Mortgage support
Mortgage support
Choose a category
- View all 44 answers
- Managing a Principality mortgage 10 answers
- Applying for a mortgage 9 answers
- Payments and overpayments 8 answers
- Mortgages base rate and SVR 5 answers
- Ending a Principality mortgage 4 answers
- Help moving home 3 answers
- Renting, selling and borrowing more 3 answers
- Remortgaging to Principality 1 answer
- Insurance 1 answer
Managing a Principality mortgage
You may need a certificate of mortgage interest (MIRAS 5) for tax purposes. It gives details of the interest charged to your mortgage account during the previous tax year. Please note that we cannot produce a certificate of mortgage interest for tax paid until the relevant tax year has ended.
Call us on 0330 333 4000 if you need a certificate of mortgage interest.
Your mortgage statement
When you receive a mortgage statement depends on the type of mortgage you have.
- If your interest is charged daily, we’ll send you a statement each year on the anniversary of your completion date.
- If your interest is charged annually, we’ll send you a statement each January.
- If you have a flexible mortgage, we’ll send you a statement every six months.
Mortgage redemption statements
If you’re remortgaging, or want to pay your mortgage off in full, you may need a redemption statement. It’s a document which tells you how much you have left to pay on your mortgage, including any interest due and any fees. You can request a redemption statement in a few ways:
- Contact us in writing or over the phone.
- Visit one of our branches
- Send us a secure message (if you have an online profile)
- Email redstatsrequests@principality.co.uk
If you have Principality mortgage you can manage it online by setting up an online profile. You can also manage your Principality mortgage over the phone on 0330 333 4000, or by popping into your local branch.
Your mortgage term is the number of years you agreed to pay off the loan you borrowed when you first took out your mortgage with us.
You can choose to make your term longer or shorter. This will have an effect on your mortgage monthly payments. Any term adjustment agreement will be subject to our lending criteria and affordability.
Get in touch to discuss any changes to your mortgage term.
- Call us on 0330 333 4002
- Request a branch appointment
You can request your closing balance in one of two ways:
- Log in or register for an online profile and send us a secure message
- Call us on 0330 333 4002
You can update your contact details online, if you have set up an online profile. Select ‘View personal details’ from the ‘Your details’ menu and follow the instructions. If you've been a Principality customer for less than 3 months, you may also need to send us one form of address identification.
If you don’t have an online profile, you can visit a branch or give us a call on 0330 333 4000.
To update your name, you can either write to us at the address below or visit your local branch or agency. We’ll need to see the original change of name document. This could be your:
- Marriage Certificate
- Decree Absolute
- Change of Name Deed (Deed Poll)
If you also have a Principality savings account, please remember to bring your passbook if you visit us in branch.
Write to us: Principality Building Society, PO Box 89, Queen Street, Cardiff, CF10 1UA.
Don’t panic if you fall behind on your mortgage payments. We’ll do all we can to help. Speak to us as soon as possible and we’ll support you to find a solution.
Try and complete a mortgage budget planner before getting in touch with us. This will help us provide you with the best support options based on your circumstances. Then either:
- Send your completed form to customersupportteam@principality.co.uk.
- Post your form to Principality Building Society, Principality House, The Friary, Cardiff, CF10 3FA.
- Call us on 0330 333 4020 and we can talk through your situation over the phone.
If you want to add or remove someone from your mortgage, you must re-apply for a new deal.
- You can remortgage with us or choose a new lender.
- If you remortgage with us, you must pass our lending criteria and affordability checks.
- You will not need to pay an early repayment charge.
Think about speaking to an independent financial advisor to help you make your decision.
Download our mortgage terms and conditions to understand the conditions of our mortgages.
To change your direct debit details either:
- Post a completed Mortgage Direct Debit Mandate form to Principality Building Society, PO Box 89, Queen Street, Cardiff, CF10 1UA
- Call us on 0330 333 4000
Applying for a mortgage
The cost of surveys and valuation fees depends on the purchase price of your property. Download our Survey and Valuation fees to see a breakdown of our fees.
