Many mortgages 'offer repayment holidays'
Published On 28 April 2008
Homeowners feeling the pressure of the current economic situation have been advised to check the small print of their mortgage to see if they could take a break from their monthly payments.Research from MoneyExpert.com found that as many as six out of ten (58 per cent) fixed, discounted and variable mortgage products offer consumers the option to take a repayment holiday.
The consumer site noted that this could indicate that mortgage lenders have already gone some way to meeting Alistair Darling's request that borrowers were offered some ways to weather the economic climate.
"Lenders are aware they need to be flexible with their customers and are already ahead of the game - certainly more than the chancellor might have us believe," MoneyExpert's Sean Gardner commented.
"With around six in ten mortgage products coming with a potential payment holiday written into the terms and conditions, cash-strapped homeowners can at least enquire about taking a break.
"Taking a payment holiday will need to be agreed with your lender and just because there's a facility for it doesn't mean your bank will let you off repayments easily."
Recently, research suggested that people who took out mortgages before 2004 were in the best position to weather the current economic situation.
