Coronavirus: help and support

If you are struggling to make your monthly payments, you can use our support tool to find the right support for you. This can help you to see where your money goes and what you can ask us for support with, including:

• A payment holiday to help you manage your money
• A plan to help you pay off any amount you’re behind by
• Give you the time and space to get some free independent help and advice
• Set up a repayment plan to get you back on track.

Payment holidays are not for everyone. It is important you understand the implications of all options available before you make the decision on what is right for you.

A payment holiday is subject to approval. If accepted, you won’t need to make the usual repayment amount for up to 3 months, this could be a reduced amount or your full monthly payment. You can only take up to 3 months at a time (6 months in total). The amount you owe will go up and you will pay more interest overall. 

Please visit our Money Worries page to find out more ways we may be able to help you. Additionally, the Money Advice Service Money Navigator Tool also gives instant help based on what you tell it about your circumstances. 

We offer payment holidays on:

• Mortgages
  During your payment holiday, we’ll still add interest to your mortgage. At the end of the payment holiday, the amount you pay each month will go up, this is to cover the payments and interest charges you’ll miss while you take a break. Learn more about payment holidays for your Halifax Mortgage including how to apply online.

• Credit cards
  If your payment is due now and you can’t make the minimum payment, we won't charge a late payment fee or remove any promotional interest rates in the short term. If you need more support, our support tool will help you decide which option is best for you and your needs.

• Loans
  If your income has been affected by coronavirus in any way, our support tool will help you to decide which option is best for you and your needs. And if you need our support we’ll always be on hand to help and make sure that you understand the longer-term impact on your loan.
  
  
• Car finance
  At the end of the payment holiday we will work out how much extra you need to pay, based on the interest rate shown in your agreement. This means you will pay more as you take longer to pay back the amount you borrowed. We will add this amount to your agreement. To request a payment holiday log into your online car finance account and follow the instructions. Find out more.
  
  
• Home Insurance
  Please contact us on 0345 122 1511 or go to our home insurance page to discuss how we can best help you, for example by offering a payment holiday or reviewing your level of cover.

End of your payment holiday

You may be coming close to the end of your payment holiday period. Remember you don’t need to contact us, we’ll be in touch before your current payment holiday ends on how we can help.

If you’re in a position to restart your payments after your break, we strongly recommend you do so to keep the amount of interest you pay as low as possible. If you are worried about being able to restart your full payments, there are ways we can help.

Our support tool helps you explore your options at the end of your mortgage, credit card or loan payment holiday.

Find our more about your Car finance options.
 

Payment Protection Insurance 

If you have Payment Protection Insurance you may be able to claim under your policy if you’re unable to work due to sickness or unemployment. Visit our Payment Protection Insurance page for details.
 

If you need access to your savings held in a fixed term account, we will be waiving the charge.

To action this we will need to close your account down and all funds in the account will be transferred to an alternative account.

For when it comes to Junior Cash ISAs, all money paid into the account belongs to the child and can't be returned, therefore we are not able to allow access to these accounts.

Also, money held in Family Boost Fixed Savings Accounts cannot be accessed whilst it is being held as security against a Family Boost Mortgage.

To access your savings please call us and we will arrange for your money to be moved into an account of your choice.
 

Support for your personal current account

Application Deadline Extended to 31st December 2020

We are here to support our customers during the impact of coronavirus and if you are going to struggle we are still here to help. It might be that you have or expect to have a temporary loss or reduction in income for you or other members of your household because of coronavirus. If so,  you can ask to have a temporary interest-free amount of up to £500 for 3 months on your personal current account arranged overdraft. To help support you during this difficult time, we have extended the deadline to apply for this support until 31st December 2020.

To ask for a temporary 3-month period of up to £500 interest-free on your arranged overdraft, please apply on or before 31st December 2020. If you need further support, or help with completing this form, then please contact us.

If you have previously benefitted from a temporary interest free waiver on your personal current account arranged overdraft due to coronavirus, you can apply again, but if you are currently receiving this support you must wait until your current support ends. You must apply on or before the 31st December 2020 deadline.

