RBS mortgage versus cancer diagnosis

spiffchen

Hello everyone
I'm in the position of having been diagnosed with cancer for the second time in nine months. I'm extremely fortunate that both cancers have been curable and I thank my lucky stars!
I'm currently recovering from surgery and will not be able to return to work for another 3 months(I'm self employed). I had 4 months off Jan-Apr for previous cancer. This has severely impacted on household income and finance.
I phoned Rbs to see if there was any way of receiving a little help or respite from mortgage payments for a few months, we have no arrears and have never missed a payment. I was told we would only receive help AFTER we have gone 3 months in arrears with mortgage payments!
Having just completed a 10 year DMP with stepchange last year and cleared our debt of nearly £30k this is not something I want to do.
Has anyone had any experience of this with RBS? Is there anything else I can do or a way round it?
Thanks.
Spiffchen

ACG

I dont suppose you have Critical Illness insurance or income protection/Accident or sickness cover (also known as ASU/MPPI)/the much slated but also quite handy PPI cover do you? You may be able to make a claim on one or more of these which might also allow you to take a longer period of time off to recover.

You could try putting a complaint in to RBS to basically explain you would like to sort something out prior to going in to arrears in order for you to be able to relax and not worry about letters or bailiffs at the door. Ultimately, even with their agreement it is probably going to show as Mortgage arrears on your credit report. You could possibly try a payment holiday? If you did not specifically mention it, you may have got a numpty on the phone that did not think of it.

haras_nosirrah

I am really sorry for your circumstances. Unfortunately it would be down to the goodwill of the lender as your health issues are not their concern. This is why health insurance is important for those with no sick pay. Maybe see if you can negotiate a period of interest only but it is down to their discretion