Mortgages questions and answers

To make things as straightforward as possible, it would be great if you have the following to hand for all applicants:

• Income details
  • If employed you will need:
    • Gross annual salary, bonus & overtime
  • If you are self-employed you will need:
    • Last 2 years net profit/directors salary
    • Three months' business bank statements
• UK address history for the last 3 years
• Details of your monthly expenditure PDF opens in a new window Link opens in a new window (your bank statements will come in handy here)
• Details of any credit commitments (including payments, balances and interest rates)
• Pension payments from your payslip

We accept scanned copies or photographs of all supporting documents, when required.

Check our mortgage product details to see what fees are applicable.

There may be some other fees involved, including valuation fees, product fees and legal costs. We’ll discuss this when you apply.

Full details of any fees will also be in your Mortgage Illustration.

We’ll always do our best to help, but there are a few circumstances where we wouldn’t be able to offer you a mortgage:

• If you have any CCJs, either declared or detected, whether satisfied or unsatisfied
• If you have ever been made bankrupt or had an IVA
• You have been party to a mortgage where the property has been taken into possession (including pending) either voluntarily or enforced
• If you have any defaulted account, either declared or detected, whether satisfied or unsatisfied
• Arrears are recent, recurring or likely to recur

Up to 4 people can apply for a mortgage with us.

For a residential mortgage the term has to end before the customer(s) 76th birthday and for BTL mortgages before their 86th birthday.

The minimum term is 5 years.

The maximum term is 35 years for a residential mortgage and a Buy-to-Let (BTL) mortgage.

We don't use income multiples here at Virgin Money. Instead, we use an affordability model to confirm how much we’re able to lend.

To see how much we could offer you, simply put your details through our affordability calculator.

To see if we'd lend to you without a full credit check, why not try our eligibility checker.

We'll accept 100% of the income sources below when paid in Great British Pounds (GBP)/£Sterling:

• Gross basic salary from an employed role
• Mortgage subsidy
• Permanent shift allowance
• Maternity income (See section 'I'm on parental leave; can I still apply for a mortgage?'?)
• Housing Allowance
• Large city weighting
• Car allowance
• Agency/fixed term employment/Zero Hours contract worker (as long as you have a 2 year track record of this income type)
• Second job income where the income has been received for at least 12 months
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Pensions
• Pension tax credits
• Employment and support allowance
• Disabled persons tax credit
• Maintenance (must have been in place via a court order for 2 years and be in place for the entire mortgage term)
• Annuities
• War Disablement Pension

We'll also accept 60% of the following income sources:

• Monthly commission/overtime
• Monthly/quarterly/half yearly/annual bonus
• Annual /half yearly bonus
• Performance related pay
• Non-permanent shift allowance

If you’re self employed, we’ll take an average of the last 2 years’ net profit, as evidenced by:

• For limited companies:
  • The last two years’ full accounts
  • A letter from your accountant
  • Last three months bank statements (personal or business)
• For sole traders and Partnerships:
  • Last two years’ HMRC SA302's, along with corresponding tax year overviews
  • Last three months bank statements (personal or business)

Please note: We do not use dividends when assessing income for self employed applicants.

If net profits are increasing, we'll take the average share of net profits over the past 2 years.

If the net profit is decreasing during that period, we'll use the lower figure, provided the business is on track to make the same or more profit in the next financial year.

For limited businesses, we can also include any director remunerations (salary).

Your first mortgage payment will be due on the 7th of the month following completion.

The main criteria to be eligible for a BTL with us is:

• The maximum loan to value is 80% or 75% for BTL portfolio landlords
• Where personal income is used for affordability we require a minimum personal income of £50,000 (excluding income received from BTL properties). 
• The rental income must cover at least 145% of the mortgage interest payment. This is known as the interest coverage ratio (ICR) and is calculated in one of the following ways:
  • Two and three year fixed products will be calculated at the product rate +2%, a nominal rate of 5.5% or the BTL Variable Rate, whichever is higher.
  • Five year fixed rate products and longer will be calculated at the product rate +1% or a nominal rate of 4.5%, whichever is higher.
    
