An Approval in Principle (AIP) is also known as an Agreement in Principle, Decision in Principle, Mortgage in Principle or a Mortgage Promise. An AIP is useful if you want to know how much you could borrow. If you provide Post Office Money with a few personal details about you and anyone else who will be named on the mortgage we'll give you a statement of how much we'll be able to lend to you in principle (don't worry, we're not committing to anything at this stage). You'll need to request an AIP before completing a full mortgage application.

A Mortgage Offer will set out the terms under which we're prepared to offer you a mortgage. It will be issued once we receive your full application and necessary checks, such as a valuation and confirmation of your details, have been carried out.

If you start your application with advice over the phone or online then you’ll be able to get an Approval in Principle (AIP) with a soft credit check which won’t affect your credit rating. If you wish to apply online without advice, a hard credit check will be carried out. Soft credit checks don’t affect your credit rating or ability to borrow from lenders in the future. Soft credit checks are not seen by other lenders and can only be seen by you on your credit report.

Yes, you can. We need two years' trading accounts, and you need to have been trading for a minimum of three years.

There are a few things to consider before you apply. We have some key lending criteria below:

• You must be at least 18 and your mortgage must usually end before you reach 75
• The term of the mortgage must be a minimum of five years and up to a maximum of 35 years
• You must have a clean credit history
• You must have a minimum household income of £20,000
• You must be buying a UK property
• You must be a UK resident or have full rights to reside in the UK

You can see the full list of lending criteria for our First Start mortgages here.

Yes. Our mortgages are fully portable. This means you can transfer the interest rate and early repayment charge conditions on your existing Post Office Money Mortgage balance to your new property.  This is subject to a new offer being made based upon the lender’s current criteria.  If you don’t need to borrow extra amounts your mortgage product can remain the same.

Yes. If you’re in a promotional period, you can overpay a minimum of £500 and a maximum of 10% of the outstanding mortgage balance (as at 31 March the previous year) without incurring any early repayment or administration charges. Once the promotional period is over, the amount you can overpay is unlimited, but if you pay off your mortgage in full charges may apply.