It's essential that you get help and advice if you're struggling to pay your mortgage. The sooner you start dealing with your mortgage debts, the more options you'll usually have. If you ignore the problem it becomes harder to manage and you could end up losing your home.
You can be asked to appear at court if you fall behind on your mortgage. Getting a summons to appear in court doesn't mean that you'll lose your home. There are a number of decisions that the judge at court can make. Our advisers at Housing Rights may be able to represent you at your court hearing.
The help you get to pay your mortgage interest has changed. The Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) benefit came to an end on 5 April 2018, and has been replaced with the offer of a loan.
If you get certain benefits, you might be able to get help to pay the interest on your mortgage. This help will be a loan and you'll have to repay the money if you sell your home. You'll normally have to wait almost 10 months from the date you start getting other benefits until you'll get help towards your mortgage.
The Bank of England has announced the first rise in interest rates since 2007. After the Brexit referendum last June, the Bank of England reduced the cost of borrowing to 0.25%, but this announcement brings the interest rate back up to 0.5%. The people who will be most adversely affected by this increase are those households with variable rate mortgages. If you have a variable rate mortgage, your payments will increase because of this change.
