount
• Tracker
• Variable
• Cashback
• Flexible

Fixed

As it implies the rate is fixed for a period and interest rate changes will not affect your mortgage payments for a certain length of time.

Capped

There is an upper limit to your payments for a set time but payments can go down below the capped level.

Discount

A genuine discount off the variable rate for a period.

Tracker

This follows the Bank of England Base Rate at a set percentage above or sometimes below it.

Variable

Each lender has their own Standard Variable Rate that they can vary as they choose.

Cashback

A cash sum will be given to you on completion of the mortgage to use as you wish.

Flexible

Allows you to make extra payments to pay off your mortgage quicker and may allow you to take payment breaks, take money out of your mortgage and connect your current account to the mortgage.

Discount/Capped/Flexible with Cashback

In theory most of the deals can be combined with each other and many schemes will incorporate features of more than one deal.