There are thousands of different mortgages available from different mortgage lenders e.g. Alliance and Leicester, Halifax, Northern Rock, etc which can make choosing the right mortgage seem just a little confusing.

One way of dealing with this process is to think of it as a series of choices.

To begin with, do you want an interest-only or a repayment mortgage?

An interest-only mortgage means your monthly payment does not reduce your overall actual debt; it just covers the cost of borrowing the money from the lender.

So, after 25 years (or whatever the mortgage term is) of paying the interest on a £200,000 loan, you would still owe £200,000.  Therefore you also need to set up an investment plan that will help you build up enough cash to pay off the actual cost of the house at the end of the term

Alternatively, if you had a repayment mortgage, while it will generally have cost more each month in repayments, it would have cleared the interest and the loan, meaning you would owe nothing at the end of the mortgage term.

A repayment style mortgage is generally considered to be the best option for the majority of people. It is the option that guarantees you are actually paying off some of your debt every month.

There are some mortgages designed purely for first time buyers which suggest you just pay the interest for the first couple of years and then convert to a repayment later on – this basically helps the first time buyer get a foot on the ladder due to the reduced initial repayments.

First things first: Standard Variable Mortgages... (click 'Next Page' below):