We’re here to help
If you’re having problems making repayments and feel you’re falling behind we’ll do our best to help you get back on track. Get in touch with us and our trained financial care specialists will discuss your options with you.
Simply talking to us won't affect your credit file
What to expect when you contact us
We understand talking about your finances isn’t easy. We know medical or personal situations can have a knock-on effect on your finances and make it harder to keep track of things. That’s why our financial care specialists are here to help. They’ll work with you to set up a repayment plan tailored to your needs so you can get your finances back on track.
We listen first
Tell us about your situation. Whether you're dealing with health concerns or changes in your personal circumstances, we're here to listen.
Our financial care specialists are trained to help you.
We assess your circumstances
We'll work with you to build a clearer picture of your situation, including your finances and any commitments you may have.
We may ask you to complete a budget planner so we can find the right solution for you.
We discuss your options
Based on our conversation, we’ll talk you through what's available. This could include:
- A repayment plan.
- 30 days breathing space to get free independent financial advice.
Select your account type below to see available support options
You may benefit from support if:
- you're worried about losing your home, because you can't keep up with your mortgage payments.
- your monthly mortgage feels too high.
- you've missed or are about to miss a mortgage payment
- you're worried about money for any other reason
Some options that might be available
- Switch to interest only payment for up to 6 months to reduce your monthly amount
- Extend your mortgage term to lower monthly payment
- Set up a repayment plan to get back on track
- We've signed up with mortgage charter to support customers with rising interest rates
We may be able to freeze interest and fees on some of these plans, and we may record the information on your credit file
You may benefit from support if:
- you're only able to make the minimum payment each month, and your balance isn't going down.
- you've had a letter saying you're in persistent debt, and you're not sure what to do next.
- you've missed a credit card payment, or you’re about to miss one.
- you're worried about money for any other reason
Some options that might be available
- Increase your Direct Debit to reduce your balance and get out of persistent debt
- Change your Direct Debit payment due date to one that works for you
- Set up a repayment plan to get back on track
- Breathing space for 30 days so you can get free independent debt advice
We may be able to freeze interest and fees on some of these plans, and we may record the information on your credit file
You may benefit from support if:
- you’re struggling to make it to the end of the month without going into your overdraft.
- overdraft fees are building up and you're not sure how to reduce what you owe
- you can’t cover your essential bills.
- you're worried about money for any other reason
Some options that might be available
- A phased overdraft reduction might be suitable to help you gradually get out of your overdraft.
- Breathing space, 30 days so you can get free independent debt advice .
- A repayment plan to clear your unarranged overdraft balance.
We may be able to freeze interest and fees on some of these plans, and we may record the information on your credit file
You may benefit from support if:
- You're finding it hard to keep up with your monthly loan payments alongside other bills
- Your situation has changed and you can't afford your loan payments anymore
- You've missed a loan payment and are worried about what happens next
- you're worried about money for any other reason
Some options that might be available
- Set up a repayment plan to get back on track
- A temporary reduction in your monthly repayment
- Breathing space, 30 days to get free independent debt advice
If you’re looking for general support then take a look at our if finances are a struggle page for more information.
Call us - Personal Banking
If you have a current account, personal loan, credit card or mortgage.
0800 085 1152
Call us - Business Banking
Explore tools to address rising costs for your business. Also, you can check information on repaying your Bounce Back Loan.
Current accounts - 0800 085 0771
Credit cards - 0800 169 3371
Loans - 0800 404 6185
We’ll never call you from any numbers shown on this page.
It's a scam if you get a call from one of the numbers on this page, or the caller tries to send you to our website to verify the number they’re calling from.
If this happens to you, hang up, wait 5 minutes to be sure the line is clear, and then call us on 0330 9 123 123 or 0800 313 4321 (freephone).
Visit our spotting fraud and scams page to learn more.
Hear from Kirsty - Here to help - Taking the first step
"After that first conversation with Santander, it did feel like a massive weight off your shoulders." Kirsty shares her experience of getting support when she needed it most.
Take two minutes to listen to Kirsty’s story about how Santander supported her when she needed us the most.
If you’re having money problems, it’s best to let us know straightaway. Don’t wait until you’ve missed a payment or your account’s overdrawn. But if you don’t speak to us, we’ll try to contact you by calls, letters, emails and texts. We might add interest and charges to your account too, so you’d need to pay back more money.
Once we’ve completed a budget planner with you, we’ll explore what works for your situation. Options may include:
- Repayment plan – overpaying to clear missed payments or an unarranged overdraft balance.
- Reduced repayment plan – a short-term plan reducing the amount you need to pay each month to something you can afford. When this plan ends, we set up a repayment plan to pay back what wasn’t paid.
- Breathing space – 30 days to get free advice or explore debt solutions with a third party.
- Paydown – if there’s no agreement on the best solution, you can make affordable payments to your account.
If you go ahead with the repayment arrangement we discuss, it’ll show on your credit file.
Simply speaking to us won’t impact your credit file. Your credit file is a record of how you borrow, manage and repay money. This covers anything from a mortgage to a mobile phone contract. Lenders will use this information to decide if you’re able to borrow money and how much it’ll cost.
If you miss a payment, we’ll report it to the credit referencing agencies. This will impact your credit file. But if you get in contact with us, we can help find an affordable solution for you, reducing the impact on your credit file.
There are free apps to help you improve your credit score like ClearScore and Credit Karma. You can see more information and tips on improving your credit score on our what is a credit score page
It would be great if you could have your income details and a breakdown of your average weekly or monthly spending. We may need to know about other debts and other financial commitments. We’ll need this to help make sure any solution is affordable to you.
We know you might like to get independent advice before contacting us. This might help if you’re struggling with payments to multiple lenders. We’ve got a page with some independent support available.
For credit cards or overdrafts: If your account continues to be in arrears we could remove your limit. We might stop you spending on your account. If your account stays overdue, we could issue you a default notice and close your account. If we do, we might pass your account to a debt collection agency to manage your account.
For loans: If you don't bring your account up to date this may lead to a default on your credit file and referral to a debt collection agency.
For mortgages: If you don't bring your account up to date, we might pass your account to our solicitors to begin litigation. This can result in the property being repossessed.
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