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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

you don't have to pay your mortgage while on maternity leave - AIBU to want to shout about it?!!

161 replies

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 14:33

AIBU to want to shout this from the rooftops so more people know about this?!

Many mortgage providers let you have a mortgage holiday, no questions asked, while you're on maternity.

I had no idea about this, I found out by accident as I rang my mortgage provider (Halifax) to ask about something else and the nice man at the other end told me.

It made so much difference to us to simply not pay the mortgage for 6 months after DS was born.

I suspect a lot of mums go back to work earlier that they would otherwise because of the pressure of bills, and would have a much easier time being a new mum if only they knew about they didn't have to pay the mortgage.

Not all mortgage companies do this I don't think, but they don't make a big deal out of it - yours might well do without you knowing about it.

HTH someone!

OP posts:

SardineQueen · 04/05/2012 20:32

Christ almighty.

tinkerbel72 · 04/05/2012 20:40

Hmm, I would have thought it might make sense financially to keep paying rather than take a break from it.

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 04/05/2012 20:47

I had a mortgage payment holiday (also with Halifax) when I was on maternity leave and it was a lifesaver tbh. My DS's dad fecked off with the OW when I was pregnant and left me to pay it all on my one salary - which of course went down to SMP six weeks into my mat leave, and as I didn't get any maintenance (still don't) I didn't have enough income to pay the mortgage, let alone all my other outgoings. I still had to go back to work when DS was 5.5 months old but it stopped me from losing the house. My payments went up a bit after the payment hol but it was worth it. I rent now but it was a complete necessity at the time.

OutInAllWeathers · 04/05/2012 20:52

Surely this is one of those things where it works for some and not others and all the op was doing was mentioning it to those who don't know.

As for bob and his extended holiday I'm not sure I'd call maternity leave a holiday and Bob can probably claim something else that I can't. That's life isn't it?!

FrillyMilly · 04/05/2012 20:52

For us the only way we will ever be able to move house is by reducing the capital. With interest rates so low it would be daft for us to take 6 months off. We've 'lost' £25k on our house since we bought it. Hopefully within the next year we will have equity. This also means we can't move about as we have no equity.

I don't have an issue with the payment holidays or OP telling us about it. However I don't think it's wise to advocate interest only. Whilst its nice to have such low mortgage payments they really are risky unless you are in a situation where it's that or lose your house or you have other investments. I know you plan on overpaying when your financial situation improves but there's no guarantee of when that will be and a lot of mortgage companies limit overpayments.

hatesponge · 04/05/2012 20:53

Sorry, I'm a bit at 2 months off as well, possibly because I had my children in the pre-paternity leave days, with DS2 my (ex)P only took 1 day off, being the day we came home from hospital...

I agree tbh with those who say better to keep paying, otherwise you do get used to not doing so, and the jump then to paying all usual bills + mortgage + childcare must seem massive.

there is also something to be said for marriedinwhite's point - with DS1 I was a sinlge parent, knew I had no contact with the father and no financial input, so made sure by being v v frugal that I put enough aside whilst I was pg to cover the mortgage for up to 9 months after Ds was born (went back to work after 7 months in the end).

AnitaBlake · 04/05/2012 21:17

Halifax refused us a payment holiday on the basis that our equity had gone down and no longer filled the criteria, so its certainly not no questions asked. They also refused to allow us to switch to interest only on the basis that we weren't in financial difficulty, and should call back when we were.

I returned to work three months after dd was born and ended up with PND as a result.

squeakytoy · 04/05/2012 21:22

why on earth would it need 2 adults to have 2 months off work to look after a baby???

marriedinwhite · 04/05/2012 21:37

squeakytoy exactly. When I had DS (Xmas day) DH had the Monday and Tuesday as bank holidays; the Wednesday as annual leave and my mother arrived on the Thursday so he could go back to work. When I had dd I was spoilt; I spent the first day on my own with a toddler too, when she was 8 days old.

reallypissedoffhouseseller · 04/05/2012 21:41

Yes, and some people climbed Everest with a broken leg, retiled the roof when they were a week overdue with their first child, yadda yadda yadda. I don't think the OP was saying she needed her DH to be off for two months, but they both wanted that - what's wrong with it? No-one's making it compulsory for people who'd rather be on their own.

milkysmum · 04/05/2012 21:45

My maternity pay has just dropped to the £120 and taking a mortgage payment holiday means I can have another 3 months at home with my baby. I know I'll pay more in the long run but the time with my baby now is precious and I'm happy[happy]

Floggingmolly · 04/05/2012 21:45

What's wrong with it, reallypissedoff, is that she very evidently couldn't afford to actually do so. The fact that most people would consider it completely unnecessary is indeed irrelevant.

reallypissedoffhouseseller · 04/05/2012 21:52

Except that she could afford it because they took a mortgage payment holiday. I wouldn't have done it - I didn't have to do it because I got a decent chunk of time on full pay, and DH saved up holiday as well as taking paternity leave- but I can see that it's a perfectly rational decision to weigh up more time with the baby now against more interest to pay later. They didn't just stop paying the mortgage, or put all the household bills on a credit card.

squeakytoy · 04/05/2012 21:54

So what happens when a second baby arrives.. you cant take a mortgage holiday that often I assume... and I would have thought it more beneficial to take advantage if you have a baby AND a toddler to deal with..

Plaguegroups · 04/05/2012 21:55

I don't get why the OP is getting a hard time either.

I suggested this to my work colleague as I'd heard about it from other friends.

