Mortgage support

Yes. In line with the Mortgage Charter, you can do this if:

• you’re up-to-date with your monthly payments, and
• you’ve at least 12 months left on your mortgage term, and
• you currently live in your property, or
• we’ve given you permission to let your residential property and you live in the UK.

Other criteria may apply. 

You can apply in Mobile or Online Banking, or by phone. We’ll let you know the impact on your mortgage and future monthly payments. 

Things you need to know

• There’s no fee for doing this.
• Your monthly payment will go down for 6 months.
• After 6 months, your mortgage loan or loans will automatically go back to repayment (capital and interest).
• You’ll pay more interest over the term of your mortgage.
• We won't advise if it’s suitable for you or check if you can afford it.
• We won’t do a credit search, so it won’t show on your credit file. However, if you miss a payment or we agree a payment arrangement during the 6 months, we may share that information with the credit reference agencies.
• You cannot increase your mortgage term under the Charter if you choose to switch to interest only for 6 months.
• You may see updates in Mobile and Online Banking, your annual mortgage statement or other letters about paying back the capital at the end of the mortgage term. Please ignore this as it doesn’t apply to your temporary switch to interest only.
• You can request a new mortgage deal while your Charter switch to interest only is active. To do this, you need to call us on 0800 092 3881.
• You can also make overpayments while your Charter switch to interest only is active.
• You won't be able to make any other changes to your mortgage such as borrow more money while your Charter switch to interest only is active.

If you apply online, we’ll email you to say we’ve received your request. 

Whether you apply online or by phone, we’ll email you to confirm if we can switch your mortgage to interest only.

If we can do this, we’ll send you a letter with all the details including your new monthly payments. You’ll get this before your monthly payment reduces, so you can understand the impact on your mortgage.

The letter we send you confirms when the switch to interest only starts. If the date you applied is too close to your next payment date, your monthly payment will reduce from the following month. You’ll still get the 6-month interest only period you asked for.

Yes. You have a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel your request from the date on the letter confirming the switch to interest only and your new monthly payments. As long as your contractual monthly payment stays the same as before you switched to interest only, we’ll put your mortgage back to how it was. You won't pay extra interest.

If your next payment is lower than your contractual monthly payment, and you decide not to pay the extra amount, you’ll pay more interest over the rest of the mortgage term. 

You can ask for one more Mortgage Charter change in the future if you cancel during the cooling-off period.

We’ll send you a letter confirming your request has been cancelled. This will arrive within 7 to 10 days.

After the cooling-off period, you can still cancel and go back to repayment during the 6-month period without an affordability check or credit search. 

To cancel your request, please call us on 0800 783 9738.

Yes. In line with the Mortgage Charter, you can increase your mortgage term if:

• you’re up-to-date with your monthly payments, and
• it’ll reduce your monthly payments, and
• the maximum term is 40 years, and
• you currently live in your property, or
• we’ve given you permission to let your residential property and you live in the UK.

Other criteria may apply. 

You can apply in Mobile or Online Banking, or by phone. We’ll let you know the impact on your mortgage and future monthly payments. 

Things you need to know

• There’s no fee for doing this.
• Your monthly payment will go down.
• After 6 months, your mortgage loan(s) won’t automatically go back to the original term.
• You’ll pay more interest over the term of your mortgage.
• We won't advise if it’s suitable for you or check if you can afford it.
• We won’t do a credit search, so it won’t show on your credit file. However, if you miss a payment or  we agree a payment arrangement during the first 6 months, we may share that information with the credit reference agencies.
• You cannot switch to interest only for 6 months under the Charter if you choose to increase your mortgage term.
• You can request a new mortgage deal after your Charter term increase has started as long as you don't want to go back to your original term within the first 6 months. To do this, you need to call us on 0800 092 3881.
• You can also make overpayments while your Charter term increase is active.
• You won’t be able to make other changes to your mortgage such as borrow more money during the first 6 months. This is because you may decide to cancel your term increase  and go back to your original term.
• During the first 6 months, if you decide to go back to your original mortgage term, there’s no affordability check or credit search, so it won’t show on your credit file. Please call us on 0800 783 9738 if you decide to do this.

If you apply online, we’ll email you to say we’ve received your request. 

Whether you apply online or by phone, we’ll email you to confirm if we can increase your mortgage term. 

If we can do this, we’ll send you a letter with all the details including your new monthly payments. You’ll get this before your monthly payment reduces, so you can understand the impact on your mortgage. 

The letter we send you confirms when the term increase starts. If the date you applied is too close to your next payment date, your monthly payment will reduce from the following month.

Yes. You have a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel your request from the date on the letter confirming the mortgage term increase and your new monthly payments. As long as your contractual monthly payment stays the same as before you increased your mortgage term, we’ll put your mortgage back to how it was. You won't pay extra interest.
 
If your next payment is lower than your contractual monthly payment, and you decide not to pay the extra amount, you’ll pay more interest over the rest of the mortgage term. 
 
You can ask for one more Mortgage Charter change in the future if you cancel during the cooling-off period.
 
We’ll send you a letter confirming your request has been cancelled. This will arrive within 7 to 10 days.
 
After the cooling-off period, you can still cancel and go back to your original term during the 6-month period without an affordability check or credit search. 
 
To cancel your request, please call us on 0800 783 9738.

No. If you have a fixed rate deal you can lock in a new deal 4 months before your current deal ends. There’s no early repayment charge (ERC) to pay.

If your fixed rate deal ends in more than 4 months, you’ll need to pay the ERC to leave your current deal early.

If you’re on our Standard Variable Rate, Follow-on Rate or a tracker rate, you can get a new deal at any time without paying an ERC.

Things you need to know

• No affordability or income checks.
• No legal or valuation fees to pay.
• No new Direct Debit to set up. 
• While you’re waiting for your new deal to start you cannot switch to interest only for 6 months or increase your mortgage term under the Charter.
• You also cannot make other changes to your mortgage such as making an overpayment, borrowing more money or starting the process of moving home with us.