It's worth just noting that a 2 year comparison will not 'fit' every mortgage - eg Northern Rock currently have a 4.49 2 year fixed rate at 4.49%, but it only runs to 1/3/08, so it's not really 2 years.

The True Cost over 2 years calculation will include 6 months at the standard rate - about 6.5, and as Loiuse says above, you'll remortgage at the end of the fix.

So, on the one hand the true cost will show a higher figure for this very low fixed rate than you'd expect and it will be placed further down the league table than maybe it deserves. On the other hand, it is a very short product and may be unsuitable anyway.

If a product like this interests you, you just need to do a manual calculation.

Good luck

Hello Curious - and I am really pleased you are finding our site useful (don't forget to share this with friends and relations!!)

The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) quoted for a mortgage is based on the true cost of the mortgage OVER THE FULL REQUESTED TERM (eg 25 years). Thus, in most cases, this includes a period on a discounted rate followed by a prolonged period at the Standard Variable Rate (SVR) charged by the Lender. As it is highly unlikely that any borrower will stay with the same mortgage and same Lender over the full term - the APR becomes quite meaningless as a comparson.

Our True Cost calculator allows you to chose the term that you use to compare total cost. Usually this is the term of the 'deal' - for example if you chose a two year deal - then it makes sence to compare costs over two years, at which stage you should think of remortgaging before moving onto SVR. The True cost over specified term will include total payments, redemption fee if appropriate, up front fees, completion fees, added fees - and any cashback will be deducted.

Carry on surfing!

Louise

I'm finding your mortgage comparison tables extremely useful, but (having little knowledge about mortgages!) I'm confused about a couple of things:

How is the true cost of a mortgage over the specified fixed time period calculated in your mortgage comparison table?

And I thought that the initial monthly payments would depend only on the APR - but this doesn't seem to be so - why not?!

Cheers,
Curious_Imp