If you live in the UK and have trouble paying your mortgage, you can get a lot of good advice from websites and groups. If you can't make your mortgage payments or are about to fall behind, don't stick your head in the sand like an ostrich.
It is very important that you contact your lender right away and let them know about your financial problem.
Every lender has a plan for what to do if you fall behind on your mortgage payments and how to help you get back on track. If you ask for help and are honest with them, they will try to help.
If you try to avoid them, don't answer their calls, and hide from them, you will soon be in over your head and may lose your home.
In the UK, there are also some free organisations whose goal is to help you keep your home and your good credit. If you talk to them, they will help.
When you find out you're behind on your mortgage, the first person you should email or call is your mortgage lender. Not only do they want to keep your mortgage in place and in good standing, but they are also required by federal law to take your critical situation into account and treat you in a fair, informative, and helpful way.
As of October 31, 2004, each UK mortgage is regulated by the UK Financial Service Authority (FSA). The law says that you have to know how your mortgage arrears are doing at all times. There are strict rules about how the lender must act before and during any attempt to take back a home.
If you are honest with your lender, they might be able to help you come up with a better payment plan, at least until you can get back on your feet financially.
Your lender can and will make a plan for your mortgage arrears based on how you've paid your mortgage up to this point and how long your money problems will last.
They may be able to lower your payments for a certain amount of time, let you pay only the interest for a certain amount of time, give you a short break from making payments, or extend the length of your mortgage. If you did the second option, your payments would be less over the life of the mortgage.
If you are already behind on your mortgage payments, your lender will have less to offer you. You can slowly pay off the overdue balance by making payments that are bigger than what was planned each month.
If you can't do this, you might be able to put off the extra payments for a while or just add them to the end of the loan. What the lender decides to do will depend a lot on how well you have paid your mortgage up until you ran into money problems.
When you're behind on your mortgage, it's important to keep paying something on time, even if the amount changes every month. Communication is a key part of getting out of mortgage arrears and keeping your home and good credit.