• If there is a rental shortfall between 100% and 145%, we will consider your personal income to cover this. Personal income is not considered for BTL portfolio landlords, LTVs greater than 75%, or where the term extends beyond 75 years of age.
• If you’re remortgaging a buy-to-let property and don’t require additional borrowing, the rental income must cover at least 125% of the mortgage interest payments, stressed at the product rate +1% or a nominal rate of 5%, whichever is higher.
  
• We don't accept BTL applications for first time buyers. For joint applications, at least one applicant must have been an owner occupier for 6 months or more on the date of decision, and we may ask for evidence of this
• Letting to tenants in receipt of housing benefit is acceptable.
• For landlords with four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties visit our Buy-to-Let Portfolio Landlords page
  

There are three scenarios where we will consider a BTL mortgage for you where you are a non-homeowner (subject to maximum exposure with Virgin Money of £3 million or five properties).

1. Customer is in tied accommodation - We require documentary evidence from the employer to confirm the accommodation is contractual
2. Customers are re-mortgaging an existing BTL property
3. Customer has existing BTL mortgage(s) with Virgin Money and are buying a new BTL property

For more information on all things Buy-to-Let, check out our useful guide.

After you’ve applied for your mortgage, you just need to sign and return the application form and pay any applicable fees.

Once returned to us, your application will be assessed by an underwriter, and we'll keep you updated throughout the process.

Once your application has been returned and any applicable fees have been paid, your valuation will be instructed. Here at Virgin Money we use a combination of Automated Valuations – a computer estimate based on previous sales prices and property value indices, Desktop Valuations and Physical Valuations. Where possible a nonphysical valuation will be utilised.

We expect this will be instructed, completed and returned to us in just 5 working days. However, if there are any time delays we will keep you informed throughout your application.

That’s absolutely fine, providing the mortgage term ends before your 76th birthday and for BTL mortgages before your 86th birthday.

There are a couple of points to bear in mind if you’re applying for a residential mortgage:

• We'll only accept income from your employment up to the age of 67 (or your planned retirement age if it’s before you turn 67)
• If the term extends beyond that age, we'll need evidence of your pension arrangements to support the application as this will determine the loan amount we can offer you

The income we use to assess your application will depend on how long you have left before you return to work:

• If you’re due to return to work within the next 3 months, we’ll use your return to work salary. Please note, we'll need you to confirm in writing the date you will return to work and the salary you will receive.
• If you’re off work for another 4-12 months, we'll still use your return to work salary, but we'll need evidence of how you’re covering the shortfall in your income to pay the monthly mortgage payments (e.g. savings). We'll also need you to confirm your return to work date.

The maximum LTV for customers taking a mortgage on an interest only basis is 75% for residential mortgages and 80% for BTL mortgages (or 75% for BTL portfolio landlords).

On a residential application we can go to a maximum of 85% on a part interest only and part repayment basis, as long as the interest only element does not exceed 75%.

On a residential application if you're planning on selling another property to repay the mortgage this will restrict the loan to 65% LTV.

Residential mortgages which exceed 85% must be taken on a full repayment basis.

To take out a Virgin Money residential mortgage on an interest only or part and part basis, your total household income must be at least £75,000 (including 100% of additional income such as bonuses, overtime etc) and you must have a suitable repayment strategy in place.

If you've had a change in personal circumstances and need to add or remove a person from your mortgage, a change of parties can be requested.

Learn what you need to do Link opens in a new windowOpens in a new window

If you have a fully flexible or an everyday mortgage with Virgin Money, you may apply for a one-month payment holiday for every nine consecutive full monthly payments you make. The maximum payment holiday period is three months, which can be applied for once you have made 27 consecutive full monthly payments.

Interest will continue to be charged during a payment holiday. Taking a payment holiday will also increase the outstanding balance upon which future loan Interest charges are calculated. We will write to you towards the end of your payment holiday to confirm your new balance and revised payment – taking account of the interest that has been added during your payment holiday.

