For residential mortgages – as long as you’re up-to-date on your payments, not in arrears and you can confirm that your finances have been affected – directly or indirectly – by coronavirus, you can apply for a mortgage payment holiday online.
For Buy to Let mortgages – as long as you’re up-to-date on your payments, not in arrears and you can confirm that your tenants are having difficulty paying their rent due to coronavirus, you can apply for a mortgage payment holiday online.
When you arrange a full or partial mortgage payment holiday you don’t make your monthly mortgage payment, or part of it, for a period of time, usually between one and three months – the ‘holiday period’.
It’s important to remember however, that when the holiday period is over, you’ll still owe the payments you missed and the interest on the balance. This amount will be added to the balance of your mortgage and a new higher monthly payment will be calculated. Using our calculator before applying for an extension will help you understand the impact to your overall mortgage and monthly payments This link will direct you to a third party website.
Because the payments and interest that haven’t been made during the holiday period are added to the balance of your mortgage, when your monthly mortgage payments start again, they’ll be higher than before.
The exact amount of the increase will depend on the size of your mortgage, the rate of interest you pay and the term remaining. You can get an estimate of the affect on your mortgage by using the mortgage payment holiday calculator on the Money Advice Service website, or the one we have created.
If you can, you should continue to keep up with your monthly mortgage payments. It’s important not to rush into any decision about this as there may be other options available to you.
To find out more about any of these alternative options, your first step is to fill in our mortgage help and support form and one of our specialist team will call you. It would also be useful if you could complete a budget planner and have it to hand when we call you. The information you share will help us understand your financial situation so we can come up with a suitable payment plan for you.
Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to:
- Switch your existing mortgage product if you’re eligible
- Extend the term of your mortgage (but remember that extending the term will increase the overall cost of the mortgage)
- Change your payment arrangements, including the day you pay
- Make use of overpayments that you may have made in previous months
- Temporarily switch to an interest-only mortgage (if you do this, you won’t be paying back any of the original amount borrowed and it will have to be repaid at the end of the mortgage term or at some point in the future).
To find out more about any of these alternative options, your first step is to fill in our mortgage help and support form and one of our specialist team will call you. It would also be useful if you could complete a budget planner and have it to hand when we call you. The information you share will help us understand your financial situation so we can come up with a suitable payment plan for you.
If you’ve considered the options above and still think a mortgage payment holiday is right for you, there’s no need to call us – it’s quick and easy to arrange online. If your mortgage sn’t in arrears and you’re ready to arrange a mortgage payment holiday just fill in our simple online form and we’ll action your request within 72 hours (excluding weekends and Bank Holidays).
If your next mortgage payment is due within five days of your request, you’ll still need to make that payment. The mortgage payment holiday will start from the following month.
Residential mortgages
You can take a mortgage payment holiday if you’re up to date with your payments, not in arrears, and you can confirm that you’ve been affected – directly or indirectly – by coronavirus. Apply for a mortgage payment holiday.
Buy to let mortgages
You can take a mortgage payment holiday if you’re up to date with payments, not in arrears, and you can confirm that your tenants are having difficulty paying their rent due to coronavirus. Apply for a mortgage payment holiday.
No, taking an agreed mortgage payment holiday won’t have any negative impact on your official credit record. However, you should be aware that this isn’t the only way firms decide whether to lend – individual lenders have their own specific criteria for carrying out credit scoring and affordability checks, so it could still affect your ability to apply for credit in the future.
It’s important not to cancel your Direct Debits before you’ve spoken to us to arrange a mortgage payment holiday, as this could be registered as a missed payment on your credit file. We’ll stop your Direct Debit as part of the payment holiday process but continue with this again when the mortgage payment holiday period has ended.
When the mortgage payment holiday is over, we’ll recalculate your new monthly payment and let you know how much it will be. Your new payment will be higher unless you arrange a different option with us, for example, if your circumstances have improved, you could:
- Repay the full amount immediately
- Make overpayments until the amount is paid back.
If you’re still experiencing financial difficulties when your mortgage payment holiday comes to an end, there are other ways we can help. You might want to take a look at our payment difficulties section to find out more about the options available.
No, but remember that the payments and interest you don’t pay during the holiday period will be added to the balance of your mortgage and this means that the overall amount payable on your mortgage will increase.
Yes – even if your new product illustration shows that no mortgage payment holiday is possible, as long as you’re eligible, we’ll go ahead with a mortgage payment holiday in line with government guidelines.
However, just be aware that the illustration may not be a true reflection of the mortgage payment after the mortgage payment holiday has been applied.
No, it’s important not to cancel your Direct Debit before you’ve spoken to us to arrange a payment holiday, as this could be registered as a missed payment on your credit file.
As part of the payment holiday process we’ll stop your Direct Debit and at the end of your payment holiday, we’ll start to collect payments again.
If you’re still in financial difficulty after mortgage your payment holiday has come to an end, we’re here to help. There may be other options available to you – take a look at our payment difficulties section for more help and guidance.
Your first step is to fill in our mortgage help and support form and a member of our specialist team will call you to discuss your options. As part of the call we’ll need to understand your current situation, so it would be really useful if you could complete a budget planner and have it to hand when we call you. It’ll help us come up with a suitable payment plan for you.