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Original poster

Anyone ever taken a mortgage break?

9 replies

UnquietDad · 20/11/2007 15:38

And who were you with (lender)?
Were they helpful/understanding?
How long was it for?
How easy/hard was it to do?
Was the amount missed spread over the year or the rest of the term?
Would you recommend it/recommend against it? (as a one-off).

Thanks for your time.

OP posts:

Meeely2 · 20/11/2007 15:42

erm, my sis did this with northern rock and then moved at the end of it so got a new mortgage and kinda started again so didn;t really notice a diff. She was on mat leave and couldn't afford the mortgage and bills for 6 months - i think i would recommend as a short term fix......

whoops · 20/11/2007 15:47

We took a 3 month payment break from our mortgage with Bank of Scotland.
It was easy to sort out and I think the break was added on to the end of the mortgage.
Wouldn't do it again or recommend as when we went to go for a new mortgage it went against us as arrears

mishymoo · 20/11/2007 15:50

Not sure if this helps but we took a payment "holiday" for one months mortgage and it was added to the rest of the term. Our lender is Northern Rock and we applied for a new mortgage (with them again) earlier this year and it didn't go against us as arrears but perhaps that depends on how long a break you take. HTH?

Original poster

UnquietDad · 20/11/2007 16:15

Thanks for answers so far. Bumping for more...

OP posts:

BigGitDad · 20/11/2007 16:55

Hi UQD, if you do, check with the mortgage lender that by taking a break that you do not incur a missed mortgage payment on your credit record. I heard of this happening a couple of years ago and when the people went to remortgage they could not because of the missed payments on the mortgage.(This was reported in the financial press) I think and I am not a 100% sure but the company involved then was Halifax, but either way I'd make a few checks first.
Generally though if you take a contribution holiday the mortgage company will add the missed payments to the mortgage.
It really depends on your individual circumstances as to whether you would be suitable for a payment holiday.

Original poster

UnquietDad · 20/11/2007 20:36

Thanks BGD. What do they look at? Nature of employment and regularity of income coming in and that sort of thing?

OP posts:

BigGitDad · 21/11/2007 21:42

I guess nothing of the sort, more likely how much you have reduced your mortgage by, mortgage payment history and what they estimate the equity in your house to be. They might run a credit check to see you have not got any bad credit anywhere

Original poster

UnquietDad · 22/11/2007 00:30

That's pretty good then, we'd rank OK on all of those factors...

OP posts:

Niecie · 22/11/2007 00:37

We are in the middle of a mortgage break at the moment. Well, to be fair we are still paying some of it but only half what we normally do. We had the option to pay none at all for 9 months though but decided against it.

We are with the Nationwide at the moment. It was very easy to arrange. One phone call, a sheet of paper to sign and we were away.

DH knows better than me but I am pretty sure that he said the unpaid portion is spread of the life of the remainder of the mortgage.

DH is starting his own business so we are in the middle of unusal circumstances for us but it is working well as a one off. I wouldn't want to do it too often as it just makes the mortgage repayments bigger for the remainder of the mortgage. If you have a certain period for which you could do with a break, like to cover maternity leave or to give a breathing space for starting your own business I would recommend it. It isn't a solution for long-term financial worries though as it still needs to be paid off in the end.

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