What is porting a mortgage?

‘Porting’ is sometimes loosely described as moving your mortgage from your current home to your new one. However, it technically involves redeeming the existing mortgage in favour of a new one. The latter is the same mortgage deal but on a different property. You may have to pay fees to ‘move’ from your current mortgage to a new one.

If you’re porting your mortgage, the lender will typically run an affordability check to ensure that you meet their current criteria.

What if you need to borrow more?

If you need to borrow more to purchase your new house, it’s possible that you may be allowed to port your mortgage. However, you may be charged a fee to increase your loan. The lender may also charge you a valuation fee for assessing the value of the new property.

What if you don’t port your mortgage?

You may not want to port your mortgage, or be able to – your lender may not allow this or you may not meet their current terms of affordability. Perhaps the newer deal will mean that you’ll get poorer interest rates. You may still have other options to consider, though. These include the following:

• Switching lenders

  You may want to give up your current mortgage (this may incur penalty fees) and shop around for a lender who will give you a deal for your new property.

• Staying put

  You may prefer to keep your existing mortgage on your current property.

If you do want to port your mortgage, you can check your Equifax Credit Report & Score in advance. Free for the first 30 days then £14.95 monthly, it gives you a view of your credit history, as well as how creditworthy a lender may find you. This gives you time to make any improvements before applying to port your mortgage.