We believe everybody deserves a place to call home. That’s why we try to be flexible with our lending criteria. You will need to meet a few essential criteria, like
- You must be at least 18 years old
- You must have a 3 year UK address history
You must also be either
- a UK national
- a European Economic Area (EEA) national who is resident in the UK with permanent legal right of residence in the UK, pre-settled status, or settled status at the time of your application
- a Non-EEA national resident in the UK with indefinite leave to remain or a remaining residency entitlement of more than 2 years
Even if you think you might not be eligible for a mortgage, we may be able to help. Speak to our experts for advice.
We have a responsibility to verify your identity when you are applying for a mortgage. Like all other UK banks and building societies, we must do everything we can to help prevent financial crime and money laundering.
We’re committed to helping more first time buyers get on the ladder. We have a selection of resources and products to help. Read our quick guides for first time buyers or find out more about our mortgages for first time buyers.
There are a few ways you can apply for a mortgage with us.
Our contact centre is open Monday to Friday 9:30am - 5pm and Saturday 9am - 1pm. We have branches across Wales and the borders. Find your local branch.
We have a responsibility to verify your identity when you take out a mortgage with us. Like all other UK banks and building societies, we must do everything we can to help prevent financial crime and money laundering.
We use an electronic verification system to verify your identity. In most cases, that's all we need to do. However sometimes we may need to ask for additional proof of identity. And we might not be able to proceed with a mortgage application unless you can provide suitable proof of your name and address.
If we aren’t able to identify you using our electronic verification system, we will ask you for some additional documents to help prove your identity and your address. We usually request at least two forms of ID: one to verify your name and one to verify your address. Some common examples of documents used include things like:
To verify your name
- A current signed UK passport
- A current signed full UK driving licence or paper licence
- EU member state ID card or EU passport
- A Non EU passport with a valid visa
To verify your address
- A recent gas and electricity bill (under 3 months old)
- A recent water bill (under 12 months old)
- A recent local authority tax bill (under 12 months old)
We do also accept other forms of ID. For a full list of ID documents we can accept, download our leaflet about how we use your information.
You can book a no-obligation mortgage appointment in a few ways.
- Request a call. Fill out an enquiry form and we’ll get in touch to talk through your options with Principality
- Visit your local branch. We’re on the high street throughout Wales and the borders
- Book an appointment.
- Call us on 0330 333 4002. Our lines are open Monday to Friday 9:30am - 5pm and Saturday 9am - 1pm
Download our tariff of charges document to understand any fees that will be included when you take out a mortgage with us.
Payments and overpayments
You can make overpayments on any Principality mortgage. Overpaying can help reduce your overall mortgage balance and the amount of interest you will pay over time. That’s because making an overpayment changes the total amount you owe. So it changes the amount of interest your mortgage accumulates. When you make an overpayment, we will recalculate these figures immediately.
You can repay up to an additional 10% of your outstanding mortgage balance each year. The amount you can overpay will be 10% of either:
- The total amount you still owed on January 1st of the current year.
- The total amount you owed on the date your mortgage began (if you took out your mortgage after January 1st this year).
Your monthly mortgage payments will remain the same (unless you ask us to change them).
If you are in the early repayment charges period of your mortgage agreement, any payments you make above this 10% limit will be subject to an Early Repayment Charge. The amount can be found in the “Early repayment” section of your mortgage offer.
You can overpay on multiple mortgages if you have more than one mortgage with us. Our overpayment rules apply to each mortgage individually.
You can make a mortgage repayment online through a bank transfer. Unless you have more than one mortgage account with us. If you have multiple Principality mortgages please call us to make a payment instead.
To make an online mortgage payment please use these details:
Account Number: 90653535
Sort Code: 20-18-23
Reference: Your Mortgage Account Number (excluding the dashes)
Who are you paying? Some banks ask if the account you are sending your money to is personal or business. To make a mortgage repayment, please choose ‘business’.
Name of payee: Please use the registered name on our account: Principality Building Society.
