Missed payments – how we can help
If you’ve missed a payment or think you might – we’re here to help you.
On this page, you’ll find information about what to do if you’ve fallen behind with your monthly payments or if you don’t think you can make your payments in the future.
Please note – if you’re a landlord with two or more buy-to-let mortgages with us, the information on this page may not apply and you should call us to discuss your situation.
What's on this page
Our wider Payment difficulties section contains a range of other information that might be useful for you, depending on your situation. If something has changed or you’re going through a tough time, we can help support you in situations such as bereavement, illness, divorce or separation. You’ll find a range of helpful information in the Life events and Health & wellbeing sections of our website. To see this content, just click on the links in the Support menu at the top of each page.
Talk to us about your situation
We know it can be difficult to talk about your finances, but we’re here to support you, so please call us to discuss your situation. We’ll work with you and explain your options based on your individual circumstances.
The sooner you get in touch with us, the more options you’ll have. Talking to us won’t impact your credit rating or appear on your credit report. We have lots of experience helping customers who are having difficulties making payments and we’ll try to help you in any way we can.
For customers having payment difficulties, we’re open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm, and on Saturday from 9am to 1pm.
During your call, our agents will always consider your individual circumstances and look at different ways we may be able to help you. On a typical call:
- We’ll ask questions to understand the extent of your financial difficulties. This will often include you providing your income and expenditure details so that we can better understand your financial situation.
- We’ll discuss various short and long-term options, with the aim of agreeing a suitable temporary payment plan or other solution that’s affordable and sustainable for you – so you can repay your arrears and then get back on track.
- We’ll confirm a reasonable time frame in which you can consider your options, review your budget, or potentially seek wider debt advice.
- We may refer you to sources of free, confidential and impartial advice, which could be helpful, especially if you have debts with other providers.
- We may highlight potential government support schemes that could be useful and share details of the Mortgage Charter if this is relevant to you.
We’ll send you a letter to confirm any key decisions made or agreements with you.
What happens if you miss a monthly payment
If you fall behind with a monthly payment, this is known as being in arrears. If that happens, we’ll write to you and let you know. We may also send you text messages or try to call you to discuss how we can help.
Please respond promptly to our letters, calls or texts. If you don’t get in touch with us and your arrears increase, we may eventually have to take further action. Our letters will explain the potential steps we may take if you don’t speak with us or are unable to bring your mortgage payments up to date.
We don’t charge any arrears fees if you fall behind with your payments, but you’ll continue to be charged interest on your outstanding balance, including any arrears. So if you can bring your account up to date at any point, it can be best to do so as soon as possible. You can see details of all the ways you can make a payment to us on our website.
If you’re unable to make up any missed payments, or you can’t make your next payment please get in touch.
We do report missed monthly payments to credit reference agencies, but if you talk to us, we’ll try to help you with a plan that’ll reduce any negative impacts on your credit file.
Tell us about your income and expenditure
To ensure we understand your circumstances, we’ll usually need an accurate picture of your current monthly income and expenditure. This includes details of any income and benefits that you receive, payments that you need to make, regular outgoings and other costs.
You can share your income and expenditure details with us at any time using our online affordability tool. This secure system is called Embark – and is managed on our behalf by our trusted partner Paylink Solutions.
After creating your own account, you add details of your income and outgoings to build up an accurate picture of your budget. This can take time, so you can save your details at any point, then login again when you’re ready.
When you’ve entered all your details, your information will be shared securely with us. We’ll then aim to be in contact with you within five working days to review your situation and discuss how we can help.
If you can’t use our online affordability tool, or you’d rather tell us your income and expenditure details directly, please call us. You can also ask for a printed copy of our income and expenditure form to be posted to you. To do this, you can send us a secure message, or contact us by phone or in writing.
Ways we can help
Once we fully understand your situation, there are often various ways we can help you repay your arrears and get back on track. We’ve included information on some potential options below.
Please note – the options we’ll consider are always based on your individual circumstances. Some or all of these options could be unsuitable or unavailable for you, as they may not provide an affordable or sustainable solution to your arrears.
This is where you agree to make your monthly payments and an additional amount to clear (or reduce) your arrears over a defined period.
We’ll check that you can afford the combined monthly payments and consider a timeframe that’s suitable – often a few months to a year.
This type of solution is typically suitable for a customer who has had a temporary fall in income, such as through an unexpected job loss, who is now in a position to get back on track.
A temporary payment plan can help to minimise the impact of any arrears on your credit file and may reduce the total amount of interest you’ll pay due to your arrears.
This is where we agree that you can pay a lower amount than your normal monthly payment for a period of time. This is typically up to three months, although can be longer.
During a concession, you’ll continue to be charged interest on the outstanding balance, which will be reducing at a slower pace than if you’d maintained your full monthly payment. As a result, you’ll pay more interest overall. Because of this, we’ll only consider a concession where we think this is in your best interests.
We may sometimes agree to a concession whilst we’re helping you to consider other options or if you’re seeking independent debt advice.
If you have a capital and interest (repayment) mortgage, we may agree to extend the term of your mortgage. This will reduce your monthly payments, as the capital you’ve borrowed is then being repaid over a longer period.
Whilst this may allow you to maintain your monthly payments and pay an additional amount to clear the arrears, the overall amount of interest you’ll pay will increase because of the term extension.
When looking at this option, we’ll look at whether you can afford to make your monthly payments over the new extended term. As part of this, we’ll consider your potential income levels as you get older.
