At the Tipton, we are committed to supporting our customers who experience money worries.

Whilst we are doing all we can to help our customers, we recognise there may be other debts that you need help and advice with. We have therefore partnered with The Money Adviser Network who offer free advice backed by the Money Advice Service. The advisers behind the network offer independent and impartial money and debt advice over the phone or online.

If you would like to speak to The Money Adviser Network please follow this link to provide your contact details in confidence so you can be connected with a qualified and regulated money adviser.

If you have already missed a mortgage payment, or worried you may in the future, please call our support team on 0121 521 4089, or complete our online contact form as soon as you can. The sooner you make us aware, the sooner we can support you.

Don’t wait until you have missed a payment to contact us. Get in touch with us as soon as possible, as telling us will help stop things from getting harder to manage in the long run. We will complete a financial review where we will ask questions to understand your financial situation. With your permission, we can also talk to a family member or third party for debt advice.

Your options will depend on how your financial circumstances impact you. We’ll make sure all the options we suggest are tailored to your needs and focus on what you can afford to pay.

Short term options

There may be options available to help you in the short term.

• Reduced payments: We can reduce or stop your payments for a short period to help you get you to a point where you can start full payments again. This will show as arrears on your credit file and we’ll need to arrange for you to repay the missed payments once your situation improves. We'll continue to charge interest on the mortgage even when payments are reduced or paused.
• A temporary payment of just interest: We may be able to move you temporarily to an interest-only mortgage for a short time. This will reduce your payments, but it’s important to remember you won’t be paying back any of the original amount borrowed, so you’ll need to repay it in the future, meaning your payments will increase in the long term to cover these payments.

Longer term options

There may be options available to help you in the longer term.

• Changing your mortgage product: by changing your mortgage product, you could reduce your payments. However, many of our products carry early repayment charges, meaning you will be required to pay a fee to come out of your product early. To change to a new product, you will need to have an advised appointment with one of our Mortgage Advisers who will determine if this is the best option for you. To book an appointment with one of our advisers, call our team on 0121 557 2551 or complete our online contact form.
• A mortgage term extension: if you have a repayment mortgage (meaning you pay both interest and capital with each monthly payment), spreading the repayments over a longer period will lower your monthly payments. However, it means you’ll have a mortgage for longer and are likely to pay more interest in the long run. To discuss this option, you will need an advised appointment with one of our Mortgage Advisers. To book an appointment with one of our advisers, call our team on 0121 557 2551 or complete our online contact form.
• Option to sell: if you don’t expect to be able to afford your mortgage in the long term, we can give you time to sell your property. You will still need to make your monthly repayments in full during this time.

If someone is controlling your money, you may be experiencing financial abuse. UK Finance have put together a leaflet to provide you with general information, which can be found below.

If you have other credit commitments, such as personal loans or credit cards, talking to each creditor separately can take time. There are many organisations offering independent, impartial, and free advice and support, these can be found below.