Coronavirus mortgage holidays

[Deleted User]

Hi,
My bank - TSB - offers mortgage payment holidays of up to two months because of the current coronavirus situation. I contacted them and asked if this would affect my credit in any way and they said it shouldn’t. Does anyone know how would this be recorded on the credit file? And is it really harmless? As it would help me tremendously but no at a cost of damaging my credit score or leaving some kind of other permanent mark. 

Thanks so much.

twhitehousescat

do you have the coronavirus virus?

Dandytf

twhitehousescat said:

do you have the coronavirus virus?

Brilliant absolutely brilliant.

mwarby

Some credit checking sites may alter your fictional score somewhat. Even if banks don't record it as an arrangement to pay or some other equiviant marker, the fact that the balance stopped going down would be there in the raw data

In terms of the real work affects that might have, I would say fairly low. If you overpay you can with many banks take a payment holiday anyway, so its not super unusual to see this on a credit history. If the payment holiday is for a month or 2 and you quickly get back on track, your score history will recover fairly quickly. A lot will depend on how you compare with others, if lots of us have to take such holidays for long periods, banks are likely to see it less negatively

I think generally the idea is though that you'd only go down the mortgage holiday route if you really needed to, not as a first resort

mr_stripey

twhitehousescat said:

do you have the coronavirus virus?

you don't actually have to have the virus in order to be financiall affected by it ?

Thrugelmir

The holiday would be marked on your file. As the whole purpose of a credit file is to let other organisations know. Better to save the opportunity for when you actually require the holiday. Holidays merely defer they don't resolve. 

jimbo26

I think it should be reflected on your file, after all the file should be an accurate reflection of what is happening with regards to your credit commitments. No different if someone pays late or misses a payment due to any other medical reason.

xlnc99

They will NOT mark your payment as late. This has been confirmed, your credit file will be fine

Dandytf

How does repayment of up-to 3 month mortgage work.
e,g, If I applied via Nationwide, does that mean months 4,5+6 mortgage payment would double to cover 3 month holiday.

[Deleted User]

It could vary, but at least one lender is spreading the missed payments over the remainder of the term - so monthly payments increase slightly. 

It's unlikely that the next three payments would double.

Penguin_

I know from looking that Natwest are spreading the holiday over the remaining term of the mortgage & will re-calculate your monthly payments before the holiday is agreed.