10 things you should know about mortgage deals

1 What is the best interest deal? This depends on your circumstances and requirements. What is easy to say is that the standard variable rate is the worst interest deal (unless you need no string so you can switch to another deal in a very short period of time). You should always consider a fixed, discounted, or capped deal etc.

2 Do you require flexibility about payments? There are flexible deals which allow you to pay off the mortgage faster, or in chunks, when you are able to do so, to borrow back money you have paid in, or to make underpayments or take payment holidays. These may be useful for anyone on a fluctuating salary, such as someone receiving bonuses, commission, or who is self-employed.

3 How long you can fix a deal for? You can fix a mortgage rate for almost any period, right up to the full length of the term. Normally people would fix for up to three years. The longer you fix the rate for, the higher the rate will be.

4 When are capped rates best? Capped rate deals may be better than fixed rate deals long term, if interest rates come down.

5 Discount rates go up too. Discount rates may be better short-term, but you face the risk of increases if interest rates rise generally, whereas you don't with fixed rates.

6 Fixed rate deals end up as standard variable rate deals. All at the end of the fixed rate interest period, you will be paying on your lender's standard variable rate. That is inevitably higher. (The same applies to other deals)

7 Avoid being tied into stardard rate terrms after a deal ends. You should watch out for products which actually tie you into paying the standard variable rate for a period of time after the fixed rate ends. Overall, that will make the whole deal far less attractive. Not only will the overall interest rate be higher, but there will be a period where you have no protection against interest rate rises.

8 Watch out for early redemption penalties. There are some fixed rate deals where there is no early redemption penalty even if you change during the period of the fix. But most lenders try to make you pay a penalty if you switch out of a fixed deal early.

9 Should you go for interest only or repayment mortgages? Interest only mortgages used to be the big thing. You took out an endowment policy which was intended to pay back the capital at the end of the 25 year period, and meantime you just paid interest. This used to give you tax benefits, but no longer. What is worse, many endowment policies have not lived up to their expectations and people have found themselves at the end of the mortgage period, still owing money. You can take out interest only deals supported by ISAs or pensions, as well as the discredited endowment policies, but you are probably better off with the certainty of a repayment mortgage which is guaranteed to reduce to zero at the end of the loan period.

10 How much you can borrow against the property value? Traditionally you saved 10% of the purchase price as the deposit and you borrowed 90% from a mortgage provider. Nowadays they will not only lend up to 100% of the purchase price, but may even lend more - e.g. 105% - to give you a cash-back for other expenses.