Husband has lost his job

[GARLANDGIRL2024]

My husband lost his job 2 weeks ago.
It was a well paid job. Our bills are so high including a monthly mortgage payment of £2,200
I have a well paid job but I cannot cover the bills, food shopping at petrol by myself!
He’s been applying for loads of jobs yet to hear back from any.
But I am stressing , when I think about it to much I feel like I’m physically suffocating. It’s causing me such anxiety and even had a panic attack last night. My husband is a very optimistic person and he’s not worrying half as much as me. Says he is being positive and he is very confident he will get a job interview soon.
we have 2 young kids, we cannot lose our home!
we don’t have any friends or family we can ask to help, we done have any savings to fall back on.
i wonder if anyone knows of any help we can get? I tried to call the bank yesterday to discuss with them and see if they can freeze our mortgage payments for a month or 2, but I was on hold for 40 mins then had to end the call to collect the kids from school.
thanks for reading x

He can apply for contributions based job seekers allowance today.
He will need his P45 & provide ID
If he was made redundant, he can still claim.
It is not means tested for a certain time period
This also pays his National Insurance contributions while he is not working & he can put it on his CV

He needs to apply today

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance

I'm sorry about your husband losing his job and the stress you must feel.

Do you have savings to cover the full mortgage payments (and bills) for any length of time? If so, give him a month or two to find a new job and then re-evaluate what you need to do from a financial perspective. He should also sign up with some agencies and do temp work. (I appreciate that's not a long-term solution, but if he's in a particular industry, sign up to angencies that support that field and temp/contract/freelance contracts will provide at least some money to help until he finds something permanent.)

If you can't cover the mortgage and bills from the next payment, then you need to either (a) request your payments be switched to interest only for up to 6 months (bear in mind that, after 6 months, your payments will go back to repayment terms and the monthly amount will be slightly higher, to cover the 6 months you were paying a bit less); or (b) extend the term of your mortgage (after 6 months you can revert to the original term, keep the new term or change it to something different). No financial checks are made and it has no impact on your credit score. You just contact your provider and say, under the Mortgage Charter, your'd like to switch your mortgage to e.g. 6 months interest only.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/mortgages/mortgage-charter/

If you can't speak to anyone on the phone, can you email or login to your mortgage account and send a message that way? It's a really simple, straight forward process. I literally emailed my mortgage provider and the change was made with effect from the next payment. That was it. (I was shocked that going interest only didn't actually save me that much, but it was better than nothing when I was in a tight spot.)

If you haven't already got a budget, make one now by going through the last 3 months worth of bank and credit card statements and listing all of your regular and ad-hoc spending. That might show you some areas you can cut back in.

Also make an application for Universal Credit.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-couples-an-introduction/universal-credit-further-information-for-couples

And it keeps your NI credits up to date …important when it comes to pensions

The OP had no savings - it’s in the post.

Also if he’s only been out of work for two weeks it’s unrealistic to worry about not hearing back re jobs yet. Employers take far too long to respond

How did he lose his job? Is there a redundancy package to come? I would speak to your mortgage advisor as they can do mortgage breaks for circumstances like this.

How did he lose his job? Presuming he wasn’t just fired? If he has finished working then he can start running the house, collecting the kids, calling mortgage company. Then you won’t be so stressed trying to do everything.

he needs to sign up for job seekers as this will keep national insurance payments going.

check whether you now qualify for some child benefit as extra money.

monthly mortgage payment of £2,200
This seems to be the biggest obstacle, i have no idea what you both earn but that seems to be a person's salary in itself let alone when you add CT, Gas+Electric etc. Maybe ask to go interest only for 6 months

DH was made redundant shortly after DD was born, almost 14 years ago now. His redundancy payment was equivalent to 6 months wages & he found a new job in month 5, to start in month 6. I remember the stress, especially as I was on maternity leave & we have two older DSs.

It will all work out in the end, but it is shit while you’re going through it.

He needs to concentrate on finding a job. Is he home now? If so he has time to stay on hold with the mortgage company. Sorting this is priority as it's your biggest bill. Then it's going to be going through your spending with a fine tooth comb to see what you can cut back on.
Try the Moneysavingexpert.com forums for advice - they're excellent.

