Andrew Diver, head of tax at East Anglian accountancy firm Beatons, looks at who is eligible, how to apply and what the long-term impact would be.
The three-month mortgage holiday is aimed at those who are financially struggling.
But don’t panic. You won’t need to ‘prove’ that coronavirus has impacted your finances – you can self-certify.
MORE: Personal finance: What happens if I can’t pay my car PCP because of coronavirus?But to qualify, you’ll need to be up to date with all of your mortgage payments already and sadly, if you are in mortgage arrears or financial difficulties, you’re unlikely to be offered a holiday.
To apply you just need to have a chat with your lender.
They will ask you a few questions and will check that taking a holiday won’t make paying off the mortgage unaffordable for you later down the line.
Usually taking a mortgage holiday means you repay those missed payments by increasing your monthly mortgage payments in future or increasing your mortgage term.
It’s really not as bad as it sounds either.
Let’s imagine for a second that you have 20 years left on your mortgage. For the next three months you wouldn’t pay anything.
Then when your mortgage repayments resume, the total you owe would be spread over the following 19 years and nine months – so you would see a very small uplift in future payments.
Please note: This does not constitute investment advice and is for information purposes only.
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