Financial Difficulties

If you are having trouble making your mortgage repayments on time, we are here to help you. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can help.  Please call us on 01664 414141 or alternatively email us at mortgageservices.co.uk.

Don’t ignore the problem

If you are experiencing financial difficulty, it is best to address the problem as soon as possible. Failing to make your mortgage repayments and repayments to other creditors can affect your ability to obtain further borrowing or credit in the future and can even put your home (or other mortgaged property) at risk.

What you need to do….

Talk to us as soon as you can. Our expert team can help you to identify where you can get additional support and the options we can offer.

It’s a good idea to work out your monthly budget and you may find it helpful to complete an income and expenditure budget form. Click here to download a Simple Budget Form to give you a basic idea of where your money is going.

How can we help

We understand that its tough out there for a lot of our customers. We are here to help you and will discuss the options available to you in order to reach a solution which is tailored to your circumstances. We may use a more detailed Personal Budget Sheet to help do this. Click here to download.

If you need help in completing this, please contact us on 01664 414141, Monday to Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm asking to speak with the mortgage services team.

Prioritise your debts…..

If you have multiple debts, it can be difficult to know which to pay off first – especially if you are receiving letters or calls, which can make things seem even more urgent. Some debts are more important than others because the consequence of not paying them can be more serious.

Priority debts include:

• Mortgage, rent and any loans secured against your home
• Gas and electricity bills
• Council tax
• Court fines
• Child Maintenance
• TV licence
• Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT
• Hire purchase agreements, if what you’re buying with them is essential.
• Missed payments owed to DWP (department for Work and Pensions) or HMRC.

If you need help in reviewing and prioritising your debts, you should seek independent advice.

What are my options?

The short answer is that it depends on your budget and how your circumstances will impact you. We will make sure all the options we suggest are affordable, tailored to your needs and focused on what you can afford to repay.

Short Term options

Deferred Payment – we may agree to let you defer your payment until a future date. This may also include dividing payments into multiple instalments.

Reduced Payment – we may agree to let you have a lower payment over a set period.

Interest Only – we might be able to move you temporarily to an interest-only mortgage for a short time. This will reduce your payments but it’s important to be mindful that you won’t be paying back any of the original amount borrowed, so you’ll need to repay it in the future which means your payments will increase.

Longer Term options

Changing your mortgage product – by changing your mortgage product, you could reduce your payments. If you’re on a variable rate mortgage you could fix the interest rate that we charge, which would give you certainty in your monthly payments over a set period of time. Remember, your mortgage may have ERC’s (Early Repayment Charges) that apply. If you want to explore looking at alternative products let us know and we can see if this would help.

Term Extension – if you have a repayment (i.e not interest-only) mortgage, spreading the repayments over a longer period of time will lower your monthly payments.  However, this means that you will have a mortgage for longer and pay more interest than you would have done originally. You can always reduce the term again in the future if your circumstances improve.

Capitalisation of arrears – we may consider capitalisation of arrears. This is where we may add your arrears to the total amount you owe and pay it back over the remaining term of your mortgage.

Independent advice

If you find yourself in financial difficulty, or if you have multiple debts, try contacting a not-for-profit debt-counselling organisation. They offer free, confidential support and may be able to help you prioritise your debts or negotiate with creditors.

• MoneyHelper (previously The Money Advice Service)
• StepChange Debt Charity
• National Debtline
• Business Debtline (for small businesses)
• Citizens Advice Bureau

Melton and District Money Advice Centre provides a free, confidential and impartial advice service for the people of Melton Mowbray and District concerning money and debt problems.  For further information please visit http://meltonanddistrictmoneyadvicecentre.co.uk.

The Money Navigator Tool, available on the MoneyHelper website (previously the Money Advice Service), is designed to help people who have seen their finances impacted by Covid-19. This includes people dealing with complex financial situations who may find it difficult to know where to start, such as those facing redundancy or job loss, the self-employed whose work has dried up, and people who have had a temporary income drop who need help to get back on track. The tool will also help people who are looking for support in a specific area, as well as those who might be in a better financial position due to Covid-19 and want to know what to do with any savings they may have built up. Please visit www.moneyhelper.org.uk to access the tool.

Interest only mortgages

If you have an interest only mortgage and are unsure whether you have sufficient arrangements in place to repay the capital balance at the end of your mortgage term, please speak to us so that we can help you review your repayment strategy and where necessary explain the options available to you. If your circumstances have changed since you took out your mortgage, we can offer a review with a Mortgage Advisor who can provide advice in relation to your long-term mortgage arrangements and repayment strategy plans.

You may also find the Financial Conduct Authority’s publication, Interest-only mortgages: act now and talk to your lender, useful. You can also find some useful information here: moneyhelper.org.uk.