Recipient bank: As a building society we use Barclays bank as our bank account provider. So don’t worry if you see Barclays bank appear as the recipient bank when making a mortgage repayment.
There are three different ways to repay your mortgage.
- Repayment: Your monthly payments are made up partly of capital (the sum you’ve borrowed) and partly of interest (the monthly interest on the sum you’ve borrowed). Provided all payments are made on time, the loan is repaid at the end of the mortgage term.
- Interest only: Your monthly payments contribute to paying off only the monthly interest on the sum you’ve borrowed. This means you won’t be paying off the ‘capital’ (the sum you’ve borrowed) during the term of your mortgage, so at the end of the mortgage term the amount you initially borrowed will still be owed in full. As a borrower you take full responsibility for ensuring that the loan is repaid at the end of the term. This is often achieved by having some sort of investment that, when mature, pays off the initial amount you borrowed.
- Repayment/Interest only split: A mix of the above two mortgage payment types; part of your mortgage would be on a repayment basis and part of your mortgage would be on an interest only basis.
There are a few ways you can arrange to make an overpayment:
- Set up a standing order.
- Make a payment over the phone.
- By cash or cheque at any of our branches.
- Post a cheque to us.
- Online bank transfer.
If you make an overpayment directly from your bank, use these details:
Account Number: 90653535
Sort Code: 20-18-23
Reference: Your unique Principality mortgage account number
You can make overpayments on any Principality mortgage. Overpaying can help reduce your overall mortgage balance and the amount of interest you will pay over time.
You can repay up to an additional 10% of your outstanding mortgage balance each year. The amount you can overpay will be 10% of either:
- The total amount you still owed on January 1st of the current year.
- The total amount you owed on the date your mortgage began (if you took out your mortgage after January 1st this year).
If you are in the early repayment charges period of your mortgage agreement, any payments you make above this 10% limit will be subject to an Early Repayment Charge. The amount can be found in the “Early repayment” section of your mortgage offer.
You can choose to pay your mortgage off in full. You will be charged a standard Mortgage Early Exit fee and may also have to pay an Early Repayment Charge.
You can repay up to an additional 10% of your outstanding mortgage balance each year. But if you are in the early repayment charges period of your mortgage agreement, any payments you make above the annual 10% limit will be subject to an Early Repayment Charge. Each mortgage product has its own terms and conditions so to see if you’d be subject to an Early Repayment Charge, please refer to the ‘Early repayment’ section of your mortgage offer.
You can find more information in our tariff of charges.
When your mortgage is set up, the funds to purchase or remortgage your property are sent to your solicitor to distribute. The mortgage begins from this point, but you are not asked to make your first monthly payment until the direct debit is set up. This can be up to two months after the funds are released for purchase.
During this time, you've received the funds but have not yet made a monthly payment, so interest is building up. This initial amount of interest is called the ‘accrual’. Payment of this interest can either be paid before your first monthly payment or taken with your first monthly direct debit payment.
To switch to direct debit simply download, complete and return our Mortgage Direct Debit Mandate form.
You can also call 0330 333 4000 to request a form, or pop into your local branch.
Mortgages base rate and SVR
Standard Variable Rate (SVR) is the interest rate a mortgage lender applies to their standard mortgage. The SVR is our normal interest rate without any discounts or deals. It can go up, for the reasons stated in our terms and conditions, or down at our discretion.
Any changes will usually (but not always) be due to changes in the Bank of England Bank Rate. (You’ll also hear it called the base rate). Principality's SVR is currently 7.43%.
