What to do if you’re struggling to pay your mortgage

The cost of living has skyrocketed in recent months, meaning that many households are unable to stretch their finances to meet increasing costs. Therefore, it has never been more important to understand your finances and gain greater understanding with the right advice. The rising expenses of essential household items, as well as petrol costs, can not only lead to families having little or no savings to fall back on, but can also cause problems in making their monthly mortgage payments.

With all this in mind, the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the National Debt Line Money Advice Trust have come up with some helpful advice. So, here are some tips to follow if you or someone you know are struggling to pay their mortgage:

1. Speak to your lender
Contrary to popular belief, letting your lender know you are having problems with your mortgage does not mean they will act negatively straight away, like repossessing your home. Lenders are sensitive and aware of the rising living costs at this time and will try to do anything they can to help or give advice. So let them know this as early in the process as you possibly can, so they can help you find a solution quickly. You can always have a look at their website as a first step if you’re not sure what their policies and rules are.

Your lender might provide alternative options, such as temporarily switching to Interest Only, reducing your mortgage payments or providing a payment holiday for a short period of time, or consider increasing the term of the mortgage. The Financial Conduct Authority states that lenders must treat customers in financial difficulty fairly, so you can have confidence that they should want to help you as much as they can.

If you have a mortgage with us, here at Swansea Building Society, we will do all we can to help you manage payments and, as ever, treat each case on an individual basis. The Society will require certain information and will work with you to try and find a solution to suit your own individual circumstances.

2. Work out your budgets
It’s important to understand where your money is going, and if any is being wasted anywhere. Coming up with a household budget will make a big difference – it will help you clearly work out how much money you have coming in and what you are spending it on. You should prioritise payment areas such as council tax, fuel bills, food and your mortgage. Using a budget planner online tool can highlight where you may need to save by cutting back. There are lots of freely available online tools and frameworks which can help with this, such as the National Debtline Budget tool.

3. Get Advice
If you are still stuck or even just unsure, getting professional advice from people with the right expertise will make sure you can be confident you’re on the right track. Your lender will be able to help, but you can also get independent advice from debt-advisors or organisations such as Moneyhelper, National Debtline, Citizens Advice, Shelter or other charity-run services. Debt-advisors such as these can help you work out your personal or household budget, find out if you are entitled to extra income and talk through your options to help find ways to manage your debt.

4. Contact Us
At Swansea Building Society, we serve our customers and their communities by providing flexible and tailored mortgage and savings products. With competitive rates, we ensure that individual needs and circumstances are considered, so we can offer the right products and services to help all our customers achieve important life goals. Most importantly, we take the time to listen and to understand you and your circumstances, building personal relationships and tailoring financial advice and guidance to meet your needs, however complex. So, if you are facing financial difficulties, let us know, and we’ll do all we can to help.

To find out where you can look for help if you have financial difficulties, click here