When deciding if we will allow a payment holiday, we will assess your ability to repay the revised total mortgage balance and the associated monthly payments, based on your individual circumstances at the time. This will include an affordability assessment, which may require income verification. All payment holidays are subject to Virgin Money's prior agreement.

If you are experiencing payment difficulties, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss how we could support you. The Payment Difficulties page on our website also provides information on ways that we can try to help you.

We’ll get the ball rolling by writing to you about four months before your mortgage is due to come to an end.

From there, you can speak to one of our mortgage advisors over the telephone or go online to review your deal (depending on your individual situation). Here’s a handy link with more information.

You can borrow more on a shared ownership mortgage to buy a bigger share of your home. This is called 'Staircasing'. It's means you'll own more of your home and pay less rent to your housing association.

And like any application, we'll always check our mortgages are right for you before we make you an offer. This includes an affordability assessment and a physical valuation of your home.

You can apply if:

• You're borrowing at least 5% more
• You have consent from your housing association
• You can hire a solicitor to help handle the additional borrowing

Ready to apply?

First, you'll need a few details for everyone named on the mortgage:

• Income info - including gross annual salary, bonus and overtime, if employed
• Last 2 years net profit or director's salary, if self employed
• Pension payments as shown on pay slips
• Credit card, loan and hire purchase details - payments, balances and interest rates
• Monthly rent paid to your housing association

When you're ready to get started, contact us.

If you're looking for additional borrowing for debt consolidation the maximum LTV for residential and BTL is 80%. Lending is subject to full underwriting.

You can enable a third party to discuss or request details of your mortgage account on your behalf. However, to arrange this we must have a valid authority signed by all parties to your mortgage. This can be done by printing off and completing the relevant form below and then returning it to our Main Office address, quoted on the bottom of the form.

Any third party to whom authority is given will be unable to make material changes to your mortgage account, for example, changing personal or bank details or requesting a borrowback of funds. Any authority will remain in place for 12 months only. If you want to extend the authority you will need to send in a new request, signed by all parties named on your mortgage every 12 months.

There may be other times when we need to speak to both the mortgage holder/authorised signatory before being able to carry out any changes to the mortgage.

• Download third party authority request form (PDF, 40KB)

Our Tariff of Mortgage Charges fully reflects the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Which? initiative to make our fees and charges easy for you to understand.

The tariff provides details of the fees that may be payable in connection with the administration of our full range of mortgage accounts and is not personal to you. Inclusion of a specific fee within this tariff should not be construed as meaning that the service detailed will be either relevant or available to all mortgage account holders. The terms and conditions that apply to your mortgage explain the circumstances where a fee may become payable.

Tariff of Mortgage Charges

We are here to support our existing customers who have a mortgage on a property that is impacted by potentially unsafe EWS. When your current mortgage deal ends we will offer a new mortgage product, just as we always would.

For changes to an existing Virgin Money mortgage we will assess each case based on individual circumstances. As a responsible lender, any application for additional borrowing from customers impacted by unsafe EWS will be carefully considered before a decision is made.

We appreciate that there is a lot of change impacting customers lives and unfortunately your finances may have been negatively impacted. If you are worried about your finances or having payment difficulties, please click here to see ways we can try to help you.

If you would like to speak to a member of staff call 0800 917 0037. We're here from 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am - 1pm Saturday.

Fill in our online certificate of interest form to request a certificate of interest for the last tax year or the one before.

You can do this in the following ways:

• Complete our online redemption statement form to request a copy be posted
• Contact us at our UK based call centres on 0345 602 8301 for further information
• Write to us at: Redemptions department, Jubilee House, Virgin Money, Gosforth, NE3 4PL
• Solicitors can request a redemption statement using our online solicitor redemption statement request facility

Please ensure you specify your preferred date of redemption.

Fill in our online interim statement form to request an interim statement for your account.

If you'd like to ask us something specific about your account get in touch using our contact us page.

Let's chat online, great for quick questions about your existing mortgage. Click here for Live chat.

We’ll remind you in writing about four months before your mortgage deal is due to come to an end. From there, you can speak to one of our mortgage advisors over the telephone or go online to renew your deal (depending on your individual situation). Here’s a handy link with more information.

