Mortgage moritorium

MLP79

Hello, I'm going down to statutory maternity pay this month and had wrongly assumed that I'd be able to take a mortgage repayment holiday to help off-set the huge drop in income. However my mortgage company have said my product doesn't offer payment holidays and my only option is to declare financial hardship and seek a moritorium on payments. The advisor said this should be our last resort as it stays on your credit record for six years. I just wondered if anyone else had experience of this, if it has been problematic, if it is actually not that scary etc. Thank you.

Neutrinno

Having an arrangement on your mortgage and going in to arrears will be very detrimental to your credit record and as you've been told already, will stay on your credit file for six years. Not making your contractual mortgage payments may make it harder for you to obtain future credit or remortgage in the foreseeable future.

If you do go ahead with this then you will have to go through a potentially lengthy process to apply for the moratorium, and be prepared to answer some in depth questions and providing evidence of your situation.

Have you discussed with your lender if they can change you on to a cheaper product?

Kynthia

It sounds like this should be avoided if at all possible. Is there no other way of making ends meet? Have you looked into loans, agreed over draft, remortgaging (longer term, lower rate, etc), cashing in savings, using a 0% credit card, going back to work earlier, help from family, etc. Don't make decisions without considering the consequences though as you don't want more debt if you won't be able to repay it after maternity leave when you both might have reduced income or childcare costs.