- Mortgage worries (homeowners)
- Mortgage worries (buy-to-let)
- Interest only mortgages
- Switching to another lender
- Independent help & support
- Making a complaint
Worried about your mortgage payments?
Whether you’re behind on your mortgage or worried you might miss a payment, you’re not alone. We’re here to help. Simply speaking to us won’t affect your credit file. You can reach our experienced team by calling 03330 148 048. Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
We know that it can be tough to admit you have money problems and asking for help can be hard, so we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to let you know what to expect when you speak to us.
Step 1
We’ll understand your circumstances
We’ll ask you some questions to help us understand what’s changed. It’s best to be as open and honest as you can as this will help us to understand how we can help.
If your circumstances (for example, a health condition or a recent life event like a bereavement or divorce) are affecting your ability to manage your account, you should tell us about this as we may be able to adapt our service to better support you.
If you have debts with other companies or want independent advice, we might recommend you speak to a debt advisor. A debt advisor will look at your overall financial position and recommend ways to deal with your debts. They won’t tell anyone you’ve spoken to them unless you instruct them to act on your behalf and speaking to them won’t affect your credit score. Many people say they had their first good night’s sleep in months after speaking with a debt advisor*.
You can find details of the debt advice organisations we work closely with under the Independent help & support tab on this page.
*Source – StepChange Debt Charity – June 2023
You may be eligible for Government support
If you’re on a low income or certain means-tested benefits, you may be able to get government help with your mortgage payments. This is called Support for Mortgage Interest or SMI. You can find out more information about how the SMI scheme works here here.
Step 2
We’ll ask for your financial information
We’ll need some financial information to understand your current situation. This helps us understand what options and support may be suitable for you. We’ll usually ask you to complete an income and expenditure (sometimes called an I&E) form, to give us a clear picture of your financial position.
The quickest and easiest way to give us this information is by providing it online. We’ll use this information to understand how we can help you.
If you don’t want to provide this information online you can call us on 03330 148 048, and complete it over the phone or ask us to send out a paper form for you to complete at home and post back to us.
Important information when completing an income and expenditure form:
- Have information like payslips, bank statements and how much you spend on your household bills ready when you start. The more information you can give us, the better.
- Be as accurate as possible. This is so we can be sure that any arrangement we agree is affordable for you.
Step 3
We’ll explain your options
We’ll use the information from your I&E to work out what options may be suitable for you. We’ll then talk you through them, explaining what they mean to you, whether they’ll affect your credit file and if you’ll be charged more interest.
Step 4
We’ll agree a solution
We’ll work with you to agree the most appropriate solution that’s tailored to your needs. This may be a short-term solution to help you get back on your feet, or a longer-term solution to pay back any payment shortfall.
Our priority is to support you in remaining in your home, but sadly this isn’t always possible, either because you can no longer afford your monthly mortgage payments or to pay back the total amount you owe us by the end of the term. If this is the case, we’ll work with you to give you the time you need. This might include allowing you to remain in your property whilst you put it on the market and wait for it to sell.
If we can’t agree a solution with you or we can’t get in touch with you, we may instruct our solicitors to begin legal action. This could result in you losing your property. This is always a last resort and something we’ll only do when we’ve exhausted all other options.
Important information if we begin legal action:
Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service – Earlier Advice for Mortgage Customers
In August 2023, the government launched the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), which provides access to free legal advice and representation if you’re at risk of losing your home. Advice is provided by third-party advisors such as Shelter, local law centres and firms of solicitors.
You can use this service from the point we send you a written notice of our decision to seek possession of your property. The service can help you access free legal advice about your mortgage, housing, debt or welfare benefits regardless of your financial circumstances. If you’re required to attend a court hearing, they may be able to represent you.
How can you access this service?
You can find your nearest HLPAS provider by typing in your postcode at https://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/ and ticking the box “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service”.
Ways we can help (homeowners)
If you’re unable to meet all or part of your mortgage payment, we might be able to accept a lower or even no payment for a period of time.
Important information about making lower payments:
- Paying less than your monthly payment is normally agreed to cover a temporary change in your circumstances, like being out of work or undergoing medical treatment. It isn’t a long-term solution.