If you choose to do nothing then the interest rate charged on your outstanding mortgage balance will revert to our Standard Variable Rate (or Buy to Let Variable rate for Buy to Let customers, where applicable) once your current deal ends. You can contact us at any time should you decide you would like a new deal.

If you already know the new deal you want, and you aren’t looking to make any other changes to your current mortgage arrangements other than to switch rate, then you can apply online by clicking here.

Alternatively you can give us a call on 0345 600 66 22 and make your request over the phone. If advice is required one of our fully qualified mortgage advisors will be happy to provide you with a recommendation on the best deal to suit your circumstances, should you need one.

You should allow at least 3-4 weeks for your new deal to be set up so please ensure you don’t leave it too late if you wish to avoid paying our Standard Variable Rate.

If you would like a recommendation from one of our qualified mortgage advisors you should allow approx. 1 hour for the telephone interview. This is to ensure we capture all the information we need to make sure we are recommending the most suitable deal for you.

If you choose to apply online, the application process takes around 10 minutes to complete. It is very important that the information you provide is as accurate as possible to prevent delays in processing your request once we are in receipt of it.

Once we have received your telephone / online request we aim to send you full details of your new deal in writing within one week. You will need to then sign and return the Acceptance Form (and any other forms where applicable) before we can complete the switch.

The cut off for receiving your documents and setting up your new deal in time for your current deal ending is around the 18th of each month. Please make sure you have your documents back in good time to ensure your new payment collects on the 1st of the following month (where applicable).

If you request other changes at the same time as switching deal (for example extra borrowing) then it will take longer to process, so we strongly encourage you to contact us as soon as possible.

If you are applying by phone, we strongly encourage you to have your financial details to hand to help make the process as smooth as possible. This includes details of your income and expenditure, as well as any details of repayment strategy if some or all of your mortgage is on an interest only basis. This is to ensure our qualified mortgage advisor recommends the most suitable deal for you.

If you are simply switching deal with no other changes, then we will not ask you to provide evidence of your income or run credit searches against you – although we will need you to confirm the new mortgage payment is affordable by getting an understanding of your current circumstances.

If you are applying online then you will need to know details of current mortgage arrangements including your mortgage account number, estimated property value, outstanding balance, repayment type and remaining term. You will also need to provide details of your repayment strategy if your mortgage is on an interest only basis.

Please note; unfortunately you will not be able to apply for a mortgage review online if your mortgage is currently on a part/part basis.

No, not if you are simply requesting to switch deal with no other changes and you have confirmed the new mortgage payment is affordable.

If you are looking to make changes, such as borrowing more money, then we will need evidence of certain information relating to your income and expenditure – your mortgage advisor will make it clear exactly what you need to provide when you apply.

Yes you can apply to take additional borrowing, although it will be subject to our lending policy at the time. You must make your request via the telephone (i.e. not online) and our qualified mortgage advisors must do a full review of your needs and circumstances before making a recommendation on what is best for you.

A valuation of your property may be required, and it’s likely that we will need to request evidence of your income and expenditure.

If you are simply looking to switch deal with no other changes then a property valuation should not be required, although we will make you fully aware when you apply should we need to.

A valuation may be required if you request further borrowing.

Please note, should a valuation be required we will do this free of charge.

Yes of course, you can apply for a new deal even if your deal has already reverted to our Standard Variable Rate / Buy to Let Variable Rate.

The great news is that there’s no application, valuation or legal fees to pay when you switch to a new deal with us.

Product Fees may apply should you select or be recommended a deal with a fee (which usually carry a lower interest rate). This fee can be paid up front prior to transferring to your new deal, or added to your loan if appropriate.

When you come to the end of your current mortgage deal, we will offer you a new mortgage product, just as we always would. So if you have problems getting a mortgage elsewhere, we’re here for you.

For more information about cladding, please review the government guidance Link opens in a new window.

It’s really easy to take your mortgage with you when you move home. Find out moreabout moving home with your mortgage.

