Mortgages FAQs

You may be accepted in this case as long as you can provide evidence of at least 12 months rental payments in the UK, in a row. If all applicants moved out more than 6 months ago, unfortunately you will not be eligible. If you rent again for a minimum of 12 months' we can consider your application in the future.

Yes, but we will only accept a letter from an ARLA (or other suitable lettings association e.g. NAEA, NACA) registered letting agent as proof of 12 months rental payments.

Yes, as long as there is no formal tenancy agreement in place. Income from renting the room can’t be used within the Affordability Calculator.

This will not affect the maximum loan amount calculated by the Track Record Calculator. But you will need to declare the service charge in the Affordability Calculator.

No. Although the property is held in the limited company, and you may meet the first-time buyer criteria, you will not be eligible.

No. If you have plans to move abroad when applying for the mortgage, you will not be eligible.

Yes, but we may need evidence of how the funds were accumulated to make the lump sum payments. The payments must have been made from the applicant’s own funds, with no help from anyone else.

Yes, you can apply for a Track Record mortgage. But when you’re calculating your maximum loan, any housing benefit would need to be removed when you enter your total monthly rent into the Track Record Calculator. For example, if your rent for the last 6 months is £500 but you have received £150 monthly housing benefit, you would use £350 in the Track Record Calculator. Then when you move onto the Affordability Calculator, regardless of whether the housing benefit will remain on completion of the mortgage or not, you must exclude it from your income.

Where two individual people (or households) are paying their rent without the help of anyone else, and meet all other eligibility criteria, we may allow them to buy together. In this scenario, we will allow the rents to be merged as the amount being entered into the Track Record Calculator.

Yes. But regardless of whether you’ll continue to receive board payments after you have bought the property, it must not be included as income in the Affordability Calculator.

As long as you can evidence, if required, that you have been solely responsible for all rent for 12 months in a row within the last 18 months, we may consider a sole mortgage. It is also acceptable in this scenario to add a non-contributor on to the mortgage if you wish, provided they also meet all the eligibility criteria.

Yes, as long as the applicants can provide evidence that they are the people that have been solely responsible for the rent and household bills for 12 months in a row within the last 18 months.

To find out how to make payments into your mortgage, please visit ways to pay your mortgage.

If you're thinking of making overpayments, please check your mortgage account summary in the Skipton app or in Skipton Online, or refer to the details in your mortgage offer to find out whether this is possible and if so, if there are any Early Repayment Charges payable.

Key points

• Your first Direct Debit payment will be due on the first day of the month following release of funds. Payments due on the 1st of the month will be taken on the third working day after the payment due date, but the money needs to be available in the account on the due date.
• If release of funds takes place on the last day of the month, the first payment is due the following day.

If you already pay your mortgage by Direct Debit, you may have noticed that your payment doesn’t always leave your account on the exact due date.

This is because of the time it takes for the Direct Debit to be processed after we have requested the payment and the times when the Direct Debit date falls over a weekend and/or Bank Holiday.

To read more on Direct Debits, visit our Direct Debit mandate and schedule page.

Online

You can complete our Direct Debit Mandate form online. Once we receive it, we'll set up the Direct Debit and let you know when it's done.

Call us

You can amend a Direct Debit over the phone by calling our Mortgage and Retention team on 0345 850 1711, or via web chat.

Post

Download the Direct Debit mandate PDF and return to the address shown in the form.

Depending on your mortgage product, there may be restrictions on the maximum amount you can overpay, either by regular overpayments or as a lump sum, in one year without incurring an Early Repayment Charge. You can usually repay a fixed percentage of your original mortgage balance per year without charge. For more details, see your mortgage account summary in the Skipton app or on Skipton Online, or refer to the details in your mortgage offer.

If you are making lump sum overpayments, these may trigger a recalculation of your monthly repayment amount.

Debit card lump sum payment

You can make a lump sum card payment by calling us on 0345 850 1711.

Bank transfer

It is possible to make a bank transfer for an overpayment using the details below:

• Account holder name: Your full name
• Account number: 70798924
• Sort code: 20-78-91
• Account type: Personal
• Reference: Your Mortgage Account number

Please note, the payment details might show up as Barclays as we use them for our banking service. If you don’t enter your 9-digit mortgage account number as the reference, the payment will be returned.

Regular Direct Debit overpayment

If you would like to regularly overpay, we can arrange to increase your Direct Debit amount. Simply call us on 0345 850 1711, speak to us on web chat or send us a Secure Message.

Just let us know how much you would like to pay each month and when you’d like this to take place. We can then arrange for the payment to be increased.

Standing Order overpayments

If you would like to make regular overpayments by standing order then call us on 0345 850 1711 to discuss.

Overpayment from a Skipton Savings Account

If you would like to make a lump sum payment or set up regular overpayments from a Skipton Savings Account in your name, you can do this by logging onto Skipton Online or calling us on 0345 850 1711.

If you are using Skipton Online, please call us or check your mortgage offer to ensure any payments do not exceed any overpayment allowance you may have.

If you're worried about or unable to make your monthly mortgage repayments, then it is important you talk to us as soon as possible. The earlier you get in touch the better, as there are more options available if you tackle the problem early on. Visit our mortgage payment difficulties page to find out more.

1. We will send you an email to confirm your Decision in Principle has been accepted.
2. You will have 30 days to have an offer accepted on the property you are buying to submit your full mortgage application. Our mortgage advisers can complete a full mortgage application with you over the phone or via video appointment. You'll find details of how to book a mortgage appointment in your email from us.

Carrying out a DIP at Skipton will involve a soft credit search which won’t leave a footprint on your record. If you do choose to progress with a full mortgage application, a hard credit search and credit scoring will be carried out, which will leave a footprint on your credit record.

If you’re not quite ready for a DIP, we'll email you a link once you've completed the online affordability calculator, so you can do it later. This link is available for 30 days. At the end of the 30 day period you will have to restart this process.

Before applying for a mortgage you may need a Decision in Principle (DIP), sometimes referred to as an Agreement in Principle (AIP). A DIP gives an idea of how much you could borrow from us and many sellers or estate agents ask to see a DIP. A DIP means that Skipton Building Society is, in principle, prepared to make a loan up to the amount shown. It is not a mortgage offer and does not mean that Skipton will make one. A mortgage offer is subject to full application, valuation and meeting the Skipton's lending criteria.

You will have 30 days to have an offer accepted on the property you are buying and to book a mortgage appointment with one of our mortgage advisers, who will complete a full mortgage application over the phone or via video appointment with you.

The affordability calculator works out how much you might be able to afford to pay back on your mortgage based on your income and outgoings. The information you provide will be used to complete your DIP.

If you’ve had a mortgage with us for at least the last 6 months, you may be eligible to borrow up to 95% of the value of your home (75% for Buy to Let customers). This depends on the type of mortgage you hold and is subject to affordability requirements.

You should consider whether other forms of borrowing are more suitable for you, as any money we lend through additional borrowing will be secured against your property and your overall mortgage balance will increase.

To find out more, please visit our additional borrowing page.