Mortgage holidays???

andy2726

What are the pluses and negatives of having a mortgage holiday?

we are struggling for extra cash for Xmas and a 10 year anniversary break for me and the wife, so was thinking about approaching the Nationwide and asking them for a month off paying to free up some extra money

is this a good idea or would we be better off looking at other avenues??

opinions4u

andy2726 wrote: »

What are the pluses and negatives of having a mortgage holiday?

Plus: You don't pay your mortgage for a period of time.

Negative: You pay interest on it for the remainder of the term, often paying back more than twice what you have effectively borrowed.

we are struggling for extra cash for Xmas and a 10 year anniversary break for me and the wife, so was thinking about approaching the Nationwide and asking them for a month off paying to free up some extra money

Many lenders have tightened their criteria for payment holidays so it is by no means certain that you will get one.

is this a good idea or would we be better off looking at other avenues??

My preferred option would be to save for known events. Christmas comes every year and a ten year anniversary comes 10 years after a wedding!!

That, however, doesn't help you today (although will hopefully help other readers to plan ahead).

A 0% credit card for purchases that you ensure that you repay within the interest free period may be the better option, as long as you can afford the repayments (e.g. amount spent divided by 10) and don't use it to build up other debts.

Here's a linky that suggests, subject to acceptance, that Tesco is possibly the best deal out there at the moment with 12 months at 0% while Halifax offer the same if you have a funded current account with them.

andy2726

Thanks for your quick reply

we had saved but unfortantly life got in the way I.E car broke down £500 plus and the washing machine went up in smoke, we did get a 0% card from tescos with a low balance to pay for the holiday in the first place so reluctant to go down the avenue

sammyjammy

Are you sure you are on the right website

Holidays and Christmas are a reallllly bad reason to take a payment holiday, these have their place but are really just authorised arrears.

Why don't you think of something lovely for your anniversary which doesn't cost much money and have a quiet cheap Christmas, you'll feel so much better come 1st January.

Cars and washing machines breaking are what emergency savings are for.