- By pouring the equivalent cost of just three pints a week into their mortgage every month, homeowners could save nearly £13,000 in interest and knock two years off their term
- Almost £100 million (£96,993,570) already overpaid off mortgages in the first week of January, with Early Repayment Charge resetting at the start of the year
- In 2024, Santander customers collectively overpaid £2.2 billion
With many choosing to ditch alcohol this January, Santander’s data shows how putting some - or all - of the money usually spent on booze each month towards mortgage overpayments could save homeowners thousands over the life of their mortgage.
According to statistics from ONS, the average cost of a pint of lager is £4.811 – a figure which is only set to increase. Calculations from Santander show that a homeowner putting the monthly price of twelve pints (£57) towards overpaying a 25-year mortgage of £200,000 at 4.5% over the life of the mortgage, would save £12,983 in interest and be mortgage-free two years and one month earlier than planned 2.
For heavier drinkers, the potential savings are even greater. Overpaying £144, the average price of thirty monthly pints, towards the same mortgage would save £28,373 in interest and reduce the term by four years and eight months.
Even committing just part of the savings could make a difference, with Santander accepting overpayments from as little as £10 per month, which, on a £200,000 mortgage, would save more than £2,490 in interest and shave four months off a customer’s mortgage term.
Graham Sellar, Head of Intermediary Channel – Mortgages, at Santander, said: “Whatever the reason for doing Dry January, there’s an undisputable benefit to your bank account. It’s tempting to spend that extra cash, but for those able to put even a small proportion of it aside, starting a habit of overpaying on your mortgage could reap huge benefits in the long run.”
| Pints drunk per month | Cost (rounded down to nearest £) | Interest saved over life of mortgage | Time taken off mortgage |
| 4 | £19 | £4,647 | Nine months |
| 6 | £28 | £6,730 | One year and one month |
| 12 | £57 | £12,983 | Two years and one month |
| 20 | £96 | £20,432 | Three years and four months |
| 30 | £144 | £28,373 | Four years and eight months |
Calculated on the basis of a £200,000, 25-year mortgage at 4.5% interest.
Santander makes it easy for mortgage customers to make a one-off lump sum or regular monthly overpayments through its online banking and mobile app. In 2024, Santander customers overpaid a total of more than £2.2 billion, with 30,000 more customers opting to overpay in 2024, than in 2023.
In the first few days of January 2025, Santander saw £100 million of mortgage overpayments being made by customers3.
To see how much you could save, go to Santander’s mortgage overpayment calculator: Overpayment calculator | Santander UK.
- Ends -
Notes to Editors:
- ONS RPI, November 2024
- Based on regular monthly overpayments on a £200,000 repayment mortgage, 25-year term, at an average rate of 4.5%
- Value of overpayments made between Wednesday 1 January 2025 – Sunday 5 January 2025.
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. At 30 June 2024, the bank had around 19,600 employees and serves around 14 million active customers, including 7 million digital customers via a nationwide 444 branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc customers’ eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the UK.
Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC.LN) is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Banco Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Banco Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising €220 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2030. In the first quarter of 2024, Banco Santander had €1.3 trillion in total funds, 166 million customers, 8,400 branches and 211,000 employees.