Mortgage Options

Change your payment date 

You may be able to change the date your mortgage payment is due each month. This can help if your income arrives on a different day.

Example: If you're paid later in the month, so your payments better align with your budget.

Impact(s): 

• Interest may be added or removed depending on the date you move to. 
• Your balance or arrears may increase if interest is added, before you make your next payment to clear it.
• Your first new due date payment may be higher to pay the extra interest.

Use a different payment method

You might be able to change how you make your monthly mortgage payments. This can help if your current payment method isn’t working well for your situation.

Example: You could switch from Direct Debit to a standing order or another method that suits your financial setup better.

Impact(s): 

• If your payment amount changes, you’ll need to manually update this.

Payment arrangements

If you've missed mortgage payments, a payment arrangement can help you catch up gradually. You’ll pay off your arrears in manageable monthly amounts while continuing to make your usual mortgage payments.

Example: Let’s say your monthly mortgage payment is £500 and you’ve missed two payments (£1,000 in arrears). We might agree for you to pay your regular £500 plus an extra £50 each month. This would clear your arrears over 20 months.

Impact(s): 

• Interest continues to be charged on the arrears until they’re fully paid off. This means you may pay more interest overall. 
• This will be reported on your credit file as an arrangement.
• Your monthly payment will be higher than usual during the arrangement period.

Concessionary arrangements

If you're facing short-term financial difficulties, we may agree to accept reduced or no payments for a temporary period. 

Example: If you're unable to work due to injury, we might accept less than your usual £500 monthly mortgage payment until you recover. After that, we’d work with you to set up a payment arrangement to catch up on missed payments.

Impact(s): 

• Interest continues to be charged on the growing arrears until they’re fully paid off. 
• You may pay more interest overall.
• This will be reported on your credit file as an arrangement.
• Your arrears will increase during the concessionary period.
• Payments may be paused or reduced temporarily but will increase later to catch up.

Modifications

In some cases, we may consider a temporary, or occasionally a permanent, variation to the mortgage loan, to assist customers who are experiencing payment difficulties.

Simple modifications may involve:

Switching your loan to Interest Only 

If you're currently on a repayment or part-repayment mortgage, we may agree to temporarily switch your mortgage to interest-only. This means you’d only pay the interest for a short time, not the loan itself. Your monthly payments would be lower during this period, but your mortgage balance wouldn’t reduce.

After the temporary period ends, your repayment mortgage will resume, and your payments will include the missed loan balance portion.

Example: You’re off work temporarily and can afford interest-only payments, helping you avoid arrears.

Impact(s): 

• If you have arrears outstanding, this may be reported as a higher number of missed payments on your credit file.
• When you switch back, your monthly payment will be higher.
• You’ll pay more interest overall as the balance won’t have reduced during the Interest only period.

Other modifications may involve altering the structure of your loan: 
 

Interest rate reduction

We may be able to reduce your mortgage interest rate for a short period. This can help lower your monthly payments while you get back on track financially. After the temporary period ends, your interest rate would return to its usual level.

Example: You’re temporarily caring for someone and need lower payments to stay on track.

Impact(s): 

• If you have arrears outstanding, this may be reported as a higher number of missed payments on your credit file.
• This would temporarily reduce your monthly payment.

Capitalising missed payments

If you’ve missed some mortgage payments, we may be able to add those missed payments to your total mortgage balance. This is called capitalisation. It means you won’t need to repay the missed amount all at once, instead, it’s spread out over the remaining term of your mortgage.

Example: You’re back on track and want to remortgage, but arrears are affecting your credit file.

Impact(s): 

• Interest will continue to be charged on the total balance until it’s paid in full. This will clear your arrears which will be reflected on your credit file.
• Your monthly payments may increase slightly.

Consent to let

You can apply to rent out your property for a set period. This may be helpful if you're temporarily unable to live in the property or need to generate rental income. You’ll need our approval before letting your property.

Example: You move in with a partner to reduce costs and use rental income to pay off arrears.

Impact(s): 

• This option won’t be reported on your credit file. However, if you already have arrears, those will still be reported.

If you think any of these options are suitable, please contact us, we’re here to help.