Mortgage payment options

If you’re worried about mortgage rates rising and how this may affect you over the coming months, we have a range of options that may help.

Arranging a new mortgage deal, extending your mortgage term, or temporarily switching to an Interest Only mortgage, are just some of the options that could help you manage your residential mortgage repayments.

Please note: If you decide to extend your mortgage term or to switch to an interest only mortgage, it’s on a non-advised basis. This means, we won’t be able to help you decide if either change to your mortgage is right for you. It also means you won’t get the same Financial Conduct Authority protection as you would if you used our advised service.

 

Extend your mortgage term

Your mortgage term is the entire length of time the mortgage is set to be paid over - often 25 or 30 years. Extending your mortgage term means you are increasing this period beyond your original agreement. This means you have longer to repay the capital borrowed and your mortgage payments will be lower.

Within the first 6-months of making this change, you can tell us if you want to switch back to your original term without an affordability assessment.

This option won’t affect, your credit file. However, it is important to note the below.

 

Important information:

• An extension to your mortgage term will result in you paying more in total over the lifetime of your mortgage.
• By extending your mortgage term, your monthly payment will reduce as you’ll have a longer period to repay the outstanding balance of your mortgage. This means you will be paying more interest over the term of your mortgage as your mortgage balance will remain in place for longer.

 

Am I eligible?

To be eligible to extend your mortgage term you must:

• Be a UK residential mortgage customer
• Not have any arrears on your mortgage (this means you’ve missed mortgage payments and have payments overdue on your mortgage)
• Not looking to extend beyond your state pension age which you can check here
• Not have had this non-advised change processed previously on your mortgage

 

How to request this change?

If you would like to proceed with this change, please call the team on 0345 601 3344. If you can’t take this option because you’ve already missed payments, call us – we’ll have other ways to help.

 

Transfer to Interest Only

If all or part of your mortgage is a repayment mortgage, where part of the balance is repaid each month, you can temporarily switch to Interest Only payments for 6 months.

By temporarily switching to an interest only mortgage, you can temporarily reduce your monthly payments.

At the end of the 6-month term your mortgage will automatically switch back to a repayment mortgage or part repayment, depending on your current mortgage deal.

This option won’t affect, your credit file. However, it is important to note the below.

 

Important information:

• With an Interest Only mortgage, your monthly mortgage payments only cover the interest and don't go towards repaying the original amount borrowed.
• At the end of the temporary interest only period, your repayments will be recalculated over the remaining term of the mortgage which will result in higher payments at that time and higher overall costs over the term of the mortgage.
• Any estimates of what the repayments will be are approximate only, based on all proposed payments being maintained and are calculated on the current interest rates, which may change in the future.
• Although this change will not show as missed payments on your credit file, providing all payments are maintained during this period, lenders may use information obtained from other sources, such as bank account information or other information provided by us as part of the application process, in their lending decisions.

 

Am I eligible?

To be eligible to transfer your mortgage to an Interest Only basis for up to six months you must:

• Be a UK residential mortgage customer
• Not have any arrears on your mortgage (this means you’ve missed mortgage payments and have payments overdue on your mortgage)
• Not have had this non-advised change processed previously on your mortgage

 

How to request this change?

If you would like to proceed with the temporary switch of all or part of your mortgage to interest only, please get in touch on 0345 601 3344. If you can’t take this option because you’ve already missed payments, call us – we’ll have other ways to help.

 

Arrange a new mortgage deal

You can arrange a new mortgage deal, up to 4 months before your current deal ends - we won’t need to assess affordability or require proof of income again to switch deals.

If your current mortgage deal is ending, or you're on our standard variable mortgage rate, then you might be wondering how to switch your mortgage to a different deal.

If you’re speaking to one of our Mortgage Advisers, we’ll need your instructions by the 10th of the month to complete the switch for the 1st of the following month.

If you arranged your mortgage through a Mortgage Intermediary, you might want to discuss your options with them.

Want to know what deals are right for you? Visit our guide or call us on 0345 601 3344 to discuss your options.

 

If you can’t make your mortgage payments

If you’re already experiencing difficulties paying your mortgage, the above options won’t be suitable for you. Please don’t worry though, we’re here to help - with a personal approach and practical support and simply speaking with us won’t affect your credit file. Visit our difficulties to repaying your mortgage guide to find out more or if you’d like to talk to a member of the team, then please get in touch on 0345 601 3344.