Coronavirus mortgage help

To work out how much you can afford to pay towards your mortgage, first you’ll need to think about your other monthly commitments.

These include essential living costs like food, bills (such as council tax, utilities and phone bills), travel expenses, and paying back anything you owe – like any loans, credit cards or overdrafts you have.

For most people, it makes sense to pay your essential expenses and priority debts first, before you pay anything that’s lower priority. Our income and expenditure form can help you work this out.

MoneyHelper also has a guide on how to prioritise your debts. If you’re struggling to pay all or some of your debts, think about contacting the companies you owe to discuss your repayments.

There’s a range of ways we might be able to help you. Your options will depend on how much you can afford, your circumstances, and how long you think your financial difficulties will last.

Here are some ways we could help you in the short and long term

Short-term options

• Reduce your payments temporarily. This means you’ll pay less than your contractual monthly payment (CMP) each month. The amount of the CMP you’re not paying will build up as an arrears balance. You’ll need to repay it before your mortgage ends, and we’ll report the arrears balance to credit reference agencies. This could affect your ability to get credit or borrow money
• A payment arrangement. This means making your contractual monthly payment plus an amount towards your arrears for an agreed period. This option is suitable if your mortgage was already in arrears and you can afford to pay more than your monthly contractual payment

Long-term options

• Extend your mortgage term. This means spreading your payments over a longer time, so you’ll pay a lower amount each month. It could be suitable if you can afford to make an agreed payment each month. You might end up paying more interest in total. We can’t extend the term past your retirement age
• Refinance. This is a permanent move to a part-and-part or interest-only repayment plan. This option is only available if you can show us a suitable repayment plan to pay back the amount you’ll owe by the end of the mortgage term
  
• Switch your mortgage to new a rate. You could apply for a different mortgage rate with us, which could offer more affordable repayments
• Support with selling your home. If you can’t make payments over a longer period, you could consider selling your home. If the property is worth more than you owe us, you could use the difference to buy a more affordable home, or to pay your living costs. We can help you through the sale process, but the cost of this will be added to the amount you owe us

All of these options depend on your personal circumstances and our eligibility conditions, and could affect one or more of these

• The amount of interest you pay over the mortgage term
• Your credit rating, which could affect your ability to get credit or borrow money
• The amount you owe us as arrears
  

If you need help, please contact us and we’ll do our best to support you.

We’re no longer offering temporary coronavirus support, but if you still need help we may be able to set up a payment arrangement.

Unlike the support you’ve had so far, a payment arrangement might affect your credit score – this could make it more difficult for you to get credit from us or other providers in future. A payment arrangement may also increase your mortgage balance.

Before making an arrangement, we’ll need to talk to you about your financial situation and what options are available. Some options take time to set up, and may not be in place before your next payment date, so it’s important you contact us as soon as possible. Please complete this budget plan, then call us on 0333 202 7407¹ – we’re here Monday to Thursday from 8am to 8pm, Friday from 8am to 6pm, and Saturday from 9am to 1pm.

We’ve got lots of practical advice to help you tackle money troubles and debt, improve your financial habits, and see what support is available.

For independent advice, both MoneyHelper and the FCA have dedicated pages about financial support following coronavirus.

If you need help with debt, you can get free, independent advice from these organisations

• StepChange Debt Charity – call them for free on 0800 138 1111
• National Debtline – if you live in England, Wales or Scotland, you can call them for free on 0808 808 4000
• Citizens Advice – visit your local branch

Yes. You can make a lump sum payment, or smaller payments on a regular or one-off basis.

Insurance that pays out for accidents, sickness or unemployment will either be a standalone income protection policy or payment protection insurance (PPI).

PPI is offered in combination with a credit agreement, such as a mortgage, credit card or overdraft. You should check whether you have this type of policy in place and, if you feel you have a valid claim, follow the claims process in your policy documents.

If you’re worried about repaying your interest-only or part-and-part mortgage balance, or Mortgage Current Account overdraft balance, we may be able to set up a payment arrangement for you.

A payment arrangement might affect your credit score – this could make it more difficult for you to get credit from us or other providers in future. A payment arrangement may also increase your mortgage balance.

Before making an arrangement, we’ll need to talk to you about your financial situation and what options are available. Please fill in this budget plan, then call us on 0333 202 7416¹ – we’re here Monday to Thursday from 8am to 8pm, Friday from 8am to 6pm, and Saturday from 9am to 1pm.