FINANCE

Fewer than one in 10 borrowers in the UK has an offset mortgage, but this isn't down to shoddy products: rather, it's a matter of suitability.

By "offsetting" your savings against a mortgage, you only pay interest on the difference. "In your case, you'd only pay interest on 71,000 - and, over 15 years, that can add up to a significant saving," says Andrew Montlake of broker Cobalt Capital.

David Hollingworth, at broker London & Country, says that paying interest on a smaller sum means you shorten the life of your home loan, too. For example, Egg offer a variable offset loan at 0.75 percentage points above Bank of England base rate. "If you were to opt for this, you'd repay two years ...