Need help with loan whilst on Maternity Leave

bbmm

I am due my first baby in June but have had to start my maternity leave early. This means that come July I will be on Statutory Maternity Pay of the norm which is about £400 - 500 a per month. This is going from a fairly good salary which I was easily able to pay my barclayloan of £200 per month. This is not going to be possible once the SMP kicks in as rent is already £300 not to mention the rest of the bills and food etc that needs to be paid. Barclayloan have said they do not reduce payments for women on maternity leave which I find very unfair as so many must be in the same position. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do- should I switch my loan to someone else who would reduce the payments or put it on a credit card and how easy would this be to do? My loan is just under £7000.

ILW

bbmm wrote: »

Barclayloan have said they do not reduce payments for women on maternity leave which I find very unfair as so many must be in the same position.
.

It is just SO unfair.

bbmm

Thanks ILW for the very helpful comment!

CLAPTON

You need to work out a budget and determine how much you can afford and for how long.

Is that your only debt?

How much do you currently earn?

ILW

bbmm wrote: »

Thanks ILW for the very helpful comment!

OK then
How about getting the babys father to pay it until you get back to work?

bbmm

ILW - the babys father has just started his PGCE teacher training and his salary has gone down to about £15,500 until next year. This will not cover our rent of £600 per month, council tax, utilities, food, petrol, baby food/clothes, mobile phone etc for the both of us. My salary was £27,000 so going from that to SMP is a massive reduction!! Because we are just over £15,000 we won't get any help with housing or council tax benefit either.

kindofagilr

How long do you plan on being on SMP? are you going back to your job full time or part time?

If you are off on SMP for 3 or 6 months could you speak to the bank and ask if its possible for a payment break till you return to work?

Dont know if they would do that? but its worth asking?

Also have you looked into what tax credits you are entitled to once bump is born?

POSSETTE

I must say i thought the same as your first reply..why should they reduce your payment for you, just because you chose to have a baby and reduce your outgoings, when people who have no choice through job loss,sometimes get no reductions?
Does your loan agreement not have a payment break in it? My step daughters did,and she was able to have payment break for 3 months,which she took.
Worth having a look,or asking for one,agreeing that it will of course lenghten the loan period.

planetalice

Hello

I am in the same boat and have just registered after seeing your post and some of the posts you recieved! Less than helpfull as you are asking for info not peoples opinions on you having a baby!!:p Hope you are enjoying the experience and remember money is only money you will work it out

OK heres what I have found out..... banks seem to be very backward in this area and dont recognise we are only in this current state of reduced/zero income, I am on a very good wage and the bank have been very happy to make money off me for the last 17 years without so much as a missed payment! My bank have offered to do a "managed loan" which will stretch my 4 yr loan over 12 and reduce the intrest slightly so the upshot is my payments will reduce by half over the period i need them to...then when I return to work I will up the payments myself to what I currently pay. The downside to this is I am effetively in the naughty corner with my bank and they will not loan me any further money until the loan in question is paid off, fair enough I think.

I also have a hire purchase loan with Black Horse they have been much more accommodating and it looks as though my payments will definately be reduced to half payments for 3 months and possibly the full 6 months, and be added on at the end of the agreement.

Also the lady I spoke to at the bank helpfully stated that if I made smaller payments off my own back I would only really get into hot water after 6 months....not my advice to do this but I would put food on the table before paying the bank if it came to it.

Hope you have a lovely maternity leave :j

scouse82

Hello ladies,

I am also on maternity leave at the minute. I also dropped a very healthy wage for SMP. It's hard.

I think the best advice there was to see if they bank do payments breaks, and use that. I know they usually won't reduce payments - I've just had a nightmare with my car. It was costing me HALF of my SMP a month. Dire!!!

Apart from that, there really isn't much more you can do. It's a crap situation to be in. You have my sympathy.

Oh and just so you know, SMP is around £570 a month Hope this helps!

hcb42

Gosh old thread resurrected

I dont think stretching a loan from 4 yrs to 12 is a good idea....although I appreciate the poster said she will up it again when back at work...but what if she cant go back..?

I think the answer is in advance financial planning before starting a family - big loans like this when maternity leave might be on the cards is not going to be a good idea - unless joint income covers it. I don't think the banks are being backward in this -

I guess that could be construed as don't get a loan unless you don't need one..which is sound advice if you think about it!