Coronavirus – we’re here to give you the help and support you might need

Mortgage Payment Deferrals - Your Options

There is further support available for member’s affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are able to provide up to six months in total for a mortgage payment deferral, however please note that we can only agree three months at a time. See below the options available to you:

Request a new deferral period

If you have not previously taken a deferral period, you can request one for you up to six months in total, taking up to three months at a time.

Extend deferral period

If you’re already in a deferral period, this can be extended to up to six months in total. For example, if you have already taken a three month deferral, you can extend for a further three months.

Top Up deferral period

If you have previously taken a deferral period, and are now repaying, you can top-up for a total of six months. For example, if you previously took a three month deferral and are now repaying, you can top-up for a further three months.

It is important to note that the interest on your mortgage will continue to accrue throughout the deferred period and will be added to your outstanding balance. It is therefore in your best interest to pay as much as you can throughout this period to minimise the amount of additional interest that will be charged.

For an indication of how deferring your mortgage could impact your monthly payments and total mortgage balance, you can use our deferred payment calculator.

We also have other forms of support available to those experiencing financial difficulty, you can find out more details here.

More details on mortgage deferrals and to calculate how much you’d be paying after a deferral period, visit our FAQs page here.

If you’re coming to the end of a Payment Deferral

We will contact you prior to the end of the deferred period to confirm your new monthly payment and the options that may be available to you.

It may help you to prepare for this by making use of some of the guidance and tools provided by the following organisations:

• Money Advice Service

  Coronavirus support
  Money Navigator Tool
  How to prioritise your debts
  Debt Advice Locator

• Financial Conduct Authority

  Dealing with financial difficulties during coronavirus: information for consumers

There are also a number of other organisations available to help, simply visit our payment difficulties page to find out more.

Other Critical Services

Savings

Note: For those experiencing financial difficulty, we can enable early access to savings if required. Please get in touch with us so we can discuss your needs with you.

• New savings accounts can continue to be opened online or in branch, however we ask you only visit us in branch if it is essential
• Bank transfers to your nominated bank account
• Fixed-term accounts, or those coming to the end of a rate incentive is an automatic process and you will be notified of account balance in the post
• We’re processing any urgent account changes or changes in circumstances of the account holder
• WeBSave customers can continue to access accounts via the online portal. From here, you can manage your account and make transfers anytime. We’d ask that you use the portal for any queries first and only call us if your enquiry is urgent as we’re currently experiencing an increasing volume of calls.
• Third-party cash withdrawals so family members can collect money on your behalf. The maximum cash withdrawal is £500 for third-party withdrawals. Please click here to download our Third Party Withdrawal Form. The protection and safety of members’ finances is of the utmost importance to us so additional safety checks will be in place to ensure that any transfers or withdrawals are legitimate.

Mortgages

• Mortgage completion, so you will still receive the funds for your new home
• Mortgage redemption for those who have come to end of their term, those moving home or switching to another lender
• Product transfers are still available so that you can change to a different product with us. Please note this can be done on our online portal and we’d ask all customers to look at this and only call us if your call is essential
• If you need to add or cease a mortgage overpayment please use our Live Chat service

Home insurance

We’ve answered the most common questions we’ve received on home insurance in relation to COVID-19.

Telephone & correspondence services

The COVID-19 outbreak results in uncertainty for many of our customers, and as a result we are seeing an increase in pressure on our telephone and correspondence services. This is having an impact on those who are in financial difficulty and trying to contact us to get support.

We’d therefore ask that you use the website and online portals in the first instance for any queries, and we’re updating these regularly with the latest information. That way, we can support those in urgent need and financial difficulty quickly and keep the lines clear for those customers.

You can register for our automated telephone service, which will mean you can quickly and securely access your account information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is available for your savings or mortgage account. Please click here to find out more. Whilst we will prioritise withdrawal requests and deal with them immediately, all other correspondence we receive will be regarded as non-critical and we would ask that you bear with us whilst we respond. You can expect to wait longer than you normally would to hear from us whilst we manage through the operational challenges COVID-19 presents for us all.

Branch services

Our branches remain open, however they are operating on reduced hours to maximise our ability to maintain this position. In some cases we may need to temporarily close a branch for the safety of our colleagues and customers. Please use our branch finder to keep up to date with opening times and branch status.

For your own safety, and the safety of our colleagues, we ask that you only come and see us if it is essential and if you’ve been unable to get support from our online or telephone services. We are practising social distancing in all our branches and all customers must stand 2 metres apart. We are also limiting the amount of people in our branches at one time and only allowing customers in when it is safe, so you might be asked to queue outside if it is busy.

Scam calls, texts and emails

There has been an increase of fraudsters using COVID-19 as a front in scam calls, texts and emails. So far, a total of £2,120,870 has been lost as a direct result of COVID-19-related scams across the UK. Currently, COVID-19-related frauds make up 3-5% of all fraud reports, and this is expected to rise.

Some of these scams are particularly sophisticated and are using the Government communications via text and email to trick people into paying fines for breaking lockdown. Most recently, fraudsters have been using the Test and Trace programme to get personal information from people. Do not give any information over the phone or via email if you’re not sure that it is the legitimate NHS Test and Trace team.

Please be vigilant about all messages you receive that claim to be from any organisation and do not click any links you’re unsure of. Remember that trusted financial services organisations will never ask you for the following:

• Ask you to disclose your PIN number or other passwords for your accounts
• Encourage you to move funds from your own account into a different 'safe' account
• Encourage you to order and pay for UK cash via the phone or internet
• Charge up-front fees for mortgage payment deferrals
• Make home visits to collect mortgage arrears on your doorstep
• Demand an immediate payment of mortgage arrears over the phone
• Demand payment of mortgage arrears via email providing you with a link through which to make payments.

How we're staying Coronavirus (COVID-19) Secure