Barclay's No Longer allowing Interest only mortgages??

whygirl

Hi there,

I have a repayment mortgage with Woolwich, who are now Barclay's. Due to other financial committments which I am attempting to sort out I contacted them this morning to ask if I could change my repayment mortgage to an interest only for a short time. However, I was told that from December 15 2008 this option had been withdrawn!

I spoke to my mortgage advisor about this and she couldn't understand why this is the case.... and advised I try again. I did, but got the same response!!!

Any explanations/ suggestions anyone?

Thanks

beecher

I suppose it is up to them if they allow it or not.

I can only suggest that you post a Statement of Affairs on the Debt Free Wannabee site to get ideas of where you can make savings, other than on your mortgage.

_Andy_

It will depend on your LTV, i.e. if you have a high amount of mortgage in relation to the property value they consider it a high risk and thus will decline.

Robert_Sterling_3

I agree with Andy.
When house values are falling and the outstanding capital is standing still you are heading towards negative equity.
It does not say much for your mortgage adviser that were unaware of this fairly obvious explanation.

chivers1977

The standard Barclays advice is to seek independent financial advice, then call 0800 022 4022 and ask for a task to be put to the Customers in Financial Difficulties team. They will expect you to complete a full income and expenditure report and then will review options re reducing payments

Conrad

Your 'advisor' should know that interest only is being surpressed by most lenders now. Good olf Government regulation - Gordon Brown knows best you see.

knitter

So called goverment interfering it was ovious the banks were not going to allow people to take interest only holidays into days current climate Especially Barcleys who received no goverment handouts.

The Banks would probably be more helpful if they did not think the goverment was trying to hold them to ramsom..Though maybe not:mad:

whygirl

Thanks so much for all your replies everyone It's a bit frustrating that they were allowing it up until a month ago. Our ltv is still pretty good and where we live is still a very popular area so I'm not overly worried about negative equity but famous last words and all that:rolleyes:

Anyway, I did find out that they normally only apply interest changes in September but by phoning they'll apply it immediately so I can still make a good saving on my monthly repayments. I'm just really keen to get rid of a few credit card debts that have begun to make a huge dent in our income so that's the main reason I was hoping to go interest only for a while

Ah well, we'll sort something out but I'll definitely give that phone number a try, chivers1977...

Thanks again. I really appreciate your help.

Joe_Bloggs

@Knitter
So Barclays received no government funds. Well perhaps not from the UK but there are foreign governments or private individuals with government links, who can invest in our institutions.
J_B.