Lost my Job - What should I do?

cameron1590

Hi All,

Unfortunately last Friday I lost my job. I currently have a repayment mortgage with HSBC. At the moment, I have around four months worth of savings so I am still able to carry on paying my bills.

My mortgage is my biggest out going (£600 per month). I had hoped to take some form of payment holiday for a few months while I find alternative work that would take off a lot of the pressure/worries. I have since found out HSBC do not offer these, I am very lucky that my family are keen to support me while I find alternative work but naturally, I do not wish to burden them with my life woes.

I just wondered if it is worth speaking to HSBC or if this is deemed a waste of time. I have never been in this situation before and do not wish to end up with HSBC prompting some form of repossession order or negative credit rating while I could still make repayments.

Does anyone have experience of contacting HSBC in these circumstances and if so, what did they do?

Thanks,

BoGoF

Any lender accepting less than the contractual monthly payments is likely to place an arrangement to pay market on your credit file which, I'm sure you're aware, is not good.

Your mortgage should be your priority What other commitments do you have? Any scope to reduce those?

silvercar

You should look at support for mortgage interest, it is a benefit that pays (some of) the interest on your mortgage. This is in the form of a loan that will eventually need to be repaid, but could be a useful stop gap. There is a qualifying period, so it may be that you are back in work before it kicks in, but worth investigating.

normanna

Just wanted to say sorry about your job loss and fortunately I've never been in this position but can sympathise. I'd just echo what others have said and include council tax in your list of priority debts as well

Thrugelmir

See if they'll allow you to switch onto an interest only basis for a period of time.

ethank

cameron1590 wrote: »

My mortgage is my biggest out going (£600 per month). I had hoped to take some form of payment holiday for a few months while I find alternative work that would take off a lot of the pressure/worries.

So sorry to hear that you have lost your job just before Christmas. When I read your comments, it seems you think/want to take time to find the next job? Is that very practical?

Why will it take months for you to find another job? Are you able to find temp or interim work in the mean time to keep money coming in?

Moneyminded

Hi Cameron,

Sorry to hear that you have lost your job I know it must be scary. You don't mention whether you have another household income coming in or not so i'll assume it is just yours.

You mention that you have enough money to pay all your outgoings for the next 4 months which is great, no need to panic yet! With 4 months worth of bills covered you have time to find your next permanent role. In the meantime, as others have mentioned above, try to look for some interim or fixed term work to help make your savings stretch. It doesn't have to be the best paid job ever or even your dream job but every bit of money you make helps. You aren't yet struggling to pay your mortgage and if you manage to secure other work in the next few months you won't struggle to pay in the future either.

Look to cut costs where you can to ensure your savings stretch as far as possible and see if there are things lying around at home that you no longer use, could you sell them to make some money?

Fingers crossed you find your next job soon

Butti

My mortgage provider allowed me,,

To take a payment holiday
Then to pay interest only
Then to extend the term to the maximum possible.

The last option was the most helpful to reducing my payment.

Good luck

savingholmes

Good luck - great you can manage for 4 months. I would have thought you should be able to get some sort of job in that time.

[Deleted User]

How about just asking direct and straight out.

My own thought is if you own your home, sure you can take a repayment break but you'll likely pay for it later.

Same position with regards job ending 20th Dec but I've firmly decided to pay my prescribed lease hold change (which I had saved anyway) come mid Jan as I don't want the extra charges that go with delay in payment and it gets the leasehold company off my back for 5 months. I leant well enough after 2018.

A week on from mutual agreement to leave, turns out it was best for my health now I've been diagnosed with low blood pressure and diabetes - always a reason for things. An office hours job would never have now handled the future medical appointment times well and things have to change, so silver lining all round Even so think I've applied for around 10 different jobs since.

New year; fresh start. 4 months is actually plenty of time.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

OP, please be aware that if/when you inform your mortgage provider of difficulties in making payments due to loss of employment, it triggers a set of processes on their end which could paradoxically make your life and servicing debts much harder.

So (based on the limited info in your post) in your place I would consider informing my lender only once it gets to the stage that I'm sure that I can't make the next mortgage payment.