Why Santander Suits Many Remortgagers
Santander's strengths:
- Flexible criteria — Santander takes a sensible, often more flexible approach than some rivals, which can help borrowers with slightly complex circumstances.
- Competitive at low LTV — its 60-75% LTV pricing is frequently among the best in the market.
- Self-employed friendly — accepts standard self-employed documentation and assesses income reasonably.
- Fast product transfer — existing customers can switch deals quickly via online banking.
Santander Product Transfer vs Switching
Existing Santander customers have the usual two options:
- Product transfer — a fast switch to a new Santander deal with no valuation or legal work, often no full affordability check if you're not borrowing more.
- Switch to a new lender — worth it if another lender beats Santander's retention rate by 0.3%+.
Santander's retention rates are usually competitive, so the product transfer is often a good option — but compare against the market first to be sure you're not leaving savings on the table.
Best Alternatives to Santander
Before committing, compare Santander against:
- HSBC / First Direct — often cheapest for clean-credit borrowers at low LTV.
- Halifax — broad criteria, strong for self-employed, fast completion.
- Nationwide — strong for new-build and member loyalty pricing.
- Building societies (Coventry, Yorkshire) — flexible underwriting for less standard cases.
A whole-of-market broker compares Santander against all of these for your specific profile in one conversation.
Important: Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. There will be a fee for mortgage advice. The actual rate available will depend on your circumstances. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.
