What Is the Help to Buy Equity Loan and How Does It Work?
A complete guide to the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, how it works, who is eligible, and what you need to know before applying.
Read more →Work out your monthly interest payments from year 6 onwards. Understand the true cost of your Help to Buy equity loan.
The Help to Buy equity loan is interest-free for 5 years. From year 6, interest kicks in and rises each year.
For the first five years you only pay a £1 monthly management fee. No interest is charged on your equity loan.
From year 6, interest is charged at 1.75% of the equity loan amount, plus the £1 monthly management fee.
Each year the rate rises with inflation: RPI + 1% on the 2013–2021 scheme, or CPI + 2% on the 2021–2023 scheme. Payments increase over time.
Enter your loan details below to see your projected monthly and annual interest payments.
Around 350,000 households in England currently hold an active Help to Buy equity loan. If you are one of them, this tool is built for you.
The Help to Buy scheme let first-time buyers purchase a new-build home with just a 5% deposit, topped up by a government equity loan of up to 20% of the purchase price (40% in London). That loan is interest-free for the first five years — but from year six, interest charges kick in and rise every year in line with inflation.
For many borrowers, year five arrives before they have had a chance to think about what comes next. The monthly management fee of £1 quietly becomes a bill of hundreds of pounds a year, and then more. Planning ahead — whether that means remortgaging to clear the loan, making voluntary partial repayments, or simply budgeting for rising costs — requires knowing the numbers.
This calculator projects your monthly and annual interest payments year by year, for both the 2013–2021 scheme (RPI + 1%) and the 2021–2023 scheme (CPI + 2%). Enter your loan amount and an inflation assumption, and you will see exactly what the loan is likely to cost you over time.
The calculator runs entirely in your browser. We do not store your inputs, collect your data, or require you to create an account. It is completely free.
Expert advice on Help to Buy, mortgages, and the UK home buying process.
A complete guide to the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, how it works, who is eligible, and what you need to know before applying.
Read more →Everything first-time buyers in the UK need to know about getting a mortgage, from saving a deposit to choosing the right deal.
Read more →From saving your deposit to picking up the keys, here is every step of the UK home buying process explained clearly.
Read more →Use our free calculator to understand exactly what your Help to Buy equity loan will cost you.
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