A Cat Standard Mortgage is a mortgage that meets
a number of government defined standards relating to 'C'harges,
'A'ccess and 'T'erms. According to the Treasury, the objective
of CAT standards is to 'prevent confusing marketing and
hidden charges'.
The Government is seeking to set out basic and transparent
conditions for mortgage products.
CAT standards won't apply to all mortgages.
They are voluntary, so mortgage lenders don't have to use
them. The literature or other information you get about
a particular mortgage will say whether it's a CAT-standard
or not.
If you take out a CAT-standard mortgage, you can
be confident that it has no nasty surprises hidden in the
small print and that the terms won't suddenly change for
the worse. Mortgages that are not CAT standard are not necessarily
bad buys. They may offer features that will interest some
people, such as a highly attractive interest rate, but be
accompanied by charges or penalties which do not meet the
CAT standard.
Remember - the CAT standard: does not mean the government
guarantees the mortgage; does not mean the government recommends
or endorses the mortgage; does not mean the mortgage is
necessarily suitable for you; and does not mean the mortgage
is the best deal available. Here follows a summary of the
CAT Mortgage Standards relating to variable,
fixed, discount, cash back and capped rate mortgages.
Here we have compiled a collection of websites we feel
may be of use to our visitors. If you feel you have a website
you would like to submit to our resources pages please click
here.
