METRO: What are the options for people who can't meet higher mortgage payments?

There are several options for people who are struggling to meet higher mortgage payments. These include refinancing the mortgage with a lower interest rate, extending the mortgage term, negotiating a loan modification with the lender, renting out a portion of the property, obtaining consent to let on the property and moving in with family or friends, selling the property and downsizing to a smaller property that is more affordable, or lowering other disposable expenditure. The first step for homeowners in this situation should be to talk to their mortgage advisor about their options and to consider which option may be the best fit for their individual circumstances.

Talking to your mortgage lender when in financial distress may be scary but talking to an independent mortgage adviser has no such worries. They work for you.

If you are struggling to meet your mortgage payments, always communicate with your lender. They must try to accommodate payment difficulties, but can only do so if they're aware. To reduce payments, the following options all have compromises, but if they prevent missed mortgage payments, damaged credit files and potentially repossession, it's the lesser of two evils. If on a repayment mortgage: Extend the term to reduce payments. This could increase interest payable over the term though. Switch to interest only, to reduce payments even further. This increases overall interest paid and your debt isn't reducing. Most lenders have a min income and equity requirement that can't be met by many borrowers. Review your finances, use online tools such as snoop to reduce your outgoings. Last but not least, get advice to lower your mortgage rate

Due to the unfortunate predicament we are now facing many borrowers will be unable to refinance their existing deal when the current one ends. However, options are available such as extending the mortgage term, reverting to part interest part capital, or interest only. Which option is best depends on the borrower's circumstances so it's important to get independent mortgage advice.

The majority of mortgage lenders will allow you to take in a lodger, but it would be advisable to check with them first so you do not breach the terms and conditions. A handful of lenders will allow you to include lodger income into the affordability assessment, you can earn up to a threshold of £7,500 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home. This is halved if you share the income with your partner.

If the remortgage is unaffordable, see if your lender can extend the term or allow you to move onto Interest-Only for a while. Neither is great, but a whole lot better than missing mortgage payments which at the least will badly damage your credit score and make it difficult to get an affordable mortgage in the future, and at worst runs the risk of repossession.

The other option is to rent-a-room out, it could be a lifesaver and there's almost guaranteed demand.

We have seen concerns from clients who are coming up to the end date on their current product and are looking to refinance.

We can look to increase the mortgage term if this fits in with their intended retirement age. We can also look at part and part or interest-only mortgages to reduce monthly payments but still allow the client to overpay when they can do, calculations would need to be carried out and clients made fully aware of the pros and cons of making these changes.

Lenders increased product switch windows to provide more comfort to borrowers worried that rates would rapidly spiral and also offer switch and fix products to allow clients to move from trackers to fixed products when viable to do so.

More discussions regarding lodger allowances are being had as clients look to increase cash flow.