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Sam covers personal finance topics, from the best savings rates to the reasons mortgage lenders say no. He enjoys crunching the numbers to help consumers get ahead.
A repayment mortgage is a home loan where you repay a bit of the capital, which is the amount you borrowed, along with some interest each month.
With a repayment mortgage, as long as you meet all your monthly payments you're guaranteed to have repaid your entire loan by the end of the mortgage term, which is usually around 25-35 years.
Repayment mortgages are by far the most common type of mortgage in the current market - and if you're buying a home to live in, rather than a buy-to-let property, you'll nearly always take out a repayment mortgage.
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Compare mortgagesIf you click on the link and complete a mortgage with L&C Mortgages, L&C is paid a commission by the lender and will share part of this fee with Which? Ltd helping fund our not-for-profit mission. We do not allow this relationship to affect our editorial independence. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
In the first few years of your mortgage term, a bigger proportion of each monthly payment goes towards the interest, and a smaller part towards the capital.
With time, the balance shifts, with less going towards interest and more towards paying off your loan.
This can make your first few years' worth of mortgage statements depressing reading, as you won't feel like you're making much of a dent in your debt.
But don't lose heart: over time the balance will shift, with each payment clearing more of your loan until the end of the term, when you'll be mortgage-free.
You'll also be able to access deals with lower interest rates as you build up more equity (i.e. pay off more of the loan).
To demonstrate how the rates decrease as you gain equity in a property, the table below shows the best two-year fixed rates for a range of loan-to-values. Rates update daily.
Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms and conditions of a provider before committing to any financial products.
| 60% | NatWest | 73% | 4.79% | £1,495 | 6.74% |
| 60% fee free | NatWest | 73% | 5.16% | £0 | 6.74% |
| 70% | NatWest | 73% | 4.87% | £1,495 | 6.74% |
| 70% fee free | NatWest | 73% | 5.21% | £0 | 6.74% |
| 80% | RECOMMENDED PROVIDER Nationwide Building Society | 80% | 5.05% | £1,499 | 6.49% |
| 80% fee free | Leeds Building Society | 68% | 5.29% | £0 | 7.74% |
| 90% | Bank of Ireland UK | 67% | 5.19% | £2,995 | 6.94% |
| 90% fee free | Bank of Ireland UK | 67% | 5.34% | £0 | 6.94% |
Table notes: Data from Moneyfacts, updated daily at 1am and 1pm. Customer scores are based on a survey of 5,016 members of the public in August-September 2025 and combine overall satisfaction with likelihood to recommend the provider. The average customer score is 74%. To become a Which? Recommended Provider a lender must get a top customer score, consistently offer competitive deals and be fully covered by the Financial Conduct Authority banking standards regime. 'Revert rate' is the standard variable rate (SVR), which is the mortgage rate you'd be transferred onto when your deal ended if it remained unchanged between now and then.
Our mortgage repayment calculator can help you work out how much you could pay every month based on loan size, interest rate, fees and mortgage term. Or take a look at our other mortgage calculators.
While online mortgage calculators are good for getting a rough idea, you'll get a much more accurate view by talking to an independent mortgage broker.
There are several types of repayment mortgage, including:
You can find out more in each of the detailed guides linked to above, or for an overview of each type, visit our guide, mortgage types explained.
Unlike repayment mortgages, with an interest-only mortgage, you just pay interest to your lender each month. You don't pay off any of the capital that you've borrowed until the end of the mortgage term, at which point you have to pay the entire amount back in one go.
Interest-only mortgages are usually only available on buy-to-let properties. If you want to take out an interest-only mortgage, you'll need to make other arrangements for paying back the capital. Mortgage lenders describe this as setting up a separate 'repayment vehicle', which might mean paying a monthly amount into an investment, such as a stocks and shares Isa.
Taking out an interest-only mortgage is risky, as there is no guarantee that the money you've invested elsewhere will be enough to fully pay off the mortgage when the term ends.
You'll also pay more in total for an interest-only mortgage as you're paying interest on the entire loan every month, whereas with a repayment mortgage the amount of interest you pay reduces as you clear more of the loan.
| Interest-only mortgage | Repayment mortgage | |
|---|---|---|
| How much will I pay each month? | Just the interest charged by your lender. | The interest charged by your lender plus part of the mortgage loan itself. |
| How much will I owe at the end of the mortgage term? | The full amount originally loaned to you by your mortgage provider. | Nothing, as long as you have kept up with your monthly repayments. |
| What is the monthly interest calculated on? | The full amount loaned to you by your mortgage provider. | The amount you still owe on your mortgage, which will gradually decrease. |
| What are the risks? | The biggest risk is not having enough money to pay back the loan at the end of the term. If you don't meet your monthly interest payments, your property may be repossessed. | If you don't keep up your monthly mortgage payments, your home may be repossessed. |
| What else do I need to know? | You are free to invest the money you would have spent on monthly capital repayments elsewhere until the end of the term, meaning you could potentially make a profit. However, as you'll be paying interest on the full loan for the duration of the mortgage, you'll pay more in total than you would with a repayment mortgage. | Generally speaking, the greater your equity (the portion of the property that you own outright), the better mortgage rates you'll be able to access when switching mortgages. As your equity grows with each monthly payment, you'll be in a stronger position when the time comes to switch. |
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