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Mortgage offer - opinions please

HSBC have this "homestart" mortgage which is interest only for the first 3 years, optionally fixed to 4.99% for 2 or 3 years and then switches to capital repayment at whatever the variable interest rate is for the time. They say it is designed for first-time buyers like my partner and I.

Does anyone know someone who took this deal? I don't know how long it has been around. What do you think of the idea?

From my point of view - they approved us in principle for a max of £163k which would mean repayments of £678.40 for 3 years rising to £936.06 after 3 years (assuming 5.5% at the time). Whilst I will have paid off 90% of my loan by then and gone up 3 pay grades the sudden increase is a bit worrying.

I don't actually want to take the full mortgage amount anyway but the only affordable place of the right size so far (£133k 2 bedrooms) was in cr*p condition and snapped up extremely quickly. As well as being allegedly the debt-capital of the UK uxbridge is rubbish to try and buy in - lots of people buying-to-let because of the local univeristy and the good access to london.
Still wish I could buy a TARDIS instead of a house!
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