mortgage payments

kjpc83

Hi got a quick question. Do you pay Halfax mortgages in advance or in arrears? I have bought my first house and due to move in on 12/09. I have arranged for payments to be taken on the 1st of the month. Will the first payment come off on 01/10 or 01/11? My mortgage is for £500 and my first payment will be £780. My OH says the 01/10. Seems strange they would take such a high payment for only 18 days interest.
Thanks in advance.

aloiseb

Might be they are always going to take £780 every month - you'll be wanting to check the illustration and the papers you signed, which should make it clear what the monthly payment is? Also when they will take the first payment....(We've just done a remortgage and the papers made it very clear what would be taken out of our account when.)

as to whether this is payment in arrears or in advance....I dont' know if this is relevant, as they have advanced you a large amount of money to buy your home and they are now claiming it back, bit by bit. If you can't make a payment, you will be in arrears. that's my understanding.
hth!

LillyJ

Your first payment comes out 14 days after you complete. (pretty sure it is 14 days). That is for the part month (ie part of September).
You will then pay 1/10 for October's amount.
The illustration they give is very confusing as it assumes you complete on the 16th, meaning that the first payment (ie 14 days later) is on the 1st, along with your first whole month payment. It doesn't make it clear about the 14 day thing, and it threw us when we moved in.

opinions4u

Officially they ask for payment on the 1st of every month which means you are paying in advance.

In reality, they allow you to pay at any time within the month - so if you are paying through a Halifax account they will actually let you pay on the last day of the month (e.g. 28th, 30th or 31st). Direct debit from another bank and 28th is the latest you can pay.

I advise starting the mortgage on the 1st and if you ever have a short term financial issue, you can call them and change your payment to month end.

You can only do it once, but it's a nice little cushion if needed.

LillyJ

opinions4u wrote: »

Officially they ask for payment on the 1st of every month which means you are paying in advance.

In reality, they allow you to pay at any time within the month - so if you are paying through a Halifax account they will actually let you pay on the last day of the month (e.g. 28th, 30th or 31st). Direct debit from another bank and 28th is the latest you can pay.

I advise starting the mortgage on the 1st and if you ever have a short term financial issue, you can call them and change your payment to month end.

You can only do it once, but it's a nice little cushion if needed.

Can you really pay later than the 28th if it is coming from a Halifax account? We pay from a halifax account but they told us 28th was the latest. Which is annoying as I get paid last Wednesday in every month, so sometimes it is before pay day. Which isn't terrible, but it means I have to make sure there is money in our current account at the end of the month and sometimes transferring some back across from savings, which is a pain.
I don't want to make it the 1st, as I don't particularly want to pay 2 months worth straight after each other.

opinions4u

LillyJ wrote: »

Can you really pay later than the 28th if it is coming from a Halifax account? We pay from a halifax account but they told us 28th was the latest. Which is annoying as I get paid last Wednesday in every month, so sometimes it is before pay day. Which isn't terrible, but it means I have to make sure there is money in our current account at the end of the month and sometimes transferring some back across from savings, which is a pain.
I don't want to make it the 1st, as I don't particularly want to pay 2 months worth straight after each other.

You can. Give them a call. Just make sure you can fund the payments in December (bank holiday delays) and February (only 28 days in the month).

LillyJ

opinions4u wrote: »

You can. Give them a call. Just make sure you can fund the payments in December (bank holiday delays) and February (only 28 days in the month).

Brill, thanks for the tip.
Will ring them later! That will make my life a lot less complicated.

kjpc83

opinions4u wrote: »

Officially they ask for payment on the 1st of every month which means you are paying in advance.

In reality, they allow you to pay at any time within the month - so if you are paying through a Halifax account they will actually let you pay on the last day of the month (e.g. 28th, 30th or 31st). Direct debit from another bank and 28th is the latest you can pay.

I advise starting the mortgage on the 1st and if you ever have a short term financial issue, you can call them and change your payment to month end.

You can only do it once, but it's a nice little cushion if needed.

Thanks very much for that clears things up for me. And the date moving idea is good to know!:beer:

Tiddler_2

If you are paying from a Halifax account the last official day for collecting payments is still the 28th of the month, however, if the money is not in your account on the 28th, they will try on the 29th, if not in on 29th they will try on the 30th etc... They will try for a period of 7 days before you incur any missed payment charges.

If you pay by direct debit then they try on your due date, and if the money isn't there they try just the once again, 7 days later.

LillyJ

Tiddler wrote: »

If you are paying from a Halifax account the last official day for collecting payments is still the 28th of the month, however, if the money is not in your account on the 28th, they will try on the 29th, if not in on 29th they will try on the 30th etc... They will try for a period of 7 days before you incur any missed payment charges.

If you pay by direct debit then they try on your due date, and if the money isn't there they try just the once again, 7 days later.

Maybe that's the problem - I pay by direct debit. Is there a different way to pay other than manually?

opinions4u

LillyJ wrote: »

Maybe that's the problem - I pay by direct debit. Is there a different way to pay other than manually?

If you're paying by Halifax Payment Plan (like an internal direct debit) you can pay on the last day of the month.