Should I ring Santander to request a mortgage holiday?

Bananna

Hi lovely people. Looking for some advice on how my bank - Santander - would react if I asked for a short term mortgage break...

My job is ending at the end of the month and we are moving out of London. We had a sale agreed on our house and all was going swimmingly - we expected to exchange first week in Sept and complete shortly after that. However our buyer's mortgage offer was suddenly withdrawn on Monday so house is back on the market -
but I'll be jobless and I'm worried about being able to pay the mortgage. I have an overdraft to the maximum i can get - selling up will enable us to pay off the mortgage, overdraft and a few card debts and pay cash for a cheaper house so it's a new start.

So, my question is, if I ring Santander and they refuse a mortgage break, could they then go nuclear and call in my overdraft? That really scares me.

Lurkingtoposting17

Have you ever overpaid on your mortgage? If so it may make it easier to ask for a mortgage holiday as your overpayment could potentially offset the difference a mortgage holiday would.

Also some contracts specify the ability to have a mortgage holiday - so worth checking the contract of the product you took out to see if it mentions this.

Bananna

Hi. I've never actually overpaid and don't have the flexi mortgage where holidays (hate that term - makes it sound like a casual thing) are allowed. Never missed or been late with a payment.

Moneysavers will roll their eyes, but i actually took on a 3year fix just before interest rates dropped through the floor so was foolish/unlucky there. And have been on svr since fix ended so i HAVE paid way more than I should have

sammyjammy

Bananna wrote: »

Hi. I've never actually overpaid and don't have the flexi mortgage where holidays (hate that term - makes it sound like a casual thing) are allowed. Never missed or been late with a payment.

Moneysavers will roll their eyes, but i actually took on a 3year fix just before interest rates dropped through the floor so was foolish/unlucky there. And have been on svr since fix ended so i HAVE paid way more than I should have

No you haven't you've paid what you contractually agreed to. You have nothing to lose by asking them, they won't call in your overdraft for asking. Could you still manage the payments if they let you have a couple of months interest only?

Bananna

Lol i do know that I've paid what i contractually agreed to. Just beating myself up for not switching and saving myself a ton of cash.

Yes i could manage if interest only - hopefully it will only be a couple of months. Thanks for the advice - i think i will just call them.

Rusty_Shackleton

Hi Bananna, I'm in the process of buying my first house, and in my mortgage offer from Nationwide it specifically lays out the terms of payment holidays and when they'll consider it. If you still have your offer it might offer you some insight?

Unfortunately if Santander are like Nationwide, they will only consider a holiday if you've overpaid previously. Still no harm in asking though!

kingstreet

A payment holiday is authorised arrears and it will show as such on your credit file, making it difficult to get another mortgage in the near future.

Bananna

Hi Kingstreet

I will be able to buy my next home for cash once I've sold the London house so future mortgage should not be a issue BUT I'd like to avoid messing up my credit file as you never know what may happen. Can you tell me if asking to go interest only for 2 or 3 months would also affect my credit file in the same way? Really appreciate the info so that I don't blurt out something stupid on the phone.

(Have packed away all my old paperwork as I was expecting to move house really soon but I'm sure that with my luck there wouldn't have been any payment holiday option:o )

Tiners

Given the general economic attitude of the policy makers is ''protect property owners at ALL costs'' I'd say you're almost guaranteed to be granted a great deal of forbearance, in fact if you ask Santander really nicely they'll probably pay your mortgage for you.