Payment holidays

If your mortgage Terms and Conditions include Flexible Features then you may be able to take a Payment Holiday. Payment Holidays are subject to our criteria, which may change from time to time.

Payment Holiday Applications will only be considered in the following circumstances:

  • You must have made your full monthly mortgage payment every month for the last 9 months, and during the calendar month in which they were due.
  • Your account must not be in arrears
  • You must be able to demonstrate affordability of your monthly mortgage payment both now and in the future
  • Your mortgage Terms and Conditions must include Flexible Features
  • If you previously have been or are currently subject to Bankruptcy or an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) you will not normally be permitted to take a Payment Holiday
  • You must not be in a Debt Management Plan
  • You must be in receipt of an earned income and must not have any payments made by DWP (Department of Work and Pensions)
  • You must not be in breach of your mortgage Terms & Conditions
  • Your request for a holiday must be for the following month. If your payment is due on the 1st day of the month your payment holiday application must be submitted and agreed by the 21st of the previous month
  • If your account is held jointly we can only proceed if you have the other party's agreement to take the holiday
  • If we can't offer you a Payment Holiday, due to your circumstances, our Customer Assistance Team may be able to discuss alternative solutions with you
How a Payment Holiday works
  • If you take a Payment Holiday, the missed interest payment is added to your balance. This will increase your overall balance, your monthly mortgage payment and the interest charged to your mortgage meaning you will pay back more over the term of the mortgage
  • Additionally if you have an Interest Only mortgage it will be necessary to revisit your repayment plan to ensure that it this remains on track to cover your total mortgage balance. It may be necessary to increase your contributions to your repayment strategy and therefore you should discuss this us
  • Taking a Payment Holiday will increase the balance of your account and may put you into a negative equity situation (where the outstanding mortgage is greater than the value of your house). This means you may find it more difficult to remortgage to another lender and rates available may be less favourable until your mortgage has been considerably reduced
  • Taking a Payment Holiday will change the overall cost of your mortgage
  • If we can't offer you a Payment Holiday, due to your circumstances, our Customer Assistance Team may be able to discuss an alternative solution with you.  Call 0330 159 6612, 8am – 8pm Monday- Friday, 9am – 1am Saturday.
The Application process

As a responsible lender we will assess your application to ensure that you are able to maintain your revised mortgage payments, protecting you from future payment difficulties.

As part of our application process we will use information provided to us by Credit Reference Agencies. If you have any adverse credit (such as Defaults, County Court Judgements or Arrangements to Pay), any missed or late payments or any balances that have been written off, this will affect your eligibility for a Payment Holiday.

An affordability assessment will be undertaken to ensure that payments can be maintained both now and in the future. In order to complete this assessment you will need a recent bank statement and accurate balances on any other credit agreements you have along with the payments you make to these other credit providers. If you are unable to provide us with the accurate information this may mean we need to request additional information and this may delay the application process.

If we can't offer you a Payment Holiday, due to your circumstances, our Customer Assistance Team may be able to discuss an alternative solution with you. Call 0330 159 6612, 8am – 8pm Monday- Friday, 9am – 1am Saturday.