Mortgage break with Halifax

chocolatefudge25

Hi Everyone,

My partner and I bought a house last October with a 95% fixed rate mortgage from the Halifax. Rather surprisingly we discovered that I was pregnant in April and the baby is due at the end of December.

I've read that Halifax will give a 6 month mortgage break and we decided that this would be a good option for us as it will be a real struggle surviving on my partner's wages alone. However, I've been reading other people's experiences and many of them have been turned down for the payment break as their home is not worth the value of the mortgage.

Others have suggested asking to pay interest only while I'm on maternity leave. Will the bank allow this?

Does anyone have any experience of dealing with the Halifax in situations like this? The baby came as a great shock and I was hoping we would have savings put away for when we wanted children!

Thank you so much,

Jen

opinions4u

Good luck with the baby.

Their website has some of the rules for Payment Holiday and a phone number but maximum LTV will be 90% after the payments have been missed. I dount you'll qualify.

The same number can also be used to try and negotiate lower payments in the case of financial hardship. They are under no obligation to help though, and would expect you to meet your full mortgage payment ahead of unsecured loans and credits. Don't expect them to reduce mortgage payments to allow you to maintain your other loan commitments.

Personally I think you should save like made for the next few months and get some cash reserves behind you to help you through the reduced income time.

mrsjones2be

Hi

I requested a payment holiday from halifax last month as getting married, i currently owe £90,300 of a £95,000 mortgage.

They have said that my LTV is not high enough for me to havepayment hol yet. I started my mortagage in Feb 2007, 5 years fixed.

Not sure about paying interest only.

beecher

I'd advise going on the Debt Free Wannabee forum, posting a Statement of Affairs, and getting help on preparing for your decrease in income. You'll also get advice on tax credits etc you'll be entitled to. They'll help you look at your income as you need to look carefully at it, and ditch holidays/gym/Sky/sell the car in order to be prepared. You should do all this before looking at the mortgage, due to your v high LTV - a mortgage break or going interest only will make it more difficult to remortgage in the future.

Greenr

beecher wrote: »

I'd advise going on the Debt Free Wannabee forum, posting a Statement of Affairs, and getting help on preparing for your decrease in income. You'll also get advice on tax credits etc you'll be entitled to. They'll help you look at your income as you need to look carefully at it, and ditch holidays/gym/Sky/sell the car in order to be prepared. You should do all this before looking at the mortgage, due to your v high LTV - a mortgage break or going interest only will make it more difficult to remortgage in the future.

Hi, please can you explain how taking a mortgage break will make it more difficult to remortgage in the future?
Thanks!

opinions4u

Greenr wrote: »

Hi, please can you explain how taking a mortgage break will make it more difficult to remortgage in the future?
Thanks!

Example:

Debt £90k
Value £105k
LTV 86%

Missed payments over 6 months: £3k
New debt £93k
House price falls to £100k
New LTV = 93%

At 93% you can't remortgage
If you hadn't done the payment holiday you'd have been at 90% and could remortgage

(similar principle applies if 85% is the maximum remortgage available, just change the numbers though)

Here's a link to Halifax Payment Holiday detail on their web site, assuming that's your lender.