I’m going to miss a mortgage payment soon

Switching to a new product may be a good way to help you lower your repayments. You can switch products up to three months before your existing deal is due to end without the need for another affordability check. We’ll write to you to three months before your existing deal is due to end to let you know.

To speak with someone about switching to a new product with us, please call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558.

You can take out an interest only agreement for up to six months without it impacting your credit file. This will temporarily reduce your monthly payments by only paying the interest instead of making payments towards the current balance of your mortgage, also known as the capital balance. We’ll write to you before it’s due to finish to explain what options you have to pay back the capital balance that is not paid during the interest-only arrangement.

Things to consider:

• Higher monthly mortgage payments after the temporary interest only period. As you’re only paying off the interest on your mortgage, your capital balance won’t be reducing.

• Capital balance will continue to have interest charged on it. This means you’ll end up paying more interest over the remaining term of your mortgage.

To speak with someone about an interest only arrangement, please call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558.

Extending the length of your mortgage term means you’ll benefit from lower payments as you’ll be paying your mortgage balance over a longer period.

You will be able to reduce the term up to six months after the extension takes effect without an affordability assessment, which can take you back to the original term or a term in between the original term and your new term.

If you want to reduce the term after the six months term extension, an affordability assessment will be required.

Please note this is not available for customers with an interest only mortgage.

Things to consider:

• Your mortgage will take longer to pay off. If you decide to change back to your original term, your payments will be higher but you’ll be paying less interest so your mortgage will be paid off sooner.

• The overall cost of your mortgage will increase.

• As interest rates change, your payment may also change.

To speak with someone about extending your mortgage term, please call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558.

You can only choose one of these options under the Mortgage Charter.

These are not long-term solutions; they should only be used as a last resort as they will end up costing you more. If you can meet your mortgage repayments, then you should continue to do so.

Under the terms of the Charter, we don’t need to assess whether these options are affordable for you, nor whether they are suitable for you. This is known as ‘execution only’ and any changes to your mortgage will be carried out on an execution only basis.

We’re unable to provide you with advice so we recommend you seek any independent advice from a legal and financial professional before entering into this arrangement.

It will take up to 15 days from the date we receive your signed forms to make the necessary changes to your account. If you’ve a payment that’s due during the 15-day period, you’ll need to pay it as normal.

Having a temporary reduction in your interest rate may be an appropriate way to make your payments lower in the interim. Following a review of your circumstances and an affordability check we could lower your rate for up to six months.

This will show as an arrangement on your credit file which could affect your ability to borrow money in the future. We’ll write to you before the rate ends and could look at further support if required.

To speak to someone about a temporary interest rate reduction, please call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558.

Following a review of your circumstances and an affordability check we could accept an amount lower than your full monthly payment. However, this means it may take longer to repay your mortgage balance or result in your future mortgage payments increasing.

This would show as forbearance on your credit file and would increase your arrears balance. This may also be reportable as an arrangement on your credit file which could affect your ability to borrow money in the future.

To speak to someone about a concessional payment, please call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558.

If your affordability check shows that you can’t make a payment but your circumstances mean that you’ll be able to recommence payments in the future, we could suspend your payments for a period. Interest would still be charged on your mortgage.

After the payment deferral period, the suspended payments will be added to your mortgage and your balance will increase. This means that your contractual monthly payments will increase so that the suspended payments are cleared by the end of your mortgage term.

This will show as an arrangement on your credit file which could affect your ability to borrow money in the future.