Existing Customers – our Mortgage FAQs
Do you currently have a mortgage with Harpenden Building Society? If you have any queries about how they work or what options are available if you have issues with repayments, our existing customer mortgage FAQs can help.
Mortgages can be confusing, especially if this is your first time repaying one, but at Harpenden Building Society, we’re all about making them simple and easier to understand.
Although we don’t specifically give mortgage advice to borrowers, we’ve put together answers to common questions from existing mortgage customers. You’ll get useful information about Harpenden mortgages, their features and flexibility and what to do if you run into any financial difficulties.
Scroll down and see if these mortgage customer FAQs can answer your queries and ease any concerns you may have.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
If you fail to keep up with payments on your mortgage a ‘Receiver of Rent’ may be appointed and your rental property, or other property used as security, may be repossessed.
Frequently asked questions
If you’re experiencing difficulties paying the amounts due under your mortgage, please contact us as soon as possible. The sooner we know about these difficulties and understand your situation, the more options we may be able to offer to help.
If any law or regulation requires us to send you information or guidance on dealing with financial issues and/or mortgage arrears, we’ll provide this to you once we know that you are, or might in the future be, in difficulties.
Please visit our Difficulties Paying Your Mortgage page for more details about how Harpenden Building Society can support you and the solutions we have for mortgage customers struggling to make repayments.
For more information on mortgage arrears or issues paying a mortgage, learn about government support for mortgage holders via MoneyHelper.
Mortgages are repaid monthly, with 12 payments annually. The number and amount of repayments depend on the mortgage value and terms required.
All mortgage payments must be made by Direct Debit, or in any other way we may agree or reasonably require.
For Direct Debit, it’s your responsibility to ensure there’s enough money in your bank account to cover the payments when they’re due for collection. Payments by any other method are made at your risk, and you’re responsible for ensuring they reach us on time.
Yes, it’s possible to change your mortgage terms with Harpenden Building Society. During the period of a repayment mortgage, we can, on written request, following advice from your independent financial adviser, amend the mortgage term to suit your changing financial circumstances.
You can also switch from a repayment mortgage to an interest-only mortgage, or vice versa, during the agreed term, subject to circumstances. However, we recommend discussing the consequences of these actions with your adviser.
Please see our Tariff of Charges for details of any charges involved in changing mortgage terms.
Not all Harpenden Building Society mortgage products are subject to early repayment charges (ERC). However, those which are will also be subject to a maximum allowance in capital repayments per 12-month period. Any capital repayments over this allowance are subject to an early repayment charge until the end of the initial discount/fixed period.
No early repayment charges will be payable on redemption or for capital repayments once the initial discount/fixed period ends.
Your first full monthly repayment Direct Debit payment will be collected on the 23rd of the month following the completion of your mortgage agreement.
This first mortgage payment will be higher than your regular payments, as it includes initial interest. Initial interest consists of the interest from the start of your mortgage to the end of that month, which is added to your first monthly repayment.
Yes, you can change the date of your monthly mortgage repayments.
After your first repayment, you can choose to have your Direct Debit payment collected on the 5th, 23rd or 27th of the month. We require at least five working days to amend your Direct Debit payment date.
If changing your payment date, please ensure you still make payments when they’re due, while the request change is being implemented.
To change your mortgage payment date, please get in touch with us to make arrangements.
Yes, we can consider requests to change mortgage repayment methods, but this is subject to various criteria and your ability to make the monthly repayments required, following the method change.
If you’re having difficulty making your mortgage repayments, please contact us as soon as possible. A member of our friendly and highly knowledgeable team can chat through your options.
Yes, you can overpay on your mortgage (sometimes known as a capital payment) with Harpenden Building Society.
You can repay up to an additional 10% of your outstanding mortgage balance each year, starting from the date of the original mortgage agreement or the start date of your latest interest rate deal, using the balance outstanding, without incurring an early repayment charge.
If you make an overpayment, the amount you owe and the interest you’re charged will decrease from the date the overpayment is credited to your account.
Early repayment charges apply if any overpayments go over 10% of the outstanding balance or the full mortgage repayment in the stated period.
If you need to change the bank details for your Direct Debit, you can send us your new bank details using this Direct Debit Mandate Form.
Once completed, please send it to us via email to customeroperations@harpendenbs.co.uk or by post to the following address: Harpenden Building Society, FREEPOST SB165, Mardall House, 9-11 Vaughan Road, Hertfordshire, AL5 4HU.
If the interest rate on your Harpenden Building Society mortgage is about to change, we’ll write to you at least 10 days before the change to confirm your new rate and monthly repayment amount.
Yes. We’ll send your Annual Mortgage Statement to you at the beginning of each year. This statement will cover the period from 1st January to 31st December of the previous year. It will outline your mortgage balance, payments, interest charges and any fees accrued over the year.
You’ll receive a statement for each mortgage account that you have with us.
If you’d like to order a statement at any other time of the year, you can request a copy by letter, call or email. Your most recent mortgage statement will be sent out to you, free of charge, annually. You can also request additional copies of this or previous statements.
You may need a Certificate of Interest for your mortgage for tax purposes. This certificate gives details of the interest charged to your mortgage account during the previous tax year.
If you’d like to request a Certificate of Interest, please get in touch with us, and we’ll arrange for one to be sent to you.
Please note that we can’t produce a certificate until the relevant tax year has ended.
If you want to redeem your mortgage, you’ll need to request a redemption statement to know exactly how much you need to pay, as interest is calculated daily on your mortgage account.
The redemption statement will also include any fees or charges due.
If you’d like a redemption statement, please contact our team to request one.
If you have a residential mortgage and you want to let the related property, you’ll need to apply for a ‘consent to let’. For more info, get in touch with us to discuss your specific situation.
If you sell part of the land or any outbuildings on land that you own, that portion of the property that forms part of our security on the mortgage is released. This is known as a ’partial release of security’ and is often handled on your behalf by a solicitor.
Please be aware that this process may involve getting your property valued again.
Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss a partial release of security with our team.
Yes. You can add or remove someone from your mortgage, subject to our approval, mortgage lending criteria and affordability assessment. This is known as a ‘transfer of equity’.
If you’re thinking of adding or removing someone from your mortgage, reach out to us to discuss this further.
Yes, under certain circumstances. The mortgage term is the number of years you agreed to make repayments when you first took out your mortgage with Harpenden Building Society.
As your circumstances change, you may want to change the term of your mortgage, making it either longer or shorter.
This will impact your monthly mortgage payments, and any term adjustment agreement is subject to our lending criteria and your affordability status.
Please speak to our team if you’d like to change your mortgage term. We can discuss your needs and the available options.
It’s easy to change the address and contact details associated with your mortgage. Simply complete our Change of Details Form and get it back to us.
You can send the form to us via email at customeroperations@harpendenbs.co.uk or via post to the following address: Harpenden Building Society, FREEPOST SB165, Mardall House, 9-11 Vaughan Road, Hertfordshire, AL5 4HU.
We’ll confirm when your details have been updated on our system.
Mortgage terms and conditions may have to be changed from time to time. When this happens, we’ll write to you about any changes and give you at least one month’s notice before they take effect.
If there are significant changes in any one year, we’ll send you a copy of the new terms and conditions or a summary of the changes.
Can’t find what you are looking for? Contact our mortgage team on 01582 463133 or email us at customeroperations@harpendenbs.co.uk – our friendly and highly knowledgeable team is ready to help you and answer any queries you might have.
Alternatively, read our General Mortgage FAQs, as they may contain the key information you’re looking for and answer your question.
