Mortgage payment difficulties

We all look forward to a financially secure future, but we also know that sometimes things just don’t go to plan. We want to make sure you know about the help and support we offer, and why if something has changed it’s important you talk to us.

If you’re worried about paying your mortgage, our experienced Mortgage Support team are on hand to help answer any questions you may have. Taking that first step and talking to someone about money worries may feel scary, but it really is the best way to get back on track.

If you're ready to chat

If you haven’t missed a payment

If you haven’t missed a payment yet, but are worried about your payments in the future, you may qualify for help under the Mortgage Charter. Find out more

How we can help

We have a number of ways we could help you manage your mortgage payments.

Your options will depend on your finances and your situation, we need to understand these first. It’s key that you can afford the options and you’ve thought about what they mean to you in the long-term. Don’t worry, we’ll go through this with you.

We could reduce your payments

We could reduce your monthly payments for a period of time until you are able to start paying them in full again. Any unpaid amounts will show as a shortfall and may show on your credit file. We’ll need to arrange for you to repay the missing payments once your situation improves. Interest will continue to be charged to the account as normal, but it will mean that you’ll pay more interest in the longer term.

We could change the rate of interest

We can look at the rate of interest being charged to your account to see if there are any better rates available to help reduce the monthly payments. We may be able to vary the rate charged dependent on your circumstances.

We could change the length of your mortgage

If you’ve got a repayment mortgage, we can look to increase the length of your mortgage term which will reduce your monthly payments. Doing this will mean that you will pay more interest overall as you will be paying back the amount you owe over a longer period.

We could temporarily change your mortgage to interest only

If part, or all of your mortgage is on repayment, we may be able to change your account, so you only pay the interest due for a short period of time. This will reduce your monthly payments but you won’t be reducing the balance during this period. Once your account is moved back on to the original repayment basis the payments will increase to ensure the balance is repaid within the remaining term. This will result in more interest being paid over the term of the mortgage.

We could add the missed payments to your overall mortgage balance

If your account falls behind and we make an arrangement with you to reduce the outstanding amount, we can monitor the payments you make for a period of time and then move the remaining outstanding amount into your overall mortgage balance and for you to repay the amount over the remaining term. Doing this will mean that you’ll pay more interest as you’ll be paying the missed payment amount off over a longer period and may mean there’s an increase in your payments to ensure the balance is cleared within the remaining term. We’ll talk you through this to make sure the payments are affordable before we go ahead.

Take back control

If you don’t feel ready to speak to anyone, there are some things you can do straight away to take back control of your finances.

You can fill out the Standard Financial Statement to see what income you have and where you’re spending each month. This may help you spot where some savings could be made.

The Standard Financial Statement is a standard form used by many companies to capture the money you have coming in and what you are spending. It’s a detailed document, and you will need to have all your bank statements/online banking, payslips and anything else that may help you to work out how much you are earning and spending to hand when filling it out.

Prioritise your bills

If you’re struggling to pay your bills you should pay all your essential bills first, such as:

• Your mortgage
• Any loans secured against your property
• Utility bills
• Insurances
• Council tax
• Housekeeping

These bills should be paid before making any payments to credit cards or unsecured loans.

We also strongly recommend avoiding short term solutions such as payday loans.

Other organisations that can offer help and advice

There are a number of helpful organisations who offer free information and advice:

Helpful tools and resources