A mortgage is essentially a loan you take out to help you buy a property. You usually pay it off over a period of several years while you are living in the property.

A fixed rate mortgage enables you to fix your mortgage at a set interest rate for a specified period.

The main benefit of this type of mortgage is that you’ll know exactly how much your monthly repayments will be for the fixed rate period.

Unlike variable rate or tracker rate mortgages, fixed rate deals aren't tied to the Bank of England base rate. That means no matter what happens to interest rates during your fixed rate period, whether it be 2, 5 or even 10 or more years, your monthly payments will remain the same.

With a fixed rate mortgage, you'll pay the same amount every month for the duration of your fixed rate term. This can be a big help with monthly budgeting as you won’t suddenly see your monthly repayments increase if interest rates rise.

The length of time it will take you to get a mortgage depends on several different factors:

• How long you take to do your side of things, like finding and sending documents

• How long it takes for your mortgage broker to do their side of things

• How long it takes for the lender to approve your application

Here’s how the application process works, so you know roughly when you can expect to get your mortgage approved.

Completing the mortgage application itself shouldn’t take too long, typically a couple of hours, but you’ll need to make sure your finances are in order and you can find all the information you need. In order to assess your reliability as a borrower and how much you can borrow, lenders will want to know the following about you;

• How much your outgoings are, including things like childcare and pension contributions

• What your income is, including any bonuses or overtime

• ID to prove your identity and current address

• Details of the property you want to buy

• Your estate agent’s and solicitor’s details.

You’ll need to be able to provide evidence of income and be able to demonstrate you can afford the mortgage as part of your application.

Once the lender has reviewed all your information, performed a credit check, and has all the supporting documentation they require from you, they will then want to arrange a valuation of the property you are buying. This can sometimes take a couple of weeks or longer, as the surveyor will need to visit the property, write up their report and submit it to the lender. After the lender has reviewed the valuation and is happy with it, they should at that point be able to approve your application and formally offer you a mortgage.