What Happens to a Joint Offset Mortgage When your Partner Dies

[ToothyChris]

My wife has just recently died and we have a joint offset mortgage.

I have a couple of immediate, but quite specific questions, as follows:

Q1: When her personal (offset-linked) bank account gets frozen, does this mean that her savings are no longer included in the offset calculation? In other words, will my monthly mortgage payments jump up suddenly, even though the money is still in her account?

Q2: Will my bank honour the insurance policy to pay off the outstanding mortgage debt, before they try to claw back money from her personal bank account? Or will they do it the other way round, and then say look the debt is clear, so the policy won't be needed (and we will have wasted all of our premiums?)

I'm getting hung up on this a bit and would welcome any feedback from others who might have been in this situation. The mortgage is with Woolich/Barclays.

Many thanks,

Chris

Hi Chris, I'm so sorry for your loss. This is a difficult time and my advice is to ask for the bereavement department, no matter who you're calling. They're trained to handle these sorts of questions sensitively.

Very sorry for your loss 💐.
We briefly had a joint Woolwich/Barclays offset mortgage a few years ago (we paid it off quickly) and I do not recall reading anything unfair in the terms and conditions.
It will depend on the terms and conditions but I think you can expect that they will treat you reasonably.
I agree with poster above who suggests you ask open ended questions of the bereavement department.
If the policy is supposed to repay the outstanding mortgage loan in the event of the death of either of you, that it is what it should do and her personal savings should become available to you under her will. Just because they were used to offset interest on the mortgage does not mean they were intended to be used to repay the mortgage I wouldn't have thought.
Whatever the terms and conditions state is what they should honour. It will all get sorted out and here's hoping you will then be mortgage-free.