If you're an existing Virgin Money Mortgage customer transferring your product to a new property, the redemption statement will always be issued with your full early repayment charge. A revised redemption statement will be issued by our redemptions team once we have received a certificate of title with either a reduced or removed early repayment charge, depending on our porting policy. There is no need to request an additional redemption statement.

To pay off your mortgage in full, you will need a redemption statement, which you can request in a number of different ways.

In writing to us at:

Redemptions department,
Jubilee House,
Virgin Money,
Gosforth
NE3 4PL.

Online – If you use our online service you can request a redemptions statement once you have logged in to your mortgage online.

Over the phone – by calling us on 0345 602 8301.

Please ensure you specify your preferred date of redemption.

When your payment has been received it can take up to 7 to 10 working days to be processed. If you pay by direct debit and redeem at the beginning of the month, the monthly direct debit may still be taken. We automatically refund the additional payment to you within 7 to 10 working days from the date that the payment was taken.

If the property is located in England or Wales the title for most properties is held electronically at Land Registry. However, if we hold your deeds we will send them to you (or your solicitor, if you are using one) once your mortgage has been fully paid off and closed.

If the property is located in Scotland you will need to instruct your solicitor to remove the standard security from the title of the property, for which a fee will be applicable.

If the property is located in Northern Ireland the mortgage deed will be receipted by Clydesdale Bank PLC (trading as Virgin Money). This confirms Clydesdale Bank PLC no longer has an interest in the property, however, you will need to instruct a solicitor to make an application to ‘Land Registry of Northern Ireland’ for the charge to be removed from the title of the property.

They can visit the existing customers section on virginmoney.com.

If you've paid more than the amount needed to pay off the mortgage, we'll make every effort to refund the overpaid amount as soon as possible.

This can take up to 10 working days.

Surplus payments are refunded either electronically to the bank account your mortgage payments were previously collected from, or by cheque once the surplus payment has cleared.

If the amount to repay your mortgage is received after the 25th of the month, arrangements will already be in place to collect your Direct Debit for the 1st of the following month.

Any monthly payment received following redemption will be returned to the originating bank within 10 working days of full redemption. No further action will be needed from yourself.

Payment by Telegraphic Transfer, Faster Payment or BACS -

Our bank details are Virgin Money, sort code 40-63-99, account number 81333402. Please ensure you clearly quote your mortgage account number as the reference. When you make the payment your bank may not be able to confirm the payee details as this is a generic mortgage payment account but rest assured the details are correct.

Payment by Cheque -

Cheques should be sent to Jubilee House, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE3 4PL payable to 'Virgin Money' quoting your mortgage account number.

For properties in England and Wales:
If we hold your title deeds then they will be despatched upon receipt of the Redemption Advice Form signed by all parties named on the account. If no completed form is received the documents will be despatched to the property/correspondence address. We will arrange to remove the charge from the property direct with HM Land Registry.

For properties in Scotland:
If we hold your title deeds then they will be despatched upon receipt of the Redemption Advice Form signed by all parties named on the account. If no completed form is received the documents will be despatched to the property/correspondence address. You will need to instruct your solicitor to remove the standard security at the Registers of Scotland, for which a fee will be applicable.

For properties in Northern Ireland:
If we hold your title deeds then they will be despatched upon receipt of the Redemption Advice Form signed by all parties named on the account. If no completed form is received the documents will be despatched to the property/correspondence address. You will need to instruct a solicitor to make an application to ‘Land Registry of Northern Ireland’ for the charge to be removed from the title. A fee may be applicable.

If you are worried about your finances or are having difficulties making payments, there are a range of options and support available to you. Find out moreabout payment difficulties.

Information is you are looking for hints and tips for finding a new job, or would like to find out more about redundancy. Find out moreabout getting back to work.

We can provide you with tools to help you manage your money more effectively. Find out moreabout self help tools.

There are many organisations that can help you to manage your money. Find out moreabout organisations that can help with money management.

Support and information for mortgage customers impacted by potentially unsafe cladding. Find out moreabout unsafe cladding.