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HSBC mortgages: at a glance
HSBC offers mortgages on both a capital repayment and interest-only basis, with its mortgage range including fixed rate and tracker rate options. The minimum mortgage amount of £10,000 is lower than some other lenders allow, and you can apply for a HSBC mortgage in a variety of ways, including online, over the phone, at an HSBC branch, and through a broker.
It’s possible to make overpayments on HSBC mortgages, although with fixed-rate deals, these are currently restricted to 10% of your outstanding balance each year if you want to avoid paying an early repayment charge.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a loan or any other debt secured on it
HSBC Mortgages
5 to 40 years
£10,000
Capital & Interest; and Interest Only
Yes
Yes
This mortgage provider is available via our partner, London & Country Mortgages.
Think carefully before taking out any mortgage. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments.
This is our review of a lender and not the products, interest rates, fees or deal terms they offer. Many lenders also offer preferential products exclusively via brokers and intermediaries. This review does not constitute advice or recommendation.
HSBC mortgage pros & cons
Pros
- HSBC offers capital repayment and interest-only mortgages.
- Mortgages at 85% LTV and over are available.
- There is a low minimum loan amount of £10,000.
- HSBC offers a wide choice of customer support options.
Cons
- Other providers offer shorter minimum mortgage terms.
HSBC mortgage overview
HSBC is one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the UK, providing mortgages to first-time buyers, home movers and those looking to remortgage. It offers buy-to-let mortgages, too.
HSBC mortgages are available over terms of between five and 40 years, and start at £10,000. Customer support is available online, over the phone, at a branch or through the HSBC mobile app.
| Product options | Capital repayment Interest-only Fixed-rate Tracker 85% loan-to-value (LTV) or higher |
| Term length | 5 to 40 years |
| Minimum loan size | £10,000 |
| Allows overpayments | Yes |
| Mortgages are portable | Yes |
| Ways to apply | Online, over the phone, at a branch, via a broker |
| Customer service contact options | Online, over the phone, at a branch, via the mobile app |
| Fairer Finance customer experience rating | 60% (as at 8 April 2024) |
Where HSBC mortgages stand out
Multiple application and support options
HSBC gives you the option of applying for a mortgage either online, over the phone or at one of its branches. It also offers similar routes to accessing customer support, along with support via a mobile app.
Low minimum mortgage amount
If you want a smaller mortgage, HSBC may be able to help. The minimum mortgage amount of £10,000 offered by HSBC is lower than the smallest amount of £25,000 or even £50,000 allowed by some other lenders.
Where HSBC mortgages fall short
Fewer product options than some lenders
If you’re looking for a particular type of mortgage, it’s worth noting that HSBC doesn’t offer offset mortgages, green mortgages or family mortgages, such as springboard mortgages.
Shorter mortgage terms elsewhere
The minimum mortgage term of five years that HSBC allows is not as short as some that other lenders allow. Note as well that there is a shorter maximum loan term of 25 years on interest-only mortgages.
» MORE: Best mortgage lenders
What types of mortgages does HSBC offer?
HSBC first-time buyer mortgages
HSBC first-time buyer mortgages are currently available up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV), meaning it may be possible to get a mortgage with as little as a 5% deposit. Fixed-rate and tracker options are both available to first-time buyers, as are mortgages with no booking fee.
HSBC remortgages
If you’re thinking of remortgaging, HSBC offers fixed rate and tracker remortgage deals across a range of LTVs between 60% to 90%. Fixed-rate mortgages for remortgaging are currently available over two-, three-, five- and 10-year terms, while a tracker mortgage for remortgaging is available over two years.
HSBC buy-to-let mortgages
HSBC buy-to-let mortgages are available for those buying new buy-to-let properties and for existing landlords looking to remortgage. Fixed and tracker rates are both on offer at LTVs of between 60% and 75%.
HSBC mortgage features
Repayment options
HSBC offers mortgages on both a capital repayment and interest-only basis. With a repayment mortgage, your repayments go towards paying off your interest and some of your original mortgage debt each month. As long as you keep up with your repayments, you should have paid everything off by the end of your full mortgage term.
By contrast, with an interest-only mortgage, your repayments only cover the interest that you’re charged each month, meaning you will need to have a repayment strategy for paying off the capital in its entirety at the end of the mortgage term. This may be in the form of savings, investments or other assets you may have.
» MORE: Interest-only vs. repayment mortgages
Mortgage rates
HSBC offers both fixed-rate and tracker-rate mortgages. Choosing a fixed-rate mortgage means your mortgage rate won’t change for the period of time you’ve fixed. When this period expires, you may want to remortgage. If not, you will move onto HSBC’s standard variable rate (SVR), which is likely to be higher than the rate you’ve just left and could rise or fall going forward.
Your mortgage rate and monthly repayments may also rise and fall with a HSBC tracker mortgage, depending on movements in the Bank of England base rate. Before opting for any kind of variable rate mortgage, it’s important to check whether you could still afford your monthly repayments if interest rates were to rise.
» MORE: Fixed- vs. variable-rate mortgages
Loan-to-value ratios
HSBC repayment mortgages are currently available from 60% LTV all the way up to 95% LTV. This means you may be able to get an HSBC mortgage with a 5% deposit. HSBC interest-only mortgages have a lower borrowing limit of 75% LTV.
» MORE: Why your LTV is important for a mortgage
Mortgage offers
If you apply for an HSBC mortgage and the bank makes you a mortgage offer, this could be valid for up to six months. During this time, the rate you’ve been offered is secured and won’t change, regardless of what may happen to mortgage rates generally.
Making overpayments
HSBC allows mortgage borrowers to make overpayments if they wish. Overpaying on your mortgage may help you clear your mortgage sooner and pay less in interest overall. The most you can overpay on an HSBC fixed-rate mortgage without incurring an early repayment charge (ERC) is currently 10% of your outstanding mortgage balance each year. There is no limit to how much you can overpay on a HSBC tracker mortgage. Overpayments can be made either by increasing your regular monthly repayments or paying a lump sum.
» MORE: Mortgage overpayment calculator
Paying off your mortgage early
It’s possible to pay off an HSBC mortgage early, but for fixed-rate mortgages, the overpayment limits apply, and you will have to pay an ERC if you exceed them. If you have a tracker mortgage, or you’ve moved onto HSBC’s standard variable rate because your initial deal has expired, you won’t have to pay an ERC. It’s always best to check with your lender if you intend to pay off your mortgage early to get a clear understanding of how much you need to pay in total and to find out if any other charges will apply.
Porting your mortgage
If you’re moving home and already have an HSBC mortgage, it’s possible to ‘port’ your HSBC mortgage and take it with you to your new property. If the amount you’re borrowing, your mortgage rate and the end date of your current deal stay the same, porting a mortgage may mean you can avoid having to pay an ERC.
Customer support
There are plenty of ways to get in touch with HSBC, including online, over the phone, at your local HSBC branch or via the HSBC mobile app. If you’re online, there is a live chat feature with a virtual assistant that will attempt to answer your query, but it’ll connect you with a real-life customer service representative if it can’t. If you’d prefer to speak to someone, you can visit an HSBC branch or call their phone lines, which are open daily. If you sign up for the mobile app, you can seek support that way, too.
Mortgage calculators
If you want to do some mortgage number crunching, there are various HSBC mortgage calculators on the HSBC website that you can use, including ones that aim to help you work out how much you can borrow and what your monthly repayments may be.
» MORE: Our mortgage calculators
Customer ratings
HSBC receives a customer experience rating of 60% from Fairer Finance in relation to mortgages, meaning it ranks 15th out of the 23 lenders it has reviewed. The ratings take into account how happy customers are with a lender, how trusting they are of the brand and how effectively the lender handles complaints. How well lenders explain their products and the simplicity and clarity of their documents are evaluated, too.
This information from Fairer Finance was correct as of 8 April 2024.
» MORE: Do you need mortgage advice?
HSBC Mortgage FAQs
Having a good credit score may make it easier to get a mortgage from HSBC. Your application may still be considered if your credit rating is less than perfect, but it’s important not to apply for any type of loan you’re unlikely to get in case it has a negative effect on your credit score.
Mortgage offers from HSBC are valid for six months. During this time, the mortgage rate you’ve been offered will not change.
This is our review of a lender and not the products, interest rates, fees or deal terms they offer. Many lenders also offer preferential products exclusively via brokers and intermediaries. This review does not constitute advice or recommendation.
Review methodology
At NerdWallet UK, we base our reviews and our ‘Best’ pages on the results of surveys we undertook about what was important to people who use these products. This allows us to look at products impartially of any commercial arrangements we have and fairly rate the products on the same set of criteria.
Best means our ‘Best’ and is based only on what products we have aligned to our surveys, which form the basis of our reviews and ratings. This means that there will be other products on the market that we have not included in our ‘Best’ pages. Best does not mean it’s best for you, nor does it mean the ‘cheapest’.
Our reviews may display lenders’ rates. This additional information has not been included in our evaluations but is still very important when choosing a product. Rates offered can depend on circumstances, amount and term. Always check details before proceeding with any financial product.
Product details reflect the information that was available at that time but may have changed since. We strive to give you a review on as many products as possible, but there will be products not included on the market. The review is our opinion, but it does not constitute advice, recommendation or suitability for your financial circumstances.
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