Apply here

If you are facing, or expect to face, financial difficulties, you can find help and support available on our money worries page. For further support, you can find out more about other free independent advice.

You can call our dedicated team for information and support which may include applying a temporary interest freeze, setting up a repayment plan or refinancing your debt.

Overdraft limit increase

If you need to increase your existing arranged overdraft limit, you don’t need to call us – you can apply online.

• Using our Mobile Banking app, select ‘Overdraft’ from your bank account menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Using Online Banking, just sign in and select ‘More actions’ on the bank account that you have the arranged overdraft set up on. Then select ‘Overdraft’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

Please find more information about our Online Banking or help on signing up. 

Apply for an arranged overdraft

If you want to apply for an overdraft, you can do this online.

• Using our Mobile Banking app, select ‘Overdraft’ from your bank account menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Using Online Banking, select ‘Our products and services’, then ‘Overdraft’ and follow the on-screen instructions.
   

You may have borrowing across a range of products such as mortgages, arranged overdrafts, loans, store cards and credit cards. A regular review can be really helpful for managing your money as effectively as possible. There are a few options available which may help, subject to eligibility.

1. Combining borrowing to reduce monthly payments or the amount you pay overall.
2. Changing the term of your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment or pay off faster to reduce the interest you pay overall.
3. Switching to a new mortgage deal with a lower interest rate, to reduce the monthly amount you pay.  

1. Combining borrowing to reduce monthly payments or the amount you pay overall

If you have multiple borrowing products like store cards, credit cards, personal loans or arranged overdrafts it may help to consolidate them into a single product with a single monthly payment. This will help you budget more easily as you won’t need to worry about multiple payments. It could also reduce the amount you pay monthly and the amount of interest paid overall – but it’s important to understand how much interest you are paying in relation to each. Sometimes combining all borrowing into one or extending a product term can reduce how much you pay each month, but could result in you paying more interest overall.

Balance Transfer 

• If you have multiple credit cards, it may help to keep all your credit balances in one place and transfer high interest balances to a card with a lower rate. There may be a fee to transfer. Our balance transfer page.

Debt Consolidation/Refinance

• Consolidating your debt under one loan may help as unlike a store card, credit card or arranged overdraft, a loan gives you a clear date that your borrowing will be paid off by. More information about debt consolidation. 
  
  
• If you are a Halifax mortgage customer and have larger borrowing needs to consolidate, you might be able to apply for additional borrowing on your mortgage. Similar to an unsecured loan, you’ll have one monthly payment and a clear date of when your borrowing will be paid off. Information about additional borrowing.

You could lose your home if you don’t keep up your mortgage repayments.

2. Changing the term of your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment or pay off faster to reduce the interest you pay overall

You can ask to change the mortgage term from what we originally agreed with you. This might be because:

• You think you can afford to pay more and would like to pay off your mortgage sooner, reducing the interest you pay over the life of your mortgage.
  Note: if you are in a fixed term mortgage there may be early repayment charges, so you need to work out what is most appropriate for you.
  or;
• You want to reduce your monthly payments by extending your mortgage term. You will need to get our agreement to do this.

Extending your mortgage term can reduce your monthly cost, but remember by repaying your mortgage over a longer period this will increase the amount of interest you pay overall. Find more information. 

3. Mortgage product transfers to reduce the monthly amount you pay

You may be able to switch to a cheaper deal by applying for a Mortgage Product Transfer, early repayment charges may apply, visit our switching deals page for more information.

You could lose your home if you don’t keep up your mortgage repayments.

If you would like some suggestions on budgeting and planning for the future we have created a helpful page on how to make the most out of your money.

It's always important to make sure you’re financially prepared for the future. This includes having a buffer in place against any unexpected situations. Due to coronavirus, there may be more pressure than ever on your individual and household finances. 

We've pulled together useful information on how to budget, plan, and manage your money. Why not have a listen to our branch colleagues answering some of their most frequently asked questions to help you during this period.