- At the end of the agreed lower payments, we will need to agree a payment arrangement to pay back any payment shortfall.
- Paying less than your monthly payment may result in your account going into payment shortfall.
- Payment shortfalls are reported to credit reference agencies and this may affect your ability to borrow money in future.
- If your mortgage is in payment shortfall, you’ll be charged more interest. This is because your mortgage balance will be higher than expected. The additional interest will increase the amount you owe and may reduce the equity you have in your property.
If you can afford your monthly payment or more, we may be able to agree a payment arrangement to help stabilise or reduce any outstanding payment shortfall. The amount we agree will be based on your individual circumstances and how much you can afford to pay.
Important information about payment arrangements:
- Any overpayment arrangement will typically need to pay back any outstanding payment shortfall within 12 months.
- Payment shortfalls are reported to credit reference agencies and this may affect your ability to borrow money in future.
- If your mortgage is in payment shortfall, you’ll be charged more interest. This is because your mortgage balance will be higher than expected. The additional interest will increase the amount you owe and may reduce the equity you have in your property.
- If there are any interest rate changes, this will change the amount that you pay. We’ll write to you if this happens.
- You can cancel your payment arrangement at any time. However, if you don’t have an agreement in place to pay your payment shortfall, we may take legal action to recover the amount owed.
If you have a repayment mortgage and either need a reduced payment for a period of time or want to repay payment shortfall at a faster pace, a temporary change in the type of mortgage you have – for example by temporarily converting a repayment mortgage to interest only – may be appropriate.
Important information about changing your repayment type:
- A temporary change of repayment type is normally agreed to cover a temporary change in your circumstances, like being out of work or undergoing medical treatment. It isn’t a long-term solution and would be for a maximum of 6 months.
- When you switch back to your original payment method, your payments will increase. You need to be confident that you can meet these higher payments.
- We won’t report the temporary change to credit reference agencies.
- Payment shortfalls are reported to credit reference agencies and may be affected by a temporary conversion.
If you have a repayment mortgage and need longer than the existing term to pay back the mortgage balance or an outstanding payment shortfall, we may be able to agree a term extension.
Important information about term extensions:
- Paying back your mortgage over a longer term will result in you paying more interest.
- You need to consider whether you can afford to pay the mortgage over a longer period, particularly if this goes past your retirement.
- We can’t provide financial or mortgage advice, so if you’re unsure of the best option for you then we’d recommend speaking to an independent financial or mortgage advisor. We also have sources of information in the Independent Support section of our Support page.
If you are no longer able to afford to live in your home, we may be able to help you sell the property through our assisted voluntary sale scheme. You’ll be able to stay in your property while it’s on the market and you’ll stay in control of the sale process.
Important information about assisted voluntary sale:
- Once accepted onto the scheme it lasts for six months. During this time, you’ll be expected to co-operate with us and the selling agent. If a sale isn’t achieved within this time, we reserve the right to extend or remove you from the scheme.
- CHL Mortgages can help by working with your solicitors and estate agents.
If you can no longer afford to make your mortgage payments but want to stay in your property and are resident in Scotland or Wales, you may be eligible for one of their mortgage rescue schemes. These schemes allow you to keep living in your own home as a tenant, part-owner or part-tenant.
If you live in Scotland, you can access more information on the Home Owners’ Support fund at www.mygov.scot/home-owners-support-fund
If you live in Wales, you can access more information on the Government Help to Stay scheme on the Welsh Government website.
Worried about your mortgage payments?
Whether you’re behind on your Buy-to-Let mortgage or worried you might miss a payment, we’re here to help. You can reach our experienced team by calling 03330 148 048. Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
We’ve put together this step-by-step guide to let you know what to expect when you speak to us.
Step 1
We’ll understand your circumstances
We’ll ask you some questions to help us understand what’s changed. It’s best to be as open and honest as you can as this will help us understand how we can help.
If your circumstances (for example, a health condition or a recent life event like a bereavement or divorce) are affecting your ability to manage your account, you should tell us about this as we may be able to adapt our service to better support you.
Step 2
We’ll ask for an update on income and expenditure for the property
We’ll need some information to understand the current rental income and expenditure on your property(ies). The quickest and easiest way to give us this information is by providing it online using our buy-to-let Income & Expenditure form. We’ll use this information to understand how we can help you.
