Mortgage Break Advice

Cypresstree

Hi everyone,

Im looking for some advice...

At the moment I have a mortgage, visa card and a personal loan. Im finding it very hard to meet all the repayments in time, but so far I have managed it.

I contacted the bank and asked them for a mortgage break to clear my outstanding visa balance and my personal loan, which would leave me in a better position to manage my mortgage.

Currently my mortgage is approx 60% of my take home pay, but I am a public servant and in the last 3 months my take home pay has been down approx €400. I've always had to budget very tightly, but with this reduction in income, things have become even worse.

Anyway, the bank refused! They said that my first priority should be my mortgage and that I need to make alternative arrangements with my visa company and loan company instead.

I feel this is completely unfair. I thought the bank would have supported me in trying to clean up my finances, and hence not lapse on any mortgage payments etc., but no.

I would appreciate any opinions/suggestions anyone might have?

Thank you

Instead of a 'break', have you considered asking them to switch to 'interest only' for a few months?

I'm not sure if this may be of any help to you but it might be a better approach.

Toots

I'm assuming from your post that your mortgage, loan and credit card are all with different providers? If they were all with the same bank they might have considered the moratorium, but these days the banks are looking out for number 1 and don't want to take the risk of your mortgage going behind while you're paying off debts to other institutions.

Interest only is also an option, but depending on the size of your mortgage, interest only might not be much different to what you're paying now.

Is there any way you'd consider consolidating your loan and credit card? You could take the one loan out over a longer term which would give you a lower repayment and also take a bit of the pressure off each month. The only thing is if you do get approval from somewhere for a refinance, you'll probably have to get rid of the credit card altogether.

phormium

most banks will expect you to renegotiate your unsecured debt first rather than defer mortgage payments. Roof over your head is the priority debt. If you can show that you have tried that first they will be more accomodating.