is mortgage holiday good idea

rosie001

husband left two years ago pays nothing towards household bills or mortgage. have been paying the £500 mortgage myself, but am struggling now that son is no longer in full time education and am no longer receiving family tax credits. would it be a good idea to take a mortgage holiday?? once divorce is complete will have to sell the house any way and ex will still be entitled to his share of it. i know that ex will also have to agree to the break.

opinions4u

A mortgage holiday is no different than taking out a personal loan for the size of the mortgage payments that are being missed.

The two key differences being that the rate charged is the mortgage rate and the term is the remaining term of the mortgage. The latter point can often make it a very expensive method of borrowing.

For me it's nearly always a bad idea. And no lender I'm aware of will agree a mortgage holiday for the purpose of "I'm a bit skint".

RenovationMan

You need to contact the CSA and make sure that he contributes towards your kids. You also need to make sure that you are getting avery benefit that you are entitled to (http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx) to try and increase your income.

You might also consider putting your house on the market so that you can sell up and get yourself something smaller and more manageable. You could ask your lender if you can go interest only on your mortgage while you try and sell the house.

Finally, if your son is no longer in fulltime education then he needs to get a job and help you out.

xyellowx

halifax tried to charge me a fee for 6 months holiday last year and i still had to pay the interest over the 6 months so declined it, plus think its even harder to get offered one now anyway

Farmerbob

If you need a holiday because your struggling as your Tax Credits have stopped, I would ask if you expect something to change over the next few months that would mean that you are able to make the payments again as the holiday is only a temporary measure.

I don't know how far along you are with the divorce proceedings but certainly if you intend on marketing the property a short "Payment Holiday" will likely be shorter than the time it will take to market and sell the property so how would you cover the payments after then?

I would be inclined to agree with RenovationMan, along with looking to reduce your other bills, or even speak to your lender and see how they can help?

Thrugelmir

Speak to your lender and explain the situation. Be frank about your personal circumstances.

Maybe worth speaking to your ex as well. A payment holiday will be recorded against both your names. So in the short term until the property is sold another solution may be found.

rosie001

i think i have been through every other option. csa, benefits, spoke to mortgage company. would love to sell the house and down size but until the divorce is settled would have no capital to buy property. as ex is still joint on mortgage his earnings are taken into account by lender, but don't think he actually cares if house is repossessed as he wont be the one made homeless. all a bit of a mess really.
as for 17 year old son he's on an apprenticeship and they don't pay well but he does contribute to the bills.
thanks for advice anyway

RenovationMan

rosie001 wrote: »

would love to sell the house and down size but until the divorce is settled would have no capital to buy property.

You could always rent until the divorce is settled. The proceeds from the house sale would be held in trust until the particulars of the divorce were worked out and meanwhile you won't be paying all of the mortgage while he pays nothing.

opinions4u

xyellowx wrote: »

halifax tried to charge me a fee for 6 months holiday last year and i still had to pay the interest over the 6 months so declined it, plus think its even harder to get offered one now anyway

Odd that, as they don't charge a fee for agreeing a payment holiday.