The quickest and easiest way to give us this information is by providing it online. We’ll use this information to understand how we can help you.
Income & Expenditure Form (BTL)
If you don’t want to provide this information online you can call us on 03330 148 048, and complete it over the phone or ask us to send out a paper form for you to complete at home and post back to us.
Step 3
We’ll explain your options
We’ll use the information from your I&E to work out what options may be suitable for you. We’ll then talk you through them, explaining what they mean to you, whether they’ll affect your credit file and if you’ll be charged more interest.
Step 4
We’ll agree a solution
We’ll work with you to agree the most appropriate solution. This may be a short-term solution or a longer-term solution to pay back any payment shortfall.
If we can’t agree a solution with you or we can’t get in touch with you, we may instruct our solicitors to begin legal action. This could result in you losing the property. This is always a last resort and something we’ll only do when we’ve exhausted all other options.
Ways we can help (buy-to-let)
If you can afford your monthly payment or more, we may be able to agree a payment arrangement to help stabilise or reduce any outstanding payment shortfall. The amount we agree will be based on your individual circumstances and how much you can afford to pay.
Important information about payment arrangements:
- Any overpayment arrangement will typically need to pay back any outstanding payment shortfall within 12 months.
- Payment shortfalls are reported to credit reference agencies and this may affect your ability to borrow money in future.
- If your mortgage is in payment shortfall, you’ll be charged more interest. This is because your mortgage balance will be higher than expected. The additional interest will increase the amount you owe and may reduce the equity you have in your property.
- If there are any interest rate changes, this will change the amount that you pay. We’ll write to you if this happens.
- You can cancel your payment arrangement at any time. However, if you don’t have an agreement in place to pay your payment shortfall, we may take legal action to recover the amount owed.
If you’re unable to meet all or part of your Buy-to-Let mortgage payment, we might be able to accept a lower or even no payment for a period of time.
Important information about making lower payments:
- Paying less than your monthly payment is normally agreed to cover a temporary change in circumstances, like a rental void. It isn’t a long-term solution.
- At the end of the agreed lower payments, we will need to agree a payment arrangement to pay back any payment shortfall.
- Paying less than your monthly payment may result in your account going into payment shortfall.
- Payment shortfalls are reported to credit reference agencies and this may affect your ability to borrow money in future.
- If your mortgage is in payment shortfall, you’ll be charged more interest. This is because your mortgage balance will be higher than expected. The additional interest will increase the amount you owe and may reduce the equity you have in your property.
You can choose to voluntarily surrender the property (often known as ‘handing the keys back’). You should think very carefully before going ahead with this option.
Important information about voluntary surrender:
- This will only be considered if the property is empty.
- You should remove any personal belongings and take meter readings before handing over the keys.
- Your credit file will be impacted as the mortgage will show as defaulted. This may impact your ability to obtain credit elsewhere.
- We’ll place the property on the market and attempt to obtain the best sale price.
- If the property sells for less than the outstanding mortgage balance, you’ll remain responsible for paying back any shortfall amount.
Interest Only Mortgages
The end of your mortgage may seem like a long way off, but we know that time flies. We want to be sure that you’re in the best position to pay back your interest only mortgage by the end of the term. That’s why we’ll contact you regularly to find out about your plans.
Why you need a plan
When you have an interest only mortgage, the monthly payments you make only cover the interest. This means you need to pay off the amount you borrowed by the end of the mortgage term.
It’s important you have a repayment plan in place to repay your interest only mortgage when it ends. Your latest mortgage statement will tell you exactly how much you owe and when it needs to be paid back.
If you have a repayment plan, you need to check it regularly to make sure it’s on track. We recommend that you do this at least once a year. If you don’t have a plan or you’re worried that it might not be enough, we can help. Call our team now on 01252 812 271 (option 3). Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays
Tell us how you intend to pay
You can let us know how you intend to repay your interest only mortgage by filling in this online form. This helps us to understand your plans and provide you with tailored support in the run up to your mortgage term ending.
As your mortgage approaches the end of its term, we’ll try to get in touch with you to understand your circumstances. We’ll assess your financial position and look at ways to help you pay back the remaining balance. If this isn’t possible, you may need to sell your property.
