Mortgage Maternity Break

g_brookes

We are with Northern Rock and have looked into taking a maternity break on my mortgage payments for 3 months, but this will mean our payments will increase for the life of the mortgage, meaning we will end up paying over £5k more in total.

Is there a cheaper solution?

beecher2

A mortgage break is just authorised arrears, so it is never going to be an inexpensive option.

Go onto the Debt Free Wannabee forums for help in budgeting through your maternity leave in order to be able to keep paying your mortgage. Alternatively, would they allow you to go interest only for a while, or to extend the term (both options will cost you in the long term though)

luckyfool

Take the break if you need to, then overpay the missed 3 payments over 12 month period once your income is back to normal. The reason it costs £5k more is that you would be paying interest on those missed payments for the remaining term of your mortgage, if you repay them earlier and get back on track then the vast majority of that extra interest would not be charged.