Britannia Building Society is the country's second largest building society and has roots going back to 1856. It has a strong commitment to remaining a mutual society during a time where most building societies have become banks.
Britannia's range of mortgages is pretty comprehensive. It offers buy to let and offset mortgages as well as competitive fixed-rate, flexible and tracker mortgages.
However, if you're a first-time buyer, Britannia has recently restricted its qualifying criteria – you now need at least a 10% deposit. You can get a comparison of other first time buyer deals using the enquiry form here.
About Britannia mortgages
Britannia offers 36 different mortgage deals in all, including buy-to-let deals. Rates have obviously got tighter in the last few months, but Britannia's flexible mortgages are appealing considering the Bank Of England rate is going down.
You can now get 6.49% (variable: Bank Base Rate +1.49%) on the life of the mortgage deal. There is a £499 arrangement fee. The in-built flexibility allows you to reduce, increase or even take a payment holiday from your regular monthly repayments.
Fixed-rate Britannia mortgages are available over 2, 3, 5 or 10 years with rates starting from 6.24% – although you need to find a £499 arrangement fee for that, whereas the 10-year fixed rate at 6.44% carries no fee.
Britannia also provides several offset mortgages where the amount you pay in interest is linked to your savings account. These deals, when managed properly, can help you pay off your mortgage years earlier.
Britannia Remortgages
Britannia calls its remortgage packages "Existing Borrower Mortgages" and offers them again in fixed, flexible, offset and tracker form. If you have at least 10% equity in your property, you could get rates of 6.54%, or if you have higher than 25% equity you can trim this down to 6.24% – see paragraph above. Or speak to an adviser for cross-market comparisons and help finding the lowest rates.
Choosing A Britannia Mortgage
We recommend that the best way to find out if Britannia is the right lender for you is to consult an FSA-qualified mortgage adviser.
An adviser will give you a free call back when you fill in the enquiry form on this page. They can digest the small print for you and help you decide if a Britannia mortgage is the best deal in your circumstances.
They can also give you mortgage quotes from other lenders too, representative of the best of the market, so you're sure which deal is the best for you right now.
There's no obligation, so if you need a mortgage in the next 3 months fill out the secure 1-minute enquiry form to get unbiased advice.