First Time Buyers (FTB or FTP)
Lenders differ in their definition of a First Time Buyer. Some lenders will include in this someone who has owned a property before but has no property to sell (i.e. may be renting temporarily after selling) and other lenders will include joint borrowers where just one party is a FTB. Other lenders will take a more literal definition and only include someone who has never owned a property before.

Fixed Interest Rate
The account holder receives a pre-determined and unchanging rate of interest, usually on a bond or term account, giving the investor a known return for his capital deposit. The rate will not change even if general base rates change.

Fixed Rate
The lender will fix the interest rate that they charge at a set level for a fixed period of time. There are normally a whole range of fixed rate products available from different lenders and these vary in terms from very short periods (3 - 6 months) up to the whole 25 year mortgage term. The lender will normally charge early redemption penalties if the mortgage is redeemed within the fixed rate period and often beyond the initial period (See Redemption Penalties ).

Flexible Schemes
This is a term that describes a number of new mortgage schemes and is based on the fact that some of these lenders calculate the interest on the mortgage on a daily - rather than annual basis. This offers the lenders the opportunity to be more flexible with the managing of an account than would be the case otherwise. That said, there is a wide range of lenders advertising that they are flexible in outlook. It will range from the top of the scale to lenders who offer bank accounts, credit cards and full management of the finances via one account which includes the mortgage loan, or lenders that allow payment holidays, or an ability to overpay each month to either build up a fund to draw on at a later stage or to help redeem the mortgage early. At the lower end of the scale lenders will allow a partial redemption of a fixed rate - say 10% each year - without penalty.

Freehold (NOT SCOTLAND)
This describes the tenure of a property where ownership of the property and land is held indefinitely. This compares with leasehold property where the property is held for a limited period of time.

Further Advance
This is an additional loan made by the existing mortgage lender and secured by the first charge on the property. The Further Advance can be used for a variety of purposes (subject to the lenders approval) such as home improvement, purchase of freehold or personal purposes, such as debt consolidation.