Green mortgages

How can a mortgage be environmentally friendly?

Well, the financial services industry, just like many other industries, are looking to play their part in finding ways to show they care about our planet. We have seen a handful of mortgage products released by lenders under the banner ‘Green mortgage’ but to be clear this is purely lenders branding their criteria as environmentally focussed rather than a ‘type’ of mortgage.

For example, the Nationwide group which includes The Mortgage Works, are offering low-interest rates for their existing mortgage clients looking to take further borrowing in order to improve the energy efficiency of their property.

Nationwide are currently offering Green Further advances of between £5,000 and £25,000 with rates as low as 0.75% fixed for either two or five years – super low rates! These loans require at least 50% of the funds to be used for energy efficient home improvements such as:

• *Solar panels
• *Traditional insulation
• *Air or ground source heat pumps
• *Cavity wall or loft insulation
• *Investment in rain water harvestation
• *Replacement windows
• *Upgrading of existing utilities
• *Pipes and boiler insulation
• *Boiler upgrade
• *Small scale wind turbines
• *Electric car charging stations

Other lenders are branding their Green range as mortgages secured against homes with a good energy efficiency rating. Homes with an energy efficiency of A-C will qualify you for securing mortgage rates at slightly lower rates than advertised products.

You can find out the rating of your home by searching the register here https://find-energy-certificate.digital.communities.gov.uk/ , for those of you that like a competition, see how you fair against your neighbours!

Should you be interested in finding out more about these products please get in touch with us today. Contact Us