How your mortgage is impacted by changes to SVR depends on the type of mortgage you have:
I’m on a Fixed Rate Mortgage |
Your monthly repayment will stay the same until you reach the end of your fixed rate. During this period your repayment amount will not go up or down following changes in our SVR. So you will have the certainty of knowing exactly how much you need to pay each month. Your offer letter will explain how long your fixed rate applies for. |
I’m on a Discounted Mortgage |
Your interest rate is variable and is discounted against our SVR for a set period of time. This means if the SVR changes, your monthly repayments could go up or down. Your offer letter will explain how long your discounted rate applies for. |
I’m on a Tracker Mortgage |
Your interest rate is variable and it 'tracks' the Bank of England Bank Rate until the end of the initial term. This means that any changes to the Bank of England Bank Rate will have an effect on your interest rate. Changes to our SVR wouldn't mean a change in the interest rate of your tracker, as our SVR and Bank of England Bank Rate aren't linked directly. |
I’m currently on SVR |
Your monthly repayment amount will go up or down in line with changes to our SVR. If SVR changes, we’ll write to let you know about the change and how it impacts your repayments. You’ll hear from us at least 5 days before your next repayment is due. |
Your Principality mortgage may have a ‘floor rate.’ This is the minimum rate of interest you will pay on the mortgage loan. If this applies to you, your offer letter explains the floor rate and how long it will be applied to your mortgage loan.
If you have any questions or concerns about SVR please contact us.
The Bank of England (BoE) sets and controls the base interest rate for the UK. This is the rate at which it will lend to financial institutions. You’ll hear it called the ‘base rate’ or ‘bank rate.’
If the base rate goes up, banks and building societies rates will usually increase too, because the cost of borrowing has become more expensive.
However, how we set our rates also depends on changes in the market and economic climate. So we may increase or decrease our variable rates (including SVR) outside of changes to the base rate. And when the base rate changes, we won’t necessarily change our own rates.
If your repayments are changing for any reason, we will always write to let you know.
If you are on a Tracker Mortgage, your interest rate is variable and it 'tracks' the Bank of England Bank Rate until the end of the initial term. This means any changes to the Bank of England Bank Rate will have an effect on your rate. So your monthly payments could go up or down depending on the change. Changes to our SVR wouldn't mean a change in the rate of your tracker, as our SVR and Bank of England Bank Rate aren't linked directly.
If you have any other type of mortgage with us, your deal won’t be directly impacted by changes to the Bank of England Bank Rate. However, changes we make to our SVR may be influenced by changes to the Bank of England Bank Rate.
Your offer letter explains how your mortgage rate works. If you have any questions, please contact us.
If your monthly payment changes as a result of a change to the Bank of England Bank Rate, we’ll write to you with the details.
- If you pay by direct debit: we’ll automatically collect your new monthly amount on the payment date shown in your letter.
- If you pay by standing order: contact your bank to amend your standing order amount from the date your new monthly payment is due. We can’t change your standing order on your behalf.
- If you pay by cash or cheque: please change your payment to the new amount from the date the payment is due.
If you have any questions or concerns about SVR please contact us.
Ending a Principality mortgage
If your mortgage deal ends and you don't choose a new deal, you'll move onto our Standard Variable Rate (SVR) or discounted SVR (also referred to as stepped reversion rate).
At the end of your discounted SVR term you will then move to our SVR. Variable rates can change, so your payments may rise or fall in the future.
For more information, see the section on base rate and SVR below.
When your Principality mortgage deal is due to end we'll get in touch at least six weeks before the maturity date. We’ll tell you which deals are available for you to switch to. You can also browse Principality mortgage products you may be able to switch to.
You can choose to receive advice from us on the most suitable deal, or you can choose for yourself and inform us which mortgage deal you’d like to switch to.
It’s important that you read and weigh up these options before deciding how to switch. Find out how to switch your mortgage.
If you do nothing: If your mortgage deal ends and you don't choose a new deal, we’ll switch you onto our SVR. The remaining balance of your mortgage will attract interest at our Standard Variable Rate (SVR).
You may have to pay an Early Repayment Charge (ERC) if you switch your mortgage deal early. This will depend on whether you are still in the early repayment charges period of your current mortgage agreement.
Our early repayment charges depend on your ‘Term of Initial Rate’ – the length of time your mortgage deal is agreed for.
On a fixed rate product, the early repayment charge reduces over time during your deal. Your early repayment charge will be calculated as a percentage of the amount repaid during this time.
