Military Mortgage

A military career is challenging and demanding, and many mortgage companies recognise the importance of your work. As a result, you can often find special deals for Forces personnel.

What is a Military Mortgage?

There are no mortgage products specifically for the military, but lenders are increasingly welcoming people in the armed forces. They recognise some of the challenges of a military lifestyle, such as postings at short notice and living abroad.
Some military personnel can find it tricky to get a mortgage – not least because moving around frequently can give you a poor credit rating.

What mortgage assistance is there for military personnel?

Mortgage lenders who understand the military lifestyle will allow for the differences between your situation and the average homeowner taking out a standard residential mortgage.

Certain lenders provide additional mortgage features designed for the military. These can include:

• your property is unoccupied for certain periods of time
• allowing you to buy in the UK while stationed overseas
• the ability to rent out your property on a standard mortgage while you’re stationed elsewhere. This would normally require a Buy to Let mortgage.

You might find details of lenders who offer special military mortgage deals in your service benefits. There is also government support to help you buy a home.

What is the Forces Help To Buy scheme?

With the Forces Help to Buy Scheme you can borrow up to 50% of your salary and use it as a deposit to buy a home, interest-free.

The scheme is open to any member of the military that has served for a minimum length of service, has more than six months left on their contract, and meets certain medical requirements.

You could borrow up to a maximum of £25,000, which can cover both a deposit and other home-buying costs.

The loan is repayable at the point when you leave the forces or at the end of 10 years, whichever comes soonest. When you only have a few months left to serve, you could choose to remortgage to repay the debt. Alternatively, you can repay the loan slowly over the 10-year term. More information is available on the Government website.

Can I use other Help to Buy schemes?

It may also be worth looking at the Government’s Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, which enables you to buy a home with just a 5% deposit. It is only available on new build properties.

The government loans you up to 20% of the home’s value, interest-free. You can use this as your deposit and take out a mortgage for the rest.

How can I get the best rates on Armed Force’s mortgages?

While lenders may welcome military customers, the rates on offer will be the same as for civilians. They will assess you in the same way too. The lender will look at your annual salary, your deposit and check your credit rating.

In working out your home buying budget, it’s important to check that the repayments on your mortgage are comfortably affordable. If you fall behind with any payments, you could risk losing your home.

What if I am deployed?

If you are deployed during the mortgage application process, a mortgage broker can continue to act on your behalf and keep things moving along.

Once you own the home, you have a few options if you are then deployed elsewhere. You can choose for your family to remain in the home during your tour. You can also leave the property empty while you’re away, or you can choose to let it out so that the rent can cover your mortgage payments.

With a standard mortgage, leaving the home empty or letting it is seen as a breach of your mortgage contract. But with a military mortgage, these options are allowed, as long as you inform the lender.

How can a Mortgage Broker help?

The military mortgage market is very specialist, so it’s important to seek advice. Our mortgage advisors have a lot of experience in helping members of the armed forces buy a home.

We start by getting to know you and exploring your personal situation, your property goals, and what’s happening with your career. Next, we seek out the lenders offering military mortgages and compare all the rates and costs on your behalf.

We support you through the application process and beyond – chasing up the lender, solicitors, and estate agents to drive your mortgage through to completion

We know you have a busy and demanding job, so let us take the stress out of buying a home.

YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE