What Happens When My Fixed-Rate Mortgage Ends?

What happens by default

When your fixed-rate deal ends, your mortgage doesn't disappear. It automatically rolls onto your lender's Standard Variable Rate (SVR) unless you arrange something else.

The SVR is set by your lender, can change at any time, and is almost always significantly higher than the deals available on the wider market. As of mid-2025, most UK lender SVRs sit in the 7–9% range — well above competitive fixed and tracker rates, which typically run several percentage points lower.

So if you do nothing when your fix ends, your monthly payment can jump dramatically — sometimes by hundreds of pounds a month — and you'll keep paying that higher rate until you take action.

A realistic example. A £250,000 repayment mortgage at 2% costs roughly £1,060/month. The same mortgage at an 8% SVR costs roughly £1,930/month. That's £870/month extra — £10,440 a year — purely from inaction.

The SVR is essentially the price the lender charges customers who haven't shopped around. Most people don't intend to stay on it — they just run out of time, get confused about when to act, or assume the lender will sort it out for them. Lenders don't generally remind you about the cliff edge in much detail, so it's on you to know.

When to start looking

You can usually arrange a new mortgage deal up to six months before your current deal ends. This is the key thing to know.

There are two ways forward:

Remortgage to a new lender. Compare deals across the whole market and switch to whoever offers the best terms. The new lender pays off your existing mortgage on completion. Often gives you the best rates but involves more paperwork — affordability checks, valuation, legal work.

Take a product transfer with your existing lender. Stay with your current lender but switch to one of their available deals. Usually faster and simpler than remortgaging — often no affordability check, no new valuation, no legal fees. But you're limited to the deals your lender offers.

For most people, the right move is to explore both options in the months before your fix ends, then pick whichever gives the better outcome once you've compared the rates and the fees.

Why start six months early?

You can lock in a rate now and use it later. Most fixed-rate offers stay valid for around six months. If rates are expected to rise, locking in now protects you. If rates fall before completion, you can usually switch to the lower rate before your existing deal ends.

Remortgages can take 6–12 weeks to complete, especially if there's a valuation backlog. Starting late risks rolling onto the SVR even briefly — and at SVR rates, even one month is expensive.

It removes the stress of last-minute decisions. Mortgage decisions are big — taking time to think rather than scrambling helps.

The general rule: set a calendar reminder for the day your fix has 6 months left. That's when to start looking seriously.

How to find the best deal

Comparing mortgage rates isn't quite as simple as picking the lowest headline rate. The total cost depends on rate, fees, and term — and the cheapest rate sometimes isn't the cheapest overall.

Things to compare:

• The interest rate — obviously
• The product fee — often £500–£2,000, sometimes added to the loan (which costs you interest on the fee for the term of the deal)
• The deal length — 2, 3, 5, or 10 years; longer fixes generally have higher rates but more certainty
• The early repayment charge — usually 1–5% of the balance if you exit the deal early
• The loan-to-value (LTV) tier — rates jump at thresholds (typically 95%, 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 60%)

The mortgage comparison calculator lets you compare two specific deals factoring in the fees and term — usually clearer than trying to do the maths in your head.

A few practical tips:

Get the LTV right. If your remaining balance is close to a tier boundary (say £255,000 on a £340,000 home — that's 75% LTV) it's worth checking whether a small lump sum overpayment could push you under the threshold and unlock better rates. The interest saving from a lower-rate tier can comfortably exceed the lump sum.

Don't fixate on the lowest rate. A 4.5% rate with a £1,995 fee can easily work out worse than a 4.7% rate with no fee, depending on the loan size and term. Always compare total cost over the deal period.

Consider the deal length carefully. A 5-year fix gives you certainty but locks you in. If rates fall significantly during that 5 years, you can't easily benefit. A 2-year fix gives you flexibility but you'll pay more remortgaging fees over time.

Check whether your lender will let you "switch and save." If you've locked in a deal months early and rates have dropped, most lenders will let you swap to the lower rate before completion. Worth asking.

Should you go fixed, tracker, or variable?

