The scheme closed. Your equity loan didn't.
In England nobody can take out a Help to Buy equity loan any more — Wales still runs its own version — which means almost nothing is written for the people who already have one. If your credit has taken a knock since you bought, remortgaging one of these is harder than an ordinary remortgage — and worth starting early.
- Free first call
- No credit search to talk
- Start before the rate ends
David Bourne
The part people budget for wrongly
An equity loan is not a fixed sum you owe. It is a share of your home. When you repay it, the amount is worked out from what your home is worth at that point — not from the amount you originally borrowed.
If your home has gone up in value, you owe more pounds than you were given. That is how the scheme was designed and it is in your paperwork, but it lands as a shock for people who have been mentally holding on to the original figure for years.
It also cuts the other way: if your home is worth less, the repayment is smaller. Either way, the number to plan around is a valuation, not a memory.
Why adverse credit makes this harder than a normal remortgage
Not every lender will lend on a property with an equity loan sitting behind their mortgage. That is a smaller pool before anything else is considered. Add a default or a CCJ and it narrows again — you need a lender comfortable with both.
This is the trap: the fixed rate ends, the options are thin, and people end up on their lender's standard variable rate simply because they ran out of time to arrange anything better. Meanwhile the equity loan is still there.
Start looking months before your rate ends rather than weeks. On these cases that single decision is usually worth more than anything else.
What you are actually allowed to do
- Remortgage without asking permission — if you are not borrowing more, you do not need consent to move to a new lender.
- Repay some or all of the equity loan at any time, based on an independent RICS valuation that you pay for at that point.
- Borrow more, with permission — a separate process with its own approval.
- Expect an administration fee each time — one for remortgaging, another for repaying all or part of the loan — on top of the valuation. The current figures are published by the equity loan administrator.
- Repay it in full when you sell, when you pay off your mortgage, or at the end of the equity loan's own term — normally 25 years — whichever comes first. A longer mortgage term does not stretch it, and it does not quietly expire.
And the one everybody forgets: interest becomes payable on the equity loan from the sixth year. The dates and figures are specific to your loan, so read your own documents — but plenty of people meet that cost and their fixed-rate ending in the same year, which is exactly the squeeze to see coming.
What I would do first
Find your equity loan percentage and your mortgage end date, and get a realistic sense of what your home is worth. With those three things I can tell you whether remortgaging, repaying part of the loan, or leaving it alone for now is the cheaper path — and whether your credit file rules anything out.
If the answer is to sit tight, I will say so. Being told to wait is a legitimate outcome and it costs you nothing.
What people ask about Help to Buy
Can I still get a Help to Buy equity loan?
Not in England, where the scheme closed to new buyers in 2023. Wales runs its own version. This page is for people who already have one.
Do I need permission to remortgage?
Not if you are not borrowing more. If you want to borrow more, that needs approval and is a separate process.
Why do I owe more than I borrowed?
Because you owe a share of the property, not a fixed sum. If the value has risen, so has the repayment.
Does a CCJ stop me remortgaging?
Not automatically, but it narrows a pool that is already narrower than usual, which is why timing matters so much here.
What happens if I just do nothing?
You are likely to drift onto a standard variable rate, and the equity loan still has to be repaid when you sell, when the mortgage is paid off, or at the end of its own term, whichever comes first.
Help to Buy remortgages take longer. Start them earlier.
Is one of these closer to your plan?
The same credit history behaves differently depending on what you are actually trying to arrange.
Let to buy mortgages
Keeping the home you live in and buying another. Two mortgages, one completion date.
Porting a mortgage with bad credit
Moving house and keeping your deal? It is a new application, not a transfer.
Remortgaging with a CCJ or default
Coming off a fixed rate with something on your file, or stuck on the standard variable.
Right to Buy with bad credit
The discount can do the deposit’s job. The credit file is the part I deal with.