Term of initial rate | Year 1 fixed | Year 2 fixed | Year 3 fixed | Year 4 fixed | Year 5 fixed |
2 years | 2.00% | 1.5% | |||
3 years | 3.00% | 2.00% | 1.00% | ||
5 years | 5.00% | 5.00% | 3.00% | 3.00% | 1.00% |
For variable rate products (discount and tracker mortgages), we have a flat early repayment charge of 1% throughout the duration of the mortgage product.
We’re sorry for your loss
We know this is a difficult time. When someone dies, we’ll do all we can to help you manage the finances. Here’s how we will support you when someone dies.
Help moving home
You can keep your existing mortgage deal and transfer it to your new property when you move. This is known as porting, and most of our mortgage deals are portable.
To port your mortgage to a new property, you’ll need to set up an appointment with one of our advisors to go through a new application process. You can:
- Call us on 0330 333 4002
- Request a branch appointment
You won’t be eligible to port your existing mortgage to a new property if:
- The new property is outside of England and Wales
- You do not meet our lending criteria when you apply to port your mortgage
- Transferring your mortgage is not the best option available to you
- The new property does not meet our lending criteria
- You are looking to transfer the mortgage onto a property that you already own
- You choose not to transfer your mortgage on its existing terms
- You have a flexible mortgage (because we no longer offer these products)
Any incentives you received as part of your original mortgage offer, like a free valuation, cash back or free legal advice won’t apply when you port your mortgage to your new home. If you have a flexible mortgage you can call 0330 333 4002 to discuss your options.
You can reduce the mortgage amount when you port it. However, an Early Repayment Charge may apply to the remaining balance of your existing mortgage deal.
Information about early repayment charges on your current deal can be found in the ‘Early repayments’ section of your offer document. For more information see our portability rules.
If you need a bigger mortgage when you move, you can top up your current mortgage. We can help you find the most suitable deal.
We’ll ask you to choose another mortgage product from the product range we have available at the time. This will cover the additional borrowing amount, and the terms of the new product will only apply to the additional amount you borrow.
Borrowing more is subject to acceptance. For more information see our portability rules.
Renting, selling and borrowing more
You may want to sell part of your land, or property on land you own. When you do this, a portion of the property that forms part of our security on the mortgage is released. This is known as a release of part security. It is often handled on your behalf by a solicitor. This process may involve having the property valued again.
Call us on 0330 333 4002 to discuss a release of part security.
If you want to borrow a little more on top of your mortgage, we can help make it happen.
You’ll need to discuss this with us and go through an application process. Find out more about borrowing more.
What you need to know:
- You have to wait 3 months after taking out a mortgage with us to apply to borrow more.
- The minimum term is 2 years and maximum term is 40 years (dependent on our lending criteria).
- The amount you want to borrow plus the amount owed on your current mortgage cannot be more than 90% LTV for residential properties or 75% LTV for buy to let or holiday let properties.
- The length of time it takes to process your application can depend on your individual circumstances. Generally, it can take 4 – 6 weeks for the additional funds to reach your current account.
If you’d like to rent out your property you usually need a Buy to Let mortgage. If you have a residential mortgage you can still rent out your property for a short time – usually up to 12 months.
Call us on 0330 333 4030 to speak with one of our mortgage advisors.
What you’ll need
1. A tenancy agreement
This is a contract between you and your tenants. It contains the legal terms and conditions of the tenancy. The contract will need to cover at least 6 months.
In England and Wales, you’ll need an acceptable Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (AST).
2. Evidence of mortgage repayments
You’ll need to have made at least 6 monthly payments on your residential mortgage. There are some exceptions though; this doesn’t apply if you’re a member of the British Armed Forces or Clergy.
Still thinking it over? Read more about renting your property.
Remortgaging to Principality
We’d love to help you remortgage to us. You can browse our deals, speak to an advisor, and even begin your application online. Just take a look at our pages about getting a Principality mortgage.
Insurance
We’ve partnered with Vita, a UK based Independent Protection Specialist. Read more about Vita.
Vita offer expert advice and have access to the 'whole of market', which means they will provide you with advice on a range of home insurance, life insurance and protection plans that could help to provide for you and your family’s financial future.