When your current fix ends, you'll be choosing from three main types of deal:

Fixed-rate. Your rate stays the same for a set period (usually 2–5 years). Payments are predictable. Best if you want certainty or expect rates to rise. Most popular choice in the UK.

Tracker. Your rate moves with the Bank of England base rate, usually base rate + a fixed margin (e.g. "base + 0.5%"). Cheaper than fixed deals when rates are stable or falling; more expensive if they rise. Worth considering if you think rates are heading down.

Discount variable. A discount off the lender's SVR for a set period. Less common than trackers and generally less transparent — the lender controls the SVR, so the discount can shift unpredictably.

There's no single right answer. The honest framing:

• If you value certainty above all, fix.
• If you think rates are likely to fall meaningfully in the next 2 years, tracker with no early repayment charges might win.
• If you genuinely don't know, fix for 2 years is the most common default — short enough to reassess soon, long enough to give you stability.

How much can it actually cost to do nothing?

This is the cost calculation people don't usually run, but should.

Imagine you have a £200,000 mortgage with 20 years left. Your fix ends and:

• Lender's SVR is 8% → monthly payment £1,673
• Best new fix is 4.8% → monthly payment £1,295

The difference: £378/month, or £4,536 a year, or roughly £23,000 over a 5-year period.

The cost of remortgaging by comparison is small — typically £500–£1,500 in fees, often less, sometimes zero with fee-free deals. The maths is so lopsided that it's hard to construct a scenario where shopping around isn't worth the effort.

The mortgage overpayment calculator makes the monthly payment comparison concrete for your loan size and rates.

What if I can't get a new deal?

Most people sail through the remortgage process. A few situations make it harder:

Your circumstances have worsened. Job changes, income drops, new debts, or a partner leaving the mortgage can affect affordability. Your existing lender's product transfer option usually doesn't require new affordability checks — staying with them is often the easier route in this case.

Your home has lost value, pushing your LTV up. If your home is worth less than when you bought it, your LTV could now be in a higher tier with worse rates. Product transfers with your existing lender often use the original valuation, so this can again be the better route.

Your credit score has dropped. Same logic — your existing lender knows your payment history and is more likely to offer you a deal without a fresh credit check.

You're a "mortgage prisoner." This is the term for borrowers who can't pass current affordability tests anywhere — often because they have an older mortgage with relaxed lending rules. Recent FCA rule changes have widened options here, and your current lender's product transfer is usually a way forward. It's worth speaking to a mortgage broker if you're in this situation.

A few practical points

You don't have to use a broker, but it often helps. Brokers can access deals not available direct, and they handle the paperwork. Fees vary — some are free (paid by the lender), others charge £300–£800. For complex situations, brokers often save more than they cost.

Your lender might offer you a "retention deal" before you start looking. These can be competitive but aren't always. Always compare against the wider market before accepting.

Overpaying before remortgaging can pay off. If you've got savings sitting in cash earning less than your new mortgage rate, using some of it to reduce the balance — and potentially drop into a lower LTV tier — is worth modelling. Most fixed deals allow 10% annual overpayments penalty-free.

Mortgage deals "complete" rather than start instantly. If you accept a new deal 4 months before your existing fix ends, the new deal usually completes when the old one finishes — not immediately. You don't pay both for a transition period.

The bottom line

When your fixed-rate mortgage ends, doing nothing usually costs thousands. The standard variable rate exists primarily as a default for borrowers who haven't shopped around, and it's almost always meaningfully more expensive than what's available with a few hours of effort.

Start looking six months before your fix ends. Compare both your existing lender's product transfers and a couple of options from the wider market. Factor in fees, not just rates. And lock in a deal early — you can usually switch to a better rate if one appears later, but you can't easily fix the SVR cliff edge once you've fallen off it.

Run your specific scenario through the mortgage overpayment calculator to see exactly what staying on the SVR would cost versus a competitive remortgage. The numbers usually make the decision obvious.

This article is for general information only and isn't personal financial advice. Mortgage rates and rules change frequently — figures used are for illustration only. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage.