Darlington Building Society has launched a new additional borrowing mortgage designed to reward its existing mortgage customers who want to improve their homes in a way that is friendly to the environment.
The Eco Reward mortgage offers a pay rate of 2.84%, which is a discount of 3.11% from the Society’s standard variable rate of interest (5.95%) until 31 October 2016. The APR is 5.2%.
In addition, there are no product or completion fees and if a valuation of the property is required, there will be no valuation fee to pay.
To qualify for this loan, borrowers must already have their mortgage with Darlington Building Society and the home improvements must be ‘eco-friendly’. Examples of acceptable improvements would be:
- Double Glazing
- Cavity and solid wall insulation
- Solar/PV panels
- Energy efficient boiler installation
- Loft insulation
- Small wind turbine
Sheena Hunter, branch manager of the Society’s Northallerton branch, said: “Darlington Building Society has been ‘looking after local interests’ for over 150 years and we believe this includes helping to take care of our local environment.
“Mortgage lending is our core business so we feel it is important that we encourage and incentivise our borrowers to improve their homes in an environmentally friendly way which in turn should make them more economical to run, helping our borrowers save money for years to come.”
In addition to the Eco Reward mortgage the Society has also launched its Home Improver mortgage which is available to existing Society borrowers making home improvements which do not fall into ‘green’ improvement categories. Examples would be property extensions, new kitchen or bathroom, conservatory etc.
For this product the pay rate is 2.99%, which is a discount of 2.96% from the Society’s standard variable rate (5.95%) until 30 September 2016. The APR is 5.1%. Again there are no product, completion or valuation fees payable but there is a £125 Additional Borrowing fee.