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Santander has become the first major UK high street bank to exclude energy bills from affordability checks on qualifying “Zero Bills” homes.
Because monthly running costs are lower, eligible buyers could borrow up to £30,000 more without needing an increase in income.

How lenders review modern spending habits and borrowing power.
Lenders judge control, not morality: They do not care what you spend money on, only whether your spending is controlled and predictable.
Subscriptions are discretionary: A payment to a platform like OnlyFans is treated like any other regular spend, unless it becomes large or frequent enough to act like a financial commitment.

TL;DR Leeds Building Society has introduced the Start Mortgage: a 2% deposit scheme requiring a minimum £5,000 cash contribution. Halifax already offers a similar sounding £5,000 deposit mortgage, but the rules are different. The property cap is £300,000 and the deposit must come from your own savings, not a gift. Skipton’s Track Record Mortgage goes […]

New Leadership: Andy Burnham became the UK’s Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, following Keir Starmer’s resignation the previous month.
How Rates Move: Prime Ministers do not set mortgage rates directly. Fixed mortgage rates are priced through a financial chain reaction: political uncertainty influences gilt yields, which move swap rates, which then determine what lenders charge.

If you have never heard of SONIA swap rates before, you are not alone. Most people only come across the term when their fixed mortgage deal is ending, and they are trying to work out why the new rates on offer look different from the ones they signed up to a few years ago.