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SHOULD YOU ASK