0% home loan to ease the pain of parting

Plenty of credit cards offer interest-free deals but a 0% mortgage?

One of Britain's biggest building societies is today launching just that - a home loan where borrowers pay nothing at all for six months.

In fact, Yorkshire Building Society will pay people £400 in the form of cashback to take out the mortgage.

Fresh Start is aimed at people who have recently divorced or separated, though the deal is available to all borrowers. The loan is being launched today to coincide with American Independence Day.

The Yorkshire said there were no other mortgages that offered people the chance to pay nothing to start with.

The society, which has 131 branches, said that, following research among recently-separated individuals, it had designed two mortgages - a fixed-rate deal and one that tracks the base rate - which would meet many of people's needs when they were in the process of dividing one home into two.

Both deals have an initial six-month interest-free period. If a borrower took the deal on a repayment basis, they would pay off some of the capital, but if they went for the interest-only version they would pay nothing for six months. There is a £395 completion fee but this can be added to the loan. It also allows people to borrow up to 100% of the property's value and offers access to a free counselling service.

Rachel Court, head of mortgages at the society, said: "We have spent a long time researching and developing our Fresh Start products, which primarily help people finance a new home, but also provide access to independent professionals who can provide expert advice to help deal with the wider aspects of a break-up."

Statistics show that the average marriage lasts 11 years, and 10% of couples split before their first anniversary.