If we can’t get in touch with you or you are unable to repay the loan in full, we may have no choice but to tell our solicitors to take legal action. This could result in you losing your property. Taking legal action is always a last resort.
Ways we can help (interest only mortgages)
You could convert all or part of your mortgage to repayment, so you pay off both the interest and the capital you’ve borrowed. This will increase your monthly payments, so we’d need to make sure that it’s affordable. You can speak to our team by calling 01252 812 271 (Option 6). Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
Important things to consider
- The shorter the term remaining on your mortgage, the higher your monthly payment. You need to make sure you’ll be able to keep up the higher monthly payments.
- If you switch your mortgage to full repayment and maintain all future payments and you don’t have any outstanding fees, you’ll have paid it off in full by the end of the term.
- We can’t offer financial advice. If you’re unsure of the best option for you, we’d recommend speaking to a financial or mortgage advisor. We’ve also got some independent sources of help and support listed in the Independent Support section of our Support page.
You can find more information about switching to repayment in the Changing repayment type section of our Manage Account page.
Overpaying your mortgage means you can save money on the interest you pay. It can also help reduce the amount you need to pay back at the end of the term.
You can find out more about overpayment options in the Making overpayments section of our Manage Account page.
Important information:
- You should only overpay what you can afford. If you’re unsure whether overpaying is right for you, you may wish to seek independent financial advice to help you with your decision.
- Overpaying might not pay back the full amount you owe by the end of the term, so you may need to think about how you’ll pay back any remaining balance.
If you have an endowment policy, shares, Individual Savings Account (ISA) or other investment plan that you were saving for a rainy day, you might want to use this to reduce or pay off your mortgage.
Important things to consider:
- The value of savings and investments can go down as well as up so it’s important to check on the progress of your plan regularly to make sure that it’s on track.
- If you’re unsure whether using an investment policy to repay all or part of your mortgage is right for you, you may wish to seek independent financial advice to help you with your decision.
- If your savings or investment aren’t enough to pay back the full amount you owe by the end of the term, you may need to think about how you’ll pay back any remaining balance.
- As part of our due diligence checks we may ask you to provide details of where the money is coming from and some documents to confirm this.
If you plan to sell your home to pay off your interest only mortgage you will need to think about where you’re going to live.
You may wish to:
- Use the equity from your home to buy a cheaper property with no mortgage.
- Use the equity from your home to buy a cheaper property and have a smaller repayment mortgage.
- Move into a rented property or with family
With each of these options (particularly the first two) you’ll need to make sure that you have enough equity in your property to make your plan work.
You will need to think about:
- How much is your property worth and how much money will be left over after you’ve repaid your mortgage?
- How much would a cheaper property cost? Can you afford the difference?
- If you would need to maintain a smaller mortgage, how much could you afford to pay each month and for how long?
- When will be the right time for you to move? Is it better to move sooner whilst you’re younger and in good health, rather than wait until later in the term?
If you’re planning to sell your property, our team can help you answer these questions. Call them on 01252 812 271 (Option 6). Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
If your plan is to sell your Buy-to-Let property to repay your interest only mortgage, you’ll need to check that the property’s value will clear the mortgage balance in full. You should also consider how long the property may take to sell and put it on the market in advance of your mortgage end date.
Our team can help answer any questions you have and provide you with an approximate outstanding balance. You can call them on 01252 812 271 (Option 6). Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
Switching to another lender
You may be able to get a cheaper mortgage with a new lender if your mortgage is up to date, you’ve made your last 12 payments in full and on time, and you’re not looking to borrow any more money (except to cover product or adviser fees). This is because new rules allow lenders to carry out a more relaxed affordability assessment, where all they have to do is demonstrate that your new mortgage is more affordable than your current one.
Finding out if you’re eligible
To see if you can switch to a cheaper mortgage visit www.moneyhelper.org.uk and complete the simple questionnaire.
To help you complete the questionnaire as accurately as possible, it would be useful to have your latest mortgage statement to hand. The questionnaire takes five minutes to complete and when you get to the end you’ll receive an indication of whether you may be able to get a cheaper mortgage elsewhere. There’ll also be information on where you can get advice on the options available to you.
