★ Quick Porting Checks ★ Port & borrow more ★ Compare porting vs a new mortgage ★ Whole-of-market advice
Porting Your
Mortgages
Drummonds Finance Group
If you are moving home partway through a fixed-rate deal, porting lets you take your current rate with you instead of paying an early repayment charge to leave it. It sounds simple, but porting is a new mortgage application in all but name, and it is not always the cheapest option.
At Drummonds Finance Group we check your lender's porting terms, compare them against the whole market and tell you which route costs less overall.
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Why Choose Drummonds for Porting Your Mortgage
✅ Whole-of-Market Access
We can compare your current lender with a wide range of other lenders to make sure porting is still the right option for you.
✅ Compare porting against a new mortgage
Keeping your existing rate is not always the cheapest option. We can compare the total cost of porting with moving to a completely new mortgage.
✅ Help if you need to borrow more
If your new home is more expensive, we can look at whether your lender will allow you to port your current deal and borrow the extra amount you need.
✅ Support from start to finish
From working out your options to submitting the application and dealing with the lender, we will support you throughout the whole process.
What porting a mortgage means
Porting moves your rate, not your loan. Your existing mortgage is repaid when you sell, and a new mortgage on the new home carries over your current interest rate, the time left on your deal and its early repayment charge terms.
Your mortgage offer will say whether your deal is portable. Most fixed and tracker products from mainstream lenders are, but some are not, and lenders that have stopped offering new mortgages usually cannot port at all.
Porting means applying again
Your lender treats a port as a fresh application. It will reassess your income, outgoings and credit file against its current criteria, and it will value the new property.
That catches people out. Years of on-time payments do not guarantee approval, particularly if you have changed jobs, become self-employed, started a family or taken on new credit since you last applied.
The property has to meet the lender's criteria too. A lender that was happy with your current home may decline a flat above a commercial unit, a building with cladding questions or non-standard construction. If your lender will not accept it, we look at lenders that will, such as those covering flats above shops or buildings without an EWS1 form.
What happens to your early repayment charge
If your sale and purchase complete on the same day and you port the full balance, you usually pay no early repayment charge.
If your sale completes first, most lenders charge it when your old mortgage is repaid and refund it once the new purchase completes, provided that happens within their porting window. That window is commonly three to six months, depending on the lender. Some lenders do not refund at all, and most want the porting application submitted before the old mortgage is repaid, so we confirm your lender's exact rules at the start.
Porting and borrowing more: the blended rate
If you are moving up the ladder, the extra borrowing goes on a new product at today's rates, with its own term, fees and early repayment charge period. Your mortgage ends up in two parts.
As an illustration, say you owe £180,000 on a fixed rate of 3.9% with two years left, and you need £260,000 for the new home. You port the £180,000 at 3.9% and take £80,000 at 4.6%, giving a blended rate of roughly 4.1% across the whole mortgage. These figures are for illustration only.
The blended rate is the figure to compare against a single new mortgage for £260,000 elsewhere, once the early repayment charge is added. Watch when each part ends too, because two products expiring at different dates can tie you to the same lender for longer than you expected.
Porting to a cheaper home
If you are downsizing and borrowing less, the part of the mortgage you repay may attract a proportionate early repayment charge. Some lenders let you use your annual overpayment allowance to reduce this, and some refund part of the charge if the move completes within their window. We work out the actual cost before you agree a price on the new home.
When porting is not the best option
Porting is not always the right answer. Your rate may now be higher than what is available elsewhere, the early repayment charge may be small because your deal is nearly over, or your lender may decline the port.
On a £180,000 balance, a 3% early repayment charge costs £5,400. If a new lender saves you more than that over the period you would otherwise be tied in, once fees are included, switching comes out ahead. If your deal ends within a few months, it can also be worth waiting and arranging a product transfer or a remortgage at the right time.
If your lender declines the port, you are not stuck. Specialist lenders consider adverse credit, recent self-employment and higher income multiples, and the savings or cost of moving can be weighed against the early repayment charge.
How we compare porting against switching
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We read your current offer and confirm whether your deal is portable, the early repayment charge and the porting window.
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We price the port, including any top-up, and work out the blended rate and when each part ends.
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We compare that against new mortgages across the market, with the early repayment charge and fees added.
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We show you the total cost of each route over the same period, then handle whichever application you choose through to completion.
Frequently asked questions
Author
Written by Liam Drummond CII (MP), owner and named mortgage broker at Drummonds Finance Group. Member of the Personal Finance Society, the Society of Mortgage Professionals and the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Liam advises home movers across the UK on porting, borrowing more and switching lenders, and specialises in complex income, adverse credit and foreign national cases.