Mortgage Holiday Pitfall !!! BEWARE

W33D4VE

Hi all
HELP REQUIRED FROM THE MAIN MAN !!!
I wanted to share with you my experience of the mortgage holiday offer announced by the government under Covid 19 measures.
I had no intention of taking offer this up until my employer asked staff if we (staff) could assist the running of the business by taking a cut in salary. I looked at how I could help, and the mortgage holiday was an option, which allowed my employer to pay me less for a 3 month period.
I applied to my building society online on the 15th April, and was accepted that same day via email. The email states that my next 3 payments will not be taken. My mortgage payment date is the 28th of each month. So, on this basis i emailed my MD and confirmed a salary reduction. I get paid at the end of each month.
The mortgage is for the property where my ex-wife lives with my children. 
Last Thursday, on the 30th, my children came to stay for the night and arrived with a letter sent to the mortgaged home address. The letter had arrived the previous day (29th), but was dated 16th April. The letter stated that the mortgage holiday would commence 1st May !!! 
It was on Saturday (2nd) that i tried to contact my Building Society but they were closed until Monday 4th May I called first thing yesterday, as they had now taken my mortgage payment and i am also several hundred pounds down on my income. Their response was that there is nothing that they can do about it, as i left it until May to contact them when the payment comes out of the account in April. (Remember that the letter was received after the money comes out of the account). I raised this with the mortgage team. They kept stating that the email received on the 15th April should have set out dates for when the holiday commences, it didn't. It states "the next 3 payments"
They offered to refund the money, but that it would affect my credit rating....for their error !!! 
They (Nationwide Building Society) has refused to budge. I actually broke down in tears during the telephone call.....
I am now left in a stressful situation where i now somehow have to pay my rent on my own accommodation, and my bills, child support, when all i was attempting to do, was assist my employer to maintain my job longer term, but find myself in financial difficulty because of the NBS
I have lodged a complaint with NBS and await a call from them.

I hope that nobody else has had a similar experience
Is there anything else that i can do???

Thanks

Splatfoot

If your mortgage payment date is the 28th and you don't usually get paid until the end of the month, surely April's mortgage payment would have been covered by your March pay?

PixelPound

Not much, unfortunately it was a wrong assumption by you. You make a mortgage payment each month irrespective of the actual date, so if in April they give you the payment holiday, it will start from May as otherwise you could have already paid April (using the same criteria for everyone).

Have you spoken to your bank about an overdraft as in these times they are allowing free overdrafts if it's a cash flow issue.

Also to bear in mind that a mortgage holiday is only a deferment in that you still pay it. Effectively you are charged interest each month, so after the 3 months is up you either extend the term of your mortgage or pay extra to cover the missing payments. Either way you are paying for the privilege of not paying an instalment.

ess0two

Strange to be faced with an option of reducing your own wage? was'nt furlough an option?

W33D4VE

nic_c said:

Not much, unfortunately it was a wrong assumption by you. You make a mortgage payment each month irrespective of the actual date, so if in April they give you the payment holiday, it will start from May as otherwise you could have already paid April (using the same criteria for everyone).

Have you spoken to your bank about an overdraft as in these times they are allowing free overdrafts if it's a cash flow issue.

Also to bear in mind that a mortgage holiday is only a deferment in that you still pay it. Effectively you are charged interest each month, so after the 3 months is up you either extend the term of your mortgage or pay extra to cover the missing payments. Either way you are paying for the privilege of not paying an instalment.

Now that you explain it like that, i can see what you mean, but the email from NBS clearly stated the next 3 payments, this was 2 weeks before payment was due. 
I will look into the overdraft facility, thank you.
Yes, i understand the implication of the mortgage holiday. 
Thank you for addressing my query

W33D4VE

ess0two said:

Strange to be faced with an option of reducing your own wage? was'nt furlough an option?

No, I am classed a s core team member

Grumpy_chap

Your situation seems very odd.  You have taken a cut in pay to save your employer money by temporary reducing wages.  To meet this, you have taken a mortgage payment holiday, which will end up costing you more in the long run.  You must really value your employer, or have equity stake.

gettingtheresometime

Grumpy_chap said:

Your situation seems very odd.  You have taken a cut in pay to save your employer money by temporary reducing wages.  To meet this, you have taken a mortgage payment holiday, which will end up costing you more in the long run.  You must really value your employer, or have equity stake

Or perhaps the OP thought that his job was at risk if the company decided to make people redundant.

Gonna-be-debt-free

Grumpy_chap said:

Your situation seems very odd.  You have taken a cut in pay to save your employer money by temporary reducing wages.  To meet this, you have taken a mortgage payment holiday, which will end up costing you more in the long run.  You must really value your employer, or have equity stake.

I did the same at work - took a voluntary 20% reduction to help the company.   The majority of the workforce did.

Grumpy_chap

@Gonna-be-debt-free - that makes more sense as you put it, and possibly not rare.  As the OP put it, I read it as a one-off personal thing just they did and not the whole staff.  Maybe I just read it wrong.

W33D4VE

gettingtheresometime said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Your situation seems very odd.  You have taken a cut in pay to save your employer money by temporary reducing wages.  To meet this, you have taken a mortgage payment holiday, which will end up costing you more in the long run.  You must really value your employer, or have equity stake

Or perhaps the OP thought that his job was at risk if the company decided to make people redundant.

correct