A term extension can sometimes be suitable if you’ve experienced a permanent, or longer-term reduction in your income levels.
Please note – a term extension is not a suitable option if you’re struggling to make your payments with an interest only mortgage, as extending the term will not reduce the amount you need to pay each month.
This is where we agree to switch your mortgage from capital and interest (repayment) basis to interest only for a temporary period.
By switching to interest only, your monthly payments will reduce over the agreed period, as you won’t be repaying any of the capital you borrowed during this time. This may allow you to afford your monthly payments and repay your arrears. It can also help you avoid your arrears building up further, provided you maintain the new monthly payments for your interest only mortgage.
Once the temporary interest only period ends, your mortgage will revert to a repayment mortgage. At this point your monthly payments may well be higher than they were before, as you’ll now need to repay the underpaid capital that you owe over the remaining term of your mortgage.
To reduce the chance of you being unable to afford your future higher monthly payments, we only allow a temporary switch of up to 12 months at a time. After the 12-month period, we may allow a further two temporary interest only periods – subject to a full assessment of your income and expenditure.
This option is most likely to be suitable if you’re experiencing affordability issues which are not permanent but are likely to impact you for a medium or long-term period, of up to three years.
Please note – this option will only be considered if you’re currently on a capital and interest (repayment) or part and part mortgage.
Illustrative examples of how we could help customers
Here are four illustrative examples to show how we could help customers who are experiencing payment difficulties.
Whilst these are not actual customer case studies, they’re useful illustrations of the type of situations that can occur and the potential ways we can help to resolve them.
You can scroll through the examples using the arrows below.
If you’re behind with your payments or think you may struggle, please talk to us about your situation, so we can consider what options might be suitable to help you.
Please note – the options we’ll consider are always based on your individual circumstances. Some or all of the options illustrated here could be unsuitable or unavailable for you, as they may not provide an affordable or sustainable solution to your arrears.
Temporary payment plan
Mr H suffered a short illness and was off work for a while with reduced income. During this period, he missed two mortgage payments and had built up around £900 in arrears.
We spoke to Mr H to understand his circumstances. He was now back in work and his salary had returned to normal, with an annual bonus also due at the end of the month.
My H was keen to clear his arrears quickly, to limit the impact on his credit score. He agreed to a temporary payment plan whereby he’d make his normal monthly payment plus an additional £100 for the next nine months. Having assessed his income and expenditure, we were happy that this proposal was affordable, and would allow Mr H to repay his arrears in a reasonable time.
Mr H committed to the payment plan and has kept his payments up to date. He agreed to tell us as soon as possible if his circumstances changed, or if he experienced further payment difficulties.
Concession
Mr F had always been up to date with his mortgage payments until a run of unfortunate events happened to leave him very stretched. This included an expensive car repair and a sports injury that left him temporarily unable to work.
Without a stable income, Mr F missed a mortgage payment, so we called him to discuss his situation. He spoke with us, and explained the circumstances that had affected his income, indicating that he hoped to be moving back to a full-time wage in a few months.
Due to their temporary fall in income, we agreed to a concession of two months, whereby Mr F could make a reduced monthly payment to help him get back on track.
Mr F was happy with this, and agreed to speak with us again in two months’ time to discuss how he would then clear the arrears on his mortgage.
Term extension
Mr C split from his partner. As the sole bill payer, he became overstretched on a reduced household income. Although he was hopeful of picking up more hours at work in the future, this wasn’t guaranteed.
Mr C loved his home and did not want to sell it or move out. He called us to discuss his situation so we could consider his options.
As Mr C was on a capital and interest (repayment) mortgage and had several years left of work, we agreed to a term extension. This would permanently reduce his monthly payments to make the mortgage more affordable now, with the possibility of also clearing the arrears.
Following the term extension, although Mr C will pay more interest overall, he’s now in a more stable position where his monthly payments are affordable and his arrears aren’t going to get worse.
Temporary switch to interest only
Mrs G lost her job at the start of the year. After using up her savings, she became worried about making her monthly payments on her capital and interest (repayment) mortgage.
After contacting us to discuss her account, Mrs G explained that her new job started soon, but it would be three months before her first full salary payment.
Having considered Mrs G’s circumstances, we agreed to a temporary switch to interest only for three months. This would reduce her monthly payments to an affordable level, until her income increased.
After three months, the mortgage would revert to a repayment basis. Although her monthly mortgage payments would then be higher than before, we assessed Mrs G’s income and expenditure and were satisfied that her payments were affordable in the long-term.
Other steps you can consider
There may be other options to consider which could help improve your financial position or may prevent you falling behind with your mortgage payments.
We can’t give any advice about these options, but they may be worth considering, depending on your situation.
If you want to rent out a room in your home, you don’t need our permission and we won’t charge you a fee to do so.
You’ll need to let your insurance company know and you may need to pay more council tax. You’ll also need to make sure you’re following all appropriate legislation. You should think carefully and seek further professional advice if you’re not sure about anything you need to do.
You can also consider investigating the rent a room scheme from the government.
If you’re struggling to make your mortgage payments and have payment protection insurance, you may want to consider making a claim.
Some people also take out accident, sickness, or unemployment cover alongside their mortgage, so it’s always worth checking to see if you have an active insurance policy in place that could support you.
Please note, this page contains links to external websites. We are not responsible for the content of external websites.