Help and Support
We want to help you manage your account and relationship with us throughout the term of your mortgage. Whether its key life events, health challenges, low financial or digital skills capability, or money worries, we’re here to support you.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
At some time in our lives, many of us experience mental health conditions which can be caused by many things and can affect anyone. Sometimes this can make it hard to deal with money, or your finances could be affecting your mental health. At these times, we may be able to help you with added support. This may be only calling you at a certain time of day when you are better able to deal with people.
We will listen to your needs and work with you to see what we can do to help. Any information you give us about your mental health is confidential and we will only ever use it to help you.
There are also external agencies who can provide additional support and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.
Help with Accessibility Financial Difficulties Help
Financial Abuse
Financial abuse can happen to anyone and can take a variety of different forms within different relationships, including partners, family members or carers. It might include financial control, restriction, exploitation or sabotage, creating dependency or instability.
While financial abuse can look very different for different people, there are signs of financial abuse you can look out for, to protect yourself or someone you know. These are some common signs that someone may be experiencing financial abuse:
- Restricted or controlled access to money and accounts.
- Restricted or controlled access to statements.
- Forced to pay someone your salary or benefit payments.
- Prevented from using a debit or credit card.
- Forced to take out credit agreement products.
If you're affected by financial abuse, we can offer you support regarding your mortgage whilst you seek help you get control of your finances again.
There are also external agencies who can provide additional support and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.
Help with Accessibility Financial Difficulties Help
Gambling and Addiction
Gambling and other forms of addiction can affect your health, relationships, finances and mental wellbeing. If you have any concerns that an addiction is taking control of your life, please let us know as we may be able to help you with your mortgage and dealing with your account whilst you seek the support you need. The sooner you get support, the better it will be for you and also your finances.
There are also external agencies who can provide additional support and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.
Help with Accessibility Financial Difficulties Help
Fraud and Scams
Being a victim of fraud can be devastating, both financially and emotionally and scams relating to property can have a significant impact on you, so make sure you check you are dealing with the correct firm and person before you send any money in connection with your property transaction.
Things to look out for include:
- You are contacted by someone who claims to be your solicitor or conveyancer advising you that the sort code and account number where you need to make a payment to has been changed.
- You are contacted by your solicitor or conveyancer on a different email address to the one you usually communicate through. You may even receive a call from someone purporting to represent your firm requesting a payment.
- You are put under pressure to make a payment urgently or risk your property transaction falling through.
Paying your mortgage may also become problematic if you become a victim to a fraud or scam, so please contact us should this happen to you as there may be ways we can help whilst matters are sorted out.
Further details on how you can protect yourself from conveyancing fraud and other types of fraud can be found on the ‘Take Five’ Campaign to stop fraud website.
There are also external agencies who can provide additional support, including the wider ‘Take Five Campaign’ and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.
Financial Difficulties
We understand talking about your finances isn’t easy. With the cost of living challenges, life events such as relationship breakdown or redundancy, physical or mental health or disability conditions, or becoming a carer to someone, we appreciate money worries can happen to anyone and paying your mortgage can be difficult at times. We also know some customers have medical or personal situations impacting their ability to manage their finances too.
If you are concerned about making your monthly mortgage payments, whether short or long term, or if you have already missed a payment, we want to help you and have some dedicated information available on our website.
In addition, there are also external agencies who can provide additional support and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.
The more you can share about your situation, the more we can do to help. Remember, contacting us will not impact your credit score or credit history, so please contact us as soon as possible.
What if my account is up to date but I just want to make my monthly payments more affordable for a short time?
As part of our cost of living measures for customers with a residential mortgage, there are two schemes specifically aimed at those customers who are up to date with their payments:
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Temporary Switch to Interest Only To help reduce your monthly payments, you may want to consider making interest only payments for a maximum 6 month period. To be eligible, you must:
How it works
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Extend the Term of your Mortgage To help reduce your monthly payments, you may want to consider extending the term of your mortgage. To be eligible, you must:
How it works
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Depending upon your individual circumstances our other forbearance options may be more appropriate and are also available for customers with a Buy to Let mortgage.
Serious Illness and Disability
If you have a serious illness or disability, this may cause day to day challenges and impact your quality of life, including your wellbeing. Everyday tasks may become more difficult and accessing services may become more problematic.
We appreciate your illness or disability may also have financial implications, as it may mean you are no longer able to work, or you may have to have a temporary period off work whilst you receive treatment or make adjustments.
We will listen to your needs and work with you to see what we can do to help, including providing any forbearance options available should you be experiencing money worries as a result. Any information you give us about your illness or disability is confidential and we will only ever use it to help you.
Help with Accessibility Financial Difficulties Help
Bereavement
We appreciate losing someone is difficult and can feel overwhelming enough without the added responsibility of dealing with persons estate and mortgage. We also appreciate during this time, your emotional, mental health and wellbeing may be impacted, plus money worries may be a factor too. We are here to help at this difficult time and we will aim to make this as easy as possible for you and work at a pace that is right for you.
Please contact us and let us know as soon as possible if a mortgage account customer has passed away so we can discuss with you the next steps, such as providing the death certificate, details of any executors, personal representatives or solicitor acting. You do not need to wait until you have the death certificate to do this.
There are also external agencies who can provide bereavement and additional support and details can be found on our Useful Contacts list which can be found here.