Further information
You can get advice from an independent mortgage adviser. Although some advisers provide free advice, some may charge a fee so you should always check this first.
Alternatively, you can contact StepChange Financial Solutions who provide free, impartial, whole-of-market mortgage advice tailored to your individual circumstances.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to in the future, there’s lots you can do to help yourself get ‘mortgage ready’.
- Check your credit file
You can check your credit file with one or all of the three main credit reference agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. This will tell you if you have any defaults or missed payments that may be affecting your credit score. Make sure your record is accurate and up to date. You can dispute anything you don’t agree with. - Check that you’re registered on the electoral roll.
Lenders use this to confirm who you are. Not being on it could lead to you being turned down.
To check you need to contact your local Electoral Registration Office. - Get debt advice
If you have unsecured debts like loans and credit cards, you may benefit from speaking to a debt advisor. They can look at your entire situation and provide individual support to help you. You can find details of the debt advice agencies that we work closely with here. - Review your budget
You can use our Income and Expenditure Form to see how much you’re spending and what you’re spending it on. This might help you spot things like subscriptions you’re no longer using or things you may be able to get cheaper, like mobile phone contracts or tv packages. - Overpay your existing mortgage
If you can afford to, overpaying your mortgage means you can save money on the interest you pay. It will also increase the amount of equity you have in your property, which means that you may benefit from a better rate with a new lender. We don’t charge any early repayment charges, so there’s no limit to the amount you can overpay by. Check out our Overpayments Section.
Independent Resources
Whether it’s coping with one of life’s upsets, managing health problems, dealing with money issues, or getting support with being a carer, we all need a little help from time to time.
We’ve put together this useful list of organisations to help make getting the support you need as quick and easy as possible.
These links take you to third-party websites which open in a separate tab
General Support
Financial & Debt Support
Health & Wellbeing Support
Bereavement
Making a complaint
We’re sorry if we haven’t got things right. Sometimes we get things wrong, but telling us about it gives us the chance to fix things for you. It also helps us try and stop the same thing happening again in the future.
- Calling us on 01252 812 271 (Option 6).Phone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
- Completing our online complaint form.
- Writing to us at:
CHL Mortgages, Admiral House, Harlington Way, Fleet, GU51 4YA.
What we need from you…
To help us deal with your complaint as quickly as possible, we need the following information:
- Your name and address
- A phone number we can contact you on
- Your account number
- A description of your complaint and how it’s affected you
Financial Ombudsman Service
If you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to look at it for you. This is a free, independent and impartial service that helps resolve disputes.
Although you can refer your complaint to FOS at any time, they’ll ask our permission to investigate complaints where:
- You haven’t complained to us first, to give us the chance to put things right.
- You have complained to us, but we haven’t given you a final response and we’re still within our eight-week timescale.
We’ll give you information about your right to refer your complaint to the FOS in our final response. If you do so, it should be within six months of the date of our response.
- By phone
Call them on 0800 0234 567. - Online
Send an email to [email protected] or visit their website. - By post
Write to them at: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR.
Complaints
If we can deal with your complaint within three working days, we’ll call you to make sure that you’re happy with our decision. If you are, we’ll send you a letter to confirm this.
If we can’t deal with your complaint within three working days, we’ll send you an acknowledgement letter within five working days to let you know that we’ve received your complaint.
Once we’ve completed a thorough investigation, we’ll give you a final response. This will outline the details of our investigation, how we reached our decision and what we’re going to do to put things right.
We have eight weeks to resolve your complaint, but we’ll do everything we can to deal with it as quickly as possible.
If we can’t complete our investigation within eight weeks, we’ll send you a letter to let you know and tell you what steps you can take. This will include letting you know that you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if you’d rather not wait for us to complete our investigation.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires that all financial services firms publish a summary of their complaints data if they receive 500 or more complaints in a six-month period.
In accordance with these requirements, we have set out below the relevant data for all complaints received by CHL Mortgages in the period 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.
As of 31 December 2024, CHL Mortgages held 15,993 mortgage accounts. For every 1,000 Home Finance loans, we received 32.20 complaints.
Click here to view the report PDF.