I understand you’re anxious, but this happens to people. Your mortgage company will help
you come up with an arrangement until you get back on your feet. IF your husbands new job cannot cover your existing mortgage payments, then you’ll be able to sell and downsize. It might not be ideal but there are options.

When you say lose what do you mean? Because this may affect job hunting.

OP I've been out of work after a redundancy for 8m. The market is difficult, especially higher paying, senior roles. I've just landed the right role but I had a significant redundancy package and taken on some debt too, which I'll now pay off.

My best advice other than job seekers is more time networking with recruiters and linked in managers in industries/companies and preemptively sending a cover letter.

I didn't get a single response on job boards, and standard applications as the algorithms are ruthless and the amount of people applying are so so high right now.

I've had the most traction through agents and join every one you possibly can in every area your prepared to work in and cast the widest net possible.

Good luck 🤞🏻

You have my sympathy. DH lost his well paid job when our second born was a newborn. We had a big mortgage too. Practical advice: list your outgoings and see what you spend on to see where/if you can cut back. Contact bank to see if you can take a payment holiday. Contact other bill providers as some will give you a payment holiday too-we got a few months from tv subscription providers. Little savings add up. I can relate to the feeling of panic and anxiety. We got through it after 6months of no work and then a lot more building ourselves back up. It was an effective way for me to lose my baby weight with stress but I would rather have kept it and missed the stress. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger but it usually isn’t pleasant. Having lost parents prematurely, I kept reminding myself it wasn’t as bad as one of us being seriously ill. I hope he gets a job soon. As hard as it is, try to keep calm. It sounds like you are being really strong and pragmatic. Hang in there.

What industry do you and your dh work in OP? Or, do you both or if you have any family who work in the construction industry. There’s an amazing charity called the lighthouse club charity. If so- they may be able to help you. You have to work within the construction industry or have family who do though.
good luck

It's one person's monthly salary after tax without adding anything on...

Making assumptions but prob not worth it. Probably high rate taxpayer so a job paying 15ph or something would take home be about 8 ph or something.

Also, if he is in a 'good job', job hunting can be a full time role. When I was OOW I would spend an hour a day looking at jobs and applying, maybe a bit more as some applications took longer. Then it would be typical for me to have to do a phone screen, interview with hire manager, interviews with key people then a culture fit. Often in that would be a task. Sometimes these could take 6-8 hours to do (like building a GTM model in Finance planning). You have prep time etc.. Then you will have multiple applications at a time. I didnt work it out, but properly job hunting for me could easily be 20 hours per week, more sometimes especially if I needed a face to face presentation or interview. One for example was a 3 hour drive each way.

My husband is in Technology (management, but previously was hands-on) was redundant 5 months ago, no luck so far. Could you share your contact please?

I will PM you if that's OK?

I'm like you, big mortgage and 2 kids with disabilities but my DH died in 2016, so it' s all down to me to bring home the bacon. I'm a contractor, and worked just 3m out of the year last year and like your hubby I kept thinking I'd get a new contract soon. I didn't sign on or anything so burned through my savings and put some money on a zero interest credit card, it was a real shock. Ive been contracting for donkeys years and never had a year like it.

Please ask your DH to sign on. The current job climate is very hard. By signing on at least some of the interest on the mortgage will be covered - mortgage lenders will give you some breathing space - everything else you'll just need to cut back. You will be fine, I did it, so can you.

Sending you all the best!

I tried to call the bank yesterday to discuss with them and see if they can freeze our mortgage payments for a month or 2, but I was on hold for 40 mins then had to end the call to collect the kids from school.

Why on earth isn't he doing these things while you're working and he's looking for work?

Wouldn't you be entitled to quite a lot of universal credit in this circumstance?
Especially now your savings are low.
Perhaps have a look at https://www.entitledto.co.uk/

You don’t get much help if it’s a mortgage - if they were renting they’d get help

Contact your bank and put your mortgage on interest only for 6 months. All the big banks signed up to the ‘mortgage charter’ to help people who were struggling financially so I think it’s very straightforward to do.