Mortgage FAQs

The mortgage rates The Stafford charges aren’t fixed or capped and don’t track the Bank Base Rate. This means that, although we have a policy to keep the rate as low as possible, the interest rate can increase or decrease. You’ll be given 30 days’ notice of any changes.

From receiving your application to issuing a mortgage offer usually takes three weeks. This is subject to the employer’s references and valuation report being returned to us promptly and presumes we need no further reports.

Please be aware we cannot provide any account-specific information by email, we will never ask for your personal or account details by email. If you wish to communicate with us by email, and this contains any form of personal or sensitive data, we strongly advise that you password-protect all files before sending them to us.
Calls and electronic communication may be monitored and/or recorded for your security and may be used for training purposes.
Fraudsters may claim to be The Stafford to try to access security information. If you receive a call or email from the Society that you are suspicious about, cease the call immediately and contact us. More information can be found at http://scamsmart.fca.org.uk/

These fees will typically depend on the size of the property. They will include a Land Registry fee, the solicitor’s conveyancing fee, and any other charges, also known as disbursements.

You’ll need to pay local search fees if you’re buying a property. A search provides information about your property and immediate neighbourhood, which may affect your purchase decision. Your solicitor will generally arrange for this to be carried out.

Stamp duty is a tax payable by the purchaser of the property and is paid by the solicitor or licenced conveyancer. This is a government tax charged on land or property purchases over a certain value. This is charged at different rates depending on various limits and property types. Please see www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax

The Stafford doesn’t recommend a particular solicitor or licensed conveyancer. The Society does not use sole practitioner solicitors.

No.

We need the last three months’ payslips and the latest P60 for employed applicants. And for self-employed applicants, we need the last three years of accounts.

Life cover is recommended for most mortgages but isn’t compulsory. The Stafford doesn’t sell life insurance, so applicants can make their own arrangements.

We lend across England and Wales.

Yes.

No.

Yes, the minimum age is 18, and the maximum is 85 at maturity.

We’ll conduct credit searches on all applicants and decide based on the credit report.

For residential mortgages, please complete the affordability calculator. This will give you a guide to the amount you can borrow.

There’s an internal procedure for dealing with complaints which can be found here.

Proof of identity is required for all applicants before we can open an account. We will try to verify your identity and address electronically however if we are not able to do this then an original form of ID is required.  Please refer to our Proving your ID for acceptable identification. Where you can only produce copies of ID then they must be certified copies.

Each document must be the certified with:

• Having ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document.
• Signed and dated within the last 3 months.
• Printing their name under the signature clearly.
• Adding their occupation, business address, and telephone number.

The person certifying the document may charge a fee which will not be reimbursed and may also be contacted by The Society to validate the information provided.

The Stafford Building Societies business year starts on November 1st and runs until October 31st the following year.