I’m going to miss a mortgage payment soon
As a responsible lender, making sure our customers feel supported and protected is central to everything we do.
We’ll work with you to provide support that’s tailored to your individual circumstances and based on what you can afford to pay. Your credit score will not be impacted by contacting us to find out what options are available.
If you want to talk to someone, please call our customer support team as soon as possible on 0800 781 8558. They’re available between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. We’ll work with you to understand your situation and provide support that’s tailored to you. You may also find it useful to visit the MoneyHelper or UK Finance websites.
You may also want to visit www.payplan.com/precise-mortgages to see how Payplan can support you with your finances.
In addition, we’ve compiled a list of free third-party resources in a downloadable guide at the foot of the page, under “Further support and advice”.
To help you understand how we may support you, we’ve outlined a number of options that we could consider. Please remember, this is a guide only and not an exhaustive list. We’ll always tailor solutions to your situation.
Mortgage Charter
If you’re struggling with your finances and general household bills, we can help you through the government’s Mortgage Charter. The Mortgage Charter is available to residential customers who are currently up to date with their mortgage payments.
If we provide support through the Mortgage Charter, we won’t report the arrangement to the credit reference agencies.
For buy to let customers or customers who have already missed a mortgage payment, please visit our Further support for customers experiencing financial difficulties section.
Through the Mortgage Charter we can look at three options to make your repayments feel more manageable, including:
- switching to a new mortgage product;
- a temporary change to interest only for six months; or
- a term extension.
Don’t worry if these don’t feel like they provide you with the right support you need, there are other options available that we can discuss with you.
It’s important to remember that where we agree an arrangement, which temporarily reduces your mortgage payments, the amount unpaid will still be owed when the arrangement comes to an end.
Options available under the Mortgage Charter
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.
Other ways we may be able to support:
Please note that these options are not available under the Mortgage Charter.
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.
Information we’ll need:
We’ll need a full understanding of your current income and expenditure, so we know how best to support you.
We’ve worked alongside Paylink Solutions to create an online income and expenditure form for residential borrowers or buy to let borrowers who have up to and including three rental properties.
Completing this form will allow us to assess your situation before we call you to discuss your options. We aim to deal with all requests within five working days.
If you’re a buy to let borrower with four or more rental properties, call our customer support team on 0800 781 8558 instead.
If we’re unable to offer assistance, our team will provide guidance on what steps you need to take and may suggest that you seek independent financial advice. We can’t offer advice about debts you hold with other organisations.
In such instances, you should speak to the organisation involved and/or approach an independent free debt advice service. These organisations can review all your debts and help you find solutions to manage payments to your creditors, review access to benefits, support budgeting and help you cut your costs.
Contact details for some of these services, including not for profit organisations, are included in our downloadable guide, under ‘further support and advice’.
Further support and advice
If you have difficulties with your finances and other creditors, you may wish to seek independent financial advice or assistance from other sources. We’ve compiled a list of trusted organisations who have the expertise, skills, knowledge and provide the support you might need.
Download our guide hereWe’re here to help and answer any questions you may have. You can call us or you can email us. Please note that we can’t disclose account information without verification.
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Your mortgage is secured on your home. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.