---
title: "What Happens When Your Fixed Rate Mortgage Ends"
description: "Why the payment jumps when a fixed deal ends, the standard variable rate, product transfer vs remortgage, when you can lock in a new deal, and how overpaying softens the rise."
url: https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/what-happens-when-your-fixed-rate-ends/
---

[UK](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/) › [Guides](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/) › Fixed rate ending

# What happens when your fixed rate ends

A fixed-rate deal fixes the rate for a few years; the mortgage runs for decades. When the deal ends, your lender recalculates the payment at a new rate, and if you have done nothing, that rate is usually its own standard variable rate. Here is why the payment changes, your three choices, and how to make the jump smaller.

By [Ethan Brooks](https://ownedoutright.com/about/) · Updated October 15, 2026 · [How we calculate](https://ownedoutright.com/methodology/)

**The short version.** If you do nothing, you move to a reversion rate, usually the standard variable rate, and your payment is reworked over the years you have left. On our £200,000 example, a move from 4.5% to an assumed 7.5% takes the payment from £1,111.66 to £1,415.56 a month. Start comparing deals about six months before the end date: you can usually agree a new rate with your current lender or a new one, and switch again if a better like-for-like deal appears before it starts.

## Why the payment jumps

Your monthly payment is set so the balance reaches zero in the last month of the term. When the rate changes, the lender works the sum again with the new rate, the balance you still owe and the months left. The end date stays put, so the whole effect of a higher rate lands on the monthly figure.

Take a £200,000 repayment mortgage over 25 yrs, fixed at 4.5% for five years from Jan 2027. The payment is £1,111.66 a month. By Dec 2031, the last month of the fix, the balance is down to £175,716 with 20 yrs to go. From Jan 2032 the payment depends entirely on the new rate:

| Rate from Jan 2032 (assumed) | Payment during the fix | Payment after | Change | Interest over the whole mortgage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 7.5% | £1,111.66 | £1,415.56 | up £303.90 | £206,433 | | 5% | £1,111.66 | £1,159.65 | up £47.99 | £145,015 | | 4% | £1,111.66 | £1,064.81 | down £46.85 | £122,252 |

At an assumed standard variable rate of 7.5%, the payment goes up £303.90 a month. A new deal at an assumed 5% limits the rise to £47.99, and one at 4% brings the payment down £46.85. These rates are illustrations, not forecasts: the only figures that matter are the ones your lender quotes. Put your own balance, term and rate into the [fixed rate ending calculator](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/fixed-rate-ending-calculator/) to see the payment you would face.

Calculated with the same engine as our calculators, rounding interest to the penny each month. Payments are capital and interest only, before any fees.

## What a standard variable rate is

The FCA explains that when a fixed deal ends and you have not arranged a new rate, you [automatically move onto your lender's reversion rate](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/financial-impact-rising-costs-living/support-mortgages-interest-rates), which is often a standard variable rate (SVR) but can be another kind of rate, and is usually higher than the rate you were fixed at. The rate on a variable mortgage is typically set by the lender, and the lender can change it. That is the central risk of doing nothing: the payment can rise again after the first jump.

## Your three options

### 1. Do nothing and revert to the SVR

No application, no fees, no credit check, and (check your offer) usually no early repayment charge, so you are free to overpay or leave. Against that, the highest rate of the three, and one that can change at the lender's discretion. Sensible as a short bridge while a sale or a new deal completes; expensive as a plan.

### 2. Product transfer: a new deal with your current lender

Your lender offers you a new fixed or tracker deal from its current range, and the mortgage carries on with a new rate. The FCA notes that if you are up to date with your payments you can usually switch with your existing lender [without an affordability check](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/financial-impact-rising-costs-living/support-mortgages-interest-rates), unless you want to borrow more. There is no valuation and no conveyancing, so it is quick, and it suits people whose circumstances have changed since they first borrowed. The drawback is that you only see one lender's prices. Some deals carry a product fee and others a higher rate instead, so compare the total cost over the deal period, not the fee alone.

### 3. Remortgage: move to a new lender

A full application with another lender, which repays your old mortgage and starts a new one. Most lenders will run an affordability check, and you may pay an arrangement or product fee, a valuation fee and legal costs, though some deals include a free valuation and basic legal work. The upside is the whole market: if your lender's product-transfer rates are poor, or your home has risen in value enough to put you in a lower loan-to-value band, moving can save far more than it costs.

## The timeline: start six months out

The [Mortgage Charter](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mortgage-charter/mortgage-charter), agreed in June 2023 between the government, the FCA and the UK's largest lenders, says that customers approaching the end of a fixed-rate deal will have the chance to lock in a deal up to six months ahead, and can request a better like-for-like deal with their lender right up until the new term starts, if one is available (rates must be finalised two weeks before the new term begins). It also commits signatory lenders to let customers who are up to date with payments switch to a new deal at the end of their fixed rate without another affordability check, provided they are not borrowing more or changing the repayment type or term. The FCA separately notes that mortgage offers are typically valid for three to six months, depending on the lender.

A workable plan looks like this:

- **Six months out:** note the exact end date and the reversion rate. Ask your lender for its product-transfer rates and have a broker or comparison site price a remortgage against them.
- **Three to four months out:** secure the best deal you can find, asking whether anything is payable if you later walk away. Locking in protects you if rates rise.
- **Up to the start date:** if your lender launches a cheaper like-for-like deal, ask to move onto it. If another lender does, check what dropping the first offer costs.
- **Line up the dates:** the new deal should start the month after the fix ends, so you pay neither the SVR nor an early repayment charge for leaving early.

## Overpaying before the fix ends shrinks the jump

Because the new payment is worked out on the balance left at the end of the fix, every pound you overpay before then lowers it. Many fixed deals allow overpayments of up to 10% of the balance each year without an early repayment charge; our guide to [the 10% rule](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/10-percent-overpayment-rule/) explains how the allowance is counted.

On the example, overpaying £200 a month for the five years of the fix, £12,000 in all, cuts the balance at Dec 2031 from £175,716 to £162,287. At the assumed 7.5% SVR, the payment from Jan 2032 is then £1,307.37 instead of £1,415.56, a saving of £108.19 a month for the rest of the term. At the assumed 5% deal it is £1,071.02 rather than £1,159.65, which is below the payment you were making during the fix. The overpayments also take £13,962 off the lifetime interest at 7.5%. The [mortgage overpayment calculator](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/mortgage-overpayment-calculator/) shows what your own allowance and spare cash could do, and [overpay or save?](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/overpay-mortgage-or-save/) weighs it against keeping the money in savings.

## Extending the term: a last resort

If the new payment is genuinely unaffordable, a longer term spreads the balance over more months and lowers it. The FCA's guidance is plain: extending the term [can reduce your monthly payments but increases the amount you pay back overall](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/financial-impact-rising-costs-living/support-mortgages-interest-rates). On the example at 7.5%, stretching the remaining 20 yrs to 25 yrs lowers the payment from £1,415.56 to £1,298.53, but adds £49,823 of interest and pushes the mortgage-free date from Dec 2051 to Dec 2056. The Mortgage Charter lets customers who are up to date extend their term, or switch to interest-only for six months, without a new affordability check, with the option to revert to the original term within six months; it also warns that payments after the support may be higher than they otherwise would have been. If you take the longer term, keep overpaying when you can.

## A quick checklist

- Find your deal's end date, reversion rate and early repayment charge on your mortgage offer or annual statement.
- Run your balance, remaining term and a few possible rates through the [fixed rate ending calculator](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/fixed-rate-ending-calculator/).
- Six months out, price a product transfer against a remortgage, fees included, and lock in the best one.
- Use any spare overpayment allowance before the fix ends to shrink the new payment.

## Related tools

- [Fixed rate ending calculator](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/fixed-rate-ending-calculator/): your payment on the SVR or a new deal, and what overpaying first does to it.
- [Mortgage overpayment calculator](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/mortgage-overpayment-calculator/): your new mortgage-free date, the interest saved and the 10% allowance.
- [The 10% overpayment rule and early repayment charges](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/10-percent-overpayment-rule/): how the allowance works and when the ERC bites.
- [Should you overpay your mortgage or save?](https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/overpay-mortgage-or-save/): what savings have to earn after tax to beat overpaying.

For education only; not financial advice. The rates in the examples are assumptions, not offers or forecasts, and your lender's figures are what count. Lender rules, fees and Mortgage Charter commitments vary by lender. Sources checked October 15, 2026.

Source: https://ownedoutright.com/uk/guides/what-happens-when-your-fixed-rate-ends/