By clicking a retailer link you consent to third-party cookies that track your onward journey. This enables W? to receive an affiliate commission if you make a purchase, which supports our mission to be the UK's consumer champion.
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.
In this article
A tracker mortgage is a home loan where the interest rate you pay is based on an external rate - usually the Bank of England base rate - plus a set percentage.
The base rate is currently at 3.75%. So, if the interest rate on a tracker mortgage was the base rate +1%, the amount of interest you would pay is 4.75%.
If the base rate went up, the interest rate on your tracker mortgage would also rise.
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.
Below, we've listed today's cheapest tracker mortgage rates available to first-time buyers, home movers and those remortgaging. The deals are updated daily.
| 60% | Halifax | 72% | 3.96% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 60% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 75% | Halifax | 72% | 4.08% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 75% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 90% | Halifax | 72% | 4.57% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 90% fee free | Royal Bank of Scotland | 68% | 5.39% | £0 | 6.74% |
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.
| 60% | Halifax | 72% | 3.96% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 60% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 70% | Halifax | 72% | 4.08% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 70% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 80% | Halifax | 72% | 4.13% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 80% fee free | Principality Building Society | 80% | 4.55% | £0 | 6.25% |
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.
| 60% | Halifax | 72% | 3.96% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 60% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 70% | Halifax | 72% | 4.08% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 70% fee free | Barclays | 75% | 4.25% | £0 | 5.74% |
| 80% | Halifax | 72% | 4.13% | £1,499 | 7.24% |
| 80% fee free | Principality Building Society | 80% | 4.55% | £0 | 6.25% |
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.
The base rate is set by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, which meets eight times a year to vote on what the rate should be.
This means the base rate could potentially change eight times a year (as it did in 2022) - so you need to factor in the possibility of your rate going up multiple times when working out what you can afford to repay.
In some cases, a base rate fall will lead to a reduction in your interest rate. However, the tracker mortgages with the best rates often have a 'collar' (a minimum rate you can pay) set at the amount you're paying at the beginning of the deal.
If you chose a deal with a collar set at your introductory rate, you wouldn't benefit from base rate decreases but would have to pay for increases.
Find the right mortgage using the fee-free service provided by L&C Mortgages
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.
Because a tracker mortgage is a type of variable-rate mortgage, the total amount that you pay each month could change.
With each monthly mortgage payment, part of the money goes towards the interest charged by your lender and the other part towards repaying the money you've borrowed (the capital).
If your monthly payments increased because of a rise in the Bank of England base rate, the extra money you paid would only cover the increased interest charges - so you'd be paying more each month without actually clearing a greater proportion of your mortgage debt.
Often, a tracker mortgage will be tied to an external factor such as the base rate for a set period (usually two years), before reverting to the lender's standard variable rate.
However, it may be possible to get deals that track the base rate for the entire term of your loan (a 'lifetime' tracker).
Committing to a longer tracker deal can be risky, as it's difficult to predict how rates might move in that time. Longer-term tracker mortgages also tend to come with higher rates than those with shorter deal periods.
Some tracker mortgages come with a minimum interest rate, known as a 'collar' or 'floor' (sometimes set at the deal's initial rate). Your interest rate will never drop below the collar, even if the base rate falls dramatically.
For instance, if you were on a deal that meant you were paying the base rate plus 0.5% but your deal also had a collar of 0.6%, even if the base rate fell to 0%, you'd still pay at least 0.6% interest.
Very occasionally, you might spot a tracker mortgage with a 'cap', which is a maximum interest rate.
If your deal has a cap your interest rate will not go above it, regardless of whether the base rate exceeds it, for the duration of the cap (usually two or five years).
Deals offering a cap tend to have higher initial rates, as you're paying for the security a cap offers.
Tracker mortgage deals usually offer the introductory rate for a limited timeframe. The longer your interest rate tracks the Bank of England base rate, the higher the interest rate tends to be.
When the introductory deal period comes to an end, your lender will usually transfer you onto its standard variable rate (SVR). Typically this will be a higher interest rate, which means that your monthly repayments will increase.
For this reason, it usually makes sense to switch deals by remortgaging at the end of your introductory deal period.
Before the conflict in the Middle East, variable-rate mortgages including trackers were typically more expensive than fixed-rate mortgages. Now tracker mortgages offer some of the cheapest rates available.
This is because experts forecast a high likelihood that the base rate will rise slightly over the next few years, which is accounted for in fixed-rate deals.
However, tracker mortgages don't take into account future base rate changes. It is only when a change to the base rate happens that it is reflected in your rate.
That can make tracker mortgages a good option during periods when the base rate is expected to fall, as your monthly repayments will decrease. However, economic conditions could change and the rate may not fall, or worse, it could increase.
On the other hand, fixed-rate mortgages often carry an early repayment charge (ERC), meaning you have to pay a hefty fee to exit the mortgage before the end of the initial deal period.
Some tracker mortgages are available without ERCs, so if you're planning to move house in the next couple of years, or you want a cheap rate now with the option of remortgaging if the base rate goes up, this might be the mortgage type for you.
A tracker mortgage could be suitable if you think the base rate will fall. But you'd need to be comfortable with the risk of your monthly mortgage payments going up if the base rate rose, and confident you'd be able to cover the higher payments.
In addition, a tracker mortgage can offer more flexibility than a fixed-rate mortgage. This flexibility means being able to pay your mortgage off early by overpaying, changing your mortgage to another lender, or switching to another product with your existing lender, often without having to pay an early repayment charge (ERC).
If you prefer this kind of flexibility and can afford higher payments if the base rate rises, a tracker mortgage may appeal to you. Our mortgage calculator can help you work out whether you could afford higher payments if the base rate went up.
Find the best mortgage for you, with expert help provided by L&C Mortgages
Get advice now