Our Haverhill branch will be opening on reduced hours on Friday 27 November. The branch will be open 9.30am - 2.30pm, you can visit any of our other branches after this time, or call us on 0800 072 1100. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused you.
We all have to deal with the unexpected, some of which can put lots of pressure on our finances. If you’re feeling concerned or panicked about your mortgage repayments it makes sense to talk to us.
We have lots of experience in helping our customers through financial difficulty when they might not be able to pay their mortgage. Chances are we’ve helped someone just like you in similar circumstances, so we feel confident that we can work with you to explore different options which may help.
The main thing to remember is to act now - the quicker you get in touch the sooner we can help.
When you call us, we will:
If these options aren’t suitable, you might be able to stay in the property while you try and sell it. If you’re in arrears, we’ll charge you for reasonable administrative and legal costs, but we’ll make sure you know how much these will be. If you miss a mortgage payment or fall into arrears you could be liable for extra charges so it's important you speak to us as soon as possible if you have trouble keeping up with your payments.
It’s important to remember that repossession is always a last resort. We will only start to consider the repossession of the property as an option because we haven’t been able to resolve the problem with you. Talking to us as soon as you have any difficulty gives us a chance to look at as many different options as we can.
If you require support with navigating your finances, there are many types of free and impartial money guidance and debt help available to you, on-line, by telephone and face to face. We would encourage you to use the on-line services first as these can provide you with the quickest response.
You can find free help to manage money and debt from the following sources:
Offers online or telephone help to deal with several debts.
0800 138 1111 (Freephone).
For free independent advice in your area, you can find your local CAB in the phone book or through citizens advice’s website search tool: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.
Offers a free, confidential and independent phone service. Their website also contains fact sheets and a self-help pack.
0808 808 4000 (Freephone).
Provides free, impartial debt advice to small businesses and the self-employed.
Tool to work out a budget to help you take control of your money
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/budget-planner
Tool which provides guidance according to your personal needs and which in a matter of minutes can inform you what extra help and support you’re entitled to, help you understand the money issues you need to tackle first, how to stay on top of bills, and where you can get more free advice for debt, housing or redundancy.
www. moneyadviceservice.org.uk/moneynavigatortool/Creditor
Impartial information on payment deferrals
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/mortgage-payment-holidays
For most people, it makes sense to pay essential expenses and priority debts before any other non-priority debts or non-essential spending. To see what is right for you, you can use this guide on how to prioritise your debts
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-to-prioritise-your-debts
Help to locate debt advice, online, by telephone or face to face
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/debt-advice-locator
If you're worried about your money and mortgage repayments, please call us. We know through experience that the quicker you talk to us when problems arise then there will likely be more options available to help you.
Call us on 0800 072 1100 and select option 2 for mortgages and then option 2 for payment difficulties.
Before you get in touch with us, it would help if you can get some information together about your finances. We’ll need this information to best understand your situation. If you have a health condition or special circumstances which affect your ability to pay your mortgage we will ensure you are treated fairly in view of these. With your consent to record the details of your circumstances, we will take your personal situation into account when considering your options.
Our Personal Budget form can help you put everything together. Please contact us on 0800 072 1100 for help with completing this form.
If you’d like to get some help before you talk to us, there are many free debt advice organisations that you can speak to – please refer to the ‘Other Organisations which can help’ section above. With your consent, we can liaise directly with these organisations after you have contacted them.
Should you want someone else to call us regarding your money worries, we are happy to talk to them with your authorisation to do so.
If you do not think we have treated you fairly and you wish to make a complaint please refer to our complaints procedure.
If you are unable to make a payment it is important that you contact us as soon as possible as costs may be applied in accordance with our tariff of charges.
We may go to court to start proceedings to repossess your home. Starting court proceedings does not necessarily mean that we will repossess your home, we will keep trying to solve the problem with you.
It’s important to remember that repossession is always a last resort. We’ll only start looking at repossession if we have no alternative because we haven’t been able to resolve the problem with you. Talking to us as soon as you have any difficulty gives us a chance to look at as many different options as we can. Before we repossess your home, we recommend that you get in touch with your local authority to see if they can find you somewhere else to live
Some companies may offer you loans or even invite you to sell your property to them and then lease it back as a way of resolving your short term financial difficulty. Please be careful, as such actions may not be in your long term interests. We would advise you to seek independent legal advice before entering into any arrangement of this type.
You may be thinking about handing your keys over to us. It would be better to try and sell the property yourself, rather than hand back the keys or do nothing to avoid paying additional costs. The Citizens Advice website provides more information on this. Please talk to us before taking such action as we can work with you while you sell your property.
We must advise you that if you fail to make your mortgage payments and we are unable to reach an agreement with you to repay the debt, we will record the default with a credit reference agency. The default will remain on record with the credit reference agency for six years. We may appoint a Solicitor to act on our behalf in the recovery of the debt. We will inform you before we disclose your details to them.