In theory it would have allowed her to take 3 months unpaid leave at the end of her paid maternity leave as:

the mortgage payment = her salary - childcare costs

so it would mean her incomings and outgoings were equal on unpaid maternity and after going back to work (her DH earns a decent wage which covers all other outgoings). In 3 years time when the 15 hours childcare kicks in they overpay and make up for the payment holiday.

For them it would have been perfect, but they had re-mortgaged too recently so got turned down even though they had enough equity so she had to go back to work.

It will suit some people but not others.

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 21:56

Some of these responses are hilarious!

This is my favourite "I actually really disagree with this. Get to not pay because of a lifestyle choice? Why us and not Bob who wants to go on extended vacation or something"

Are you for real?!

A mortgage is a lifestyle choice! It's a product, not a right - or a duty, or a benefit!

As with all products you can buy one if you can afford it, and want one. A payment holiday for maternity leave is a service some mortgage companies offer, which I can choose to buy - or not (it costs money to have one).

No it's not fair that I can choose to spend more time at home with my child when someone else can't, but that's to do with our economic system / capitalism, it's not exclusive to mortgages or mortgage holidays!

OP posts:

Cosmosis · 04/05/2012 21:58

We had a 6 month payment holiday when I was on mat leave. It hasn't extended our mortgage term but it had increased our payment since we started paying the capital back - by a whole £20 odd quid a month. Was it worth it, yes absolutely. I'd do it again. The difference it made to us when I was on £126 a week was far greater than the difference the extra on the repayment is now I'm back at work.

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 22:00

"What's wrong with it, reallypissedoff, is that she very evidently couldn't afford to actually do so."

Couldn't afford to do what? I chose to take advantage of a service my mortgage company was offering, the result of which was I got to spend more time at home with my baby DS, and DP got to as well, which made us very happy.

This service cost us money, which I was happy to spend and we will pay when we are in a better position to do so.

Unless what you are saying is that you have a problem with people taking any kind of credit - mortgages, credit cards etc - in which case let's have a discussion about that. I assume you have no credit?!

OP posts:

Bobyan · 04/05/2012 22:02

Speaking as a Chartered Accountant and qualified debt advisor I would strongly advise against anyone taking payment holidays or interest only periods on their mortgages, with the exception of something horrendous happening such as death, illness or redundancy.
I have generally found that these sorts of things are slippery slopes to building up more and more debt which can easily escalate out of control.
Ultimately you are doing nothing to make your child's future more financially secure by using either of these things and you would do well to listen to Marriedinwhite.

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 22:02

"why on earth would it need 2 adults to have 2 months off work to look after a baby???"

If you have to ask why a new father wouldn't want to spend two months getting to know his new DS given the chance, then there's no point trying to explain it to you I'm afraid!

OP posts:

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 22:13

Sorry but that's rubbish Bobyan.

I expect you speak to lots of people who have got into debt this way and from your point of view it is indeed the start of a slippery slope.

But that doesn't mean that people can't use these things wisely, or that it isn't the right choice for some people.

For us spending time with our baby was much more important than not extending our mortgage by 6 months. It was great for our relationship, my sanity and our relationship with our new DS. You can't buy those things!

As for interest-only, well your debts are not the whole picture you know. I went onto interest-only when I started studying. This made it possible for me to gain a qualification which will more than double my earning potential, on entering the profession so financially this was definitely the right decision.

I'm never going to go back onto repayment actually. We're selling the flat, and the equity is enough to buy outright in the new town we're moving to, so we'll be living mortgage free.

If I took your advice I'd be stuck paying into a mortgage for a flat in an area I didn't want to be in, in a job I hated, and totally stressed out! But partly because of taking a mortgage holiday and going onto interest-free, I'm looking forward to a mortgage free life and a shiny new career!

OP posts:

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 22:17

"So what happens when a second baby arrives.. you cant take a mortgage holiday that often I assume... and I would have thought it more beneficial to take advantage if you have a baby AND a toddler to deal with.."

Well squeakytoy, as I mentioned, I will be mortgage free soon so this won't be an issue at all.

But if I did still have a mortgage, I guess I'd take another payment holiday, if I wanted to. Because mortgages aren't actually for 25 years (or whatever). That's only if you stay with the same company, which is a bit of a silly thing to do. The best thing to do financially is to shop around every time the fixed period finishes. It finished for me this year, so if I was to remortgage you can be sure I'd be looking for one which offered this service again.

Does that satisfy your curiosity?

OP posts:

Teeb · 04/05/2012 22:27

You sound like you are in a very fortunate position financially, so I'm not sure how relevant your advice is to others.

trixymalixy · 04/05/2012 22:27

We chose our mortgage as you could take 2 mortgage holidays of up to a year as I was the main breadwinner. We took a payment holiday for DC1, but didn't use the payment holiday for DC2 as we had managed to get our finances to such a state that we could afford to live on either of our salaries. We paid a massive chunk off our mortgage after our fixed rate period ended and intend to have it paid off 10 years early, so the slippery slope argument doesn't apply to us either. The payment holiday suited our particular circumstances at the time.

Original poster

threeleftfeet · 04/05/2012 22:33

"You sound like you are in a very fortunate position financially, so I'm not sure how relevant your advice is to others."

How is my advice not relevant to others? The value of the flat has gone up lots since I bought it over a decade ago, and I feel very fortunate for that, yes.

However it was not money we could access when DS was little - unless we sold up (which I didn't want to do as it was our home) or remortgaged for some cash, which I definitely didn't want to do!

We were pretty skint in day to day terms and this helped us very much.

I'm passing on information about something which could be useful to others.

Seriously your efforts to discredit me are laughable!

OP posts:

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