the borrower(s). Self-certified mortgages were banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in April 2014. Non-status mortgage – a mortgage where the borrowing is not dependent on the income of the applicant and the applicant states that they can afford the repayments. Deferred interest mortgage – a mortgage that allows the borrower to make repayments that are lower than the amount of interest owed. The remainder is added to the principal, which is likely to increase to more than the original amount owed; the remaining interest payments will then be significantly higher. These mortgages were marketed during periods of high interest rates to young professionals whose salaries were expected to increase quickly. Offset mortgage – a mortgage where the borrower can reduce the interest charged by offsetting a credit balance against the mortgage debt. Foreign currency mortgage – where the debt is expressed in a foreign currency (typically one in which market interest rates are lower) in an attempt to reduce capital and interest payments. However this might well turn out to be more expensive for the borrower if the foreign currency appreciates against sterling. Fees Product fee – a fee payable by the borrower to obtain a (usually incentivised) product. Early repayment charge, redemption penalty or tie-in – the lender may incur many forms of up-front costs (for example property valuation costs, if not charged explicitly; or by offering a lower interest rate in the first few years of the mortgage; or – not least – remuneration of intermediaries or sales teams). It would seek to recoup these costs by charging higher interest rates over the remainder of the mortgage term. Therefore, they typically impose a penalty if the borrower repays the loan earlier than planned in order to ensure that at least some of these costs are recouped. These penalties used to be called a redemption penalty or tie-in; however, since the onset of Financial Services Authority regulation they are referred to as an early repayment charge. Valuation fee, which pays for a chartered surveyor to visit the property and ensure it is worth enough to cover the mortgage amount. Higher lending charge (HLC) – a fee levied by lenders in respect of mortgages exceeding a pre-defined loan-to-value (LTV) percentage threshold. Until the 1990s these were typically levied on all mortgages with an LTV percentage over 75%, but the market generally moved to a 90% threshold at that