Payment difficulties

If you’re struggling to keep up with your mortgage payments, or would like to discuss your mortgage affordability, we're here to try and help. The sooner we discuss your problems, the easier it will be for both of us to find a solution. The more you tell us about your full financial circumstances, the more we may be able to help.

We comply fully with the Financial Services Authority rules governing arrears and repossessions, and are committed to being fair in all our dealings with any customer who is in arrears or has a mortgage shortfall debt.

Our approach

We will:

• Contact you as soon as you miss a mortgage payment via phone or letter to discuss your problem
• Talk to agencies who give debt advice and are acting on your behalf if you want us to (e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau)
• Give you a reasonable timeframe for you to pay back the debt
• Only start proceedings to repossess your home if we cannot solve the problem with you first.

We may also be able to:

• Arrange a realistic and affordable payment plan with you that takes into account your financial circumstances and our responsibilities as a lender
• Change the way, or the date on which you make your mortgage payments
• Allow you to pay back your mortgage over a longer time period to reduce your monthly repayments (this may increase the total you pay back)
• Allow you to pay just the interest payments on your mortgage for an agreed period of time (this may increase the total you pay back).

If we offer you one or more of the above options, we will explain how they work and give you time to consider them. If we cannot offer any of these options to you we will explain why.

What you can do

• As soon as you have trouble making a mortgage payment, it’s important that you contact us on 0845 641 8988* to discuss your situation
• Review your finances to see if you can reduce any non-essential expenditure to allow your monthly mortgage repayments to become more affordable
• Pay all essential bills first, such as your mortgage, utility bills (gas, electricity and water), insurances and council tax. You should ensure that you pay all of these essential bills before making payments towards credit cards or loans
• Get in touch quickly if we try to contact you – don’t ignore the problem
• Keep anyone else equally responsible for the debt, or anyone guaranteeing the mortgage, informed of what’s happening
• Keep to the payment plan we agree with you. If you do not make the payments we may go to court to get back the money you owe us or to repossess your property
• Check whether you’re eligible for state benefits or tax credits
• If you have an insurance policy, check whether it would help with mortgage payments.

Before changing your mortgage arrangements, you may wish to talk to a professional adviser, such as a debt counsellor or lawyer. We would strongly advise that you seek independent, free, debt advice.

Costs and charges

If you are in arrears, we may charge you for reasonable administrative and legal costs. Please see our Guide to Standard Mortgage Charges. We will tell you about any charges or costs that you will have to pay.

If we can’t agree a solution

• We may send a debt counsellor to meet with you to discuss your situation. The cost of the visit may be charged to your mortgage account
• We may go to court to start proceedings to repossess your home. If proceedings take place, we strongly recommend that you attend the court and that you seek independent debt advice
• Starting court proceedings does not necessarily mean that we will repossess your home. We will keep trying to solve the problem with you - repossession is a last resort
• Before we repossess your home, we will give you advice about getting in touch with your local authority to see if they can find you somewhere else to live.

If your home is repossessed

• We will sell it for the best price we can reasonably get. We will try to sell it as soon as possible
• We will give you reasonable time to take your possessions from your home
• We will use the money raised from selling your home to pay your mortgage and any other loans secured on it
• If there is any money left over, we will pay it to you.

If selling your home does not raise enough money to pay off the mortgage

• If there is not enough money from the sale to pay off the entire mortgage, you will still owe us the shortfall debt. We will tell you what this amount is as soon as possible
• If you bought your home with other borrowers, each of you is responsible for all the money borrowed. This is true even if you normally only pay part of the mortgage
• We will take into account your income and outgoings when we arrange a payment plan with you for the shortfall debt. But if we cannot arrange a suitable plan, we may go to court to get our money back and you might have to pay the court costs
• Not paying off the shortfall debt could affect whether you are able to get credit in the future.

How to complain

If you do not feel we have treated you fairly, please click here for details on our complaints policy.

Tools to help with debt management

Budget planner

Use our budget planner to help you list and add up all your household income and expenses, this will enable you to:

• Work out how much money is coming into your household
• Work out how much money is going out
• Work out affordable offers to repay arrears and creditors

If you are having problems paying your mortgage a copy of the completed budget planner, including your payment proposals, can be sent to us at the following address:
Mortgage Collections Department, PO Box 27, 1 Temple Quay, Bristol, BS99 7AX

Online debt counselling tool

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has an online debt counselling tool, where you can obtain expert debt advice specifically tailored to your personal circumstances. It is completely free and anonymous. Just click here for more information.

Useful information

If you are worried about keeping up with repayments on your mortgage you can download free copies of the following guides for information, tips and advice:

Money Advice Service’s ‘Problems paying your mortgage’ guide
National Homelessness Advice Service’s ‘Are you worried about your mortgage?’ guide

The following websites also provide free independent information and advice on housing and debt management:

Citizens Advice Bureau provide information and advice on consumer rights - including benefits, housing, employment, debt, consumer and legal issues.

Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) is a registered debt charity dedicated to assisting and supporting people in financial difficulty by providing debt counselling advice.

Direct.Gov is the government website providing information and advice on housing, financial support, benefits, debt management and government schemes.

Money Advice Service is a government service funded by a levy on the financial services industry. The service provides clear, unbiased money advice to help people make informed choices regarding their finances.

National Debtline is a charity providing both online and telephone debt advice.

Payplan is a free debt advice and debt management planning service.

Shelter is a charity that works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing. Shelter cannot house people but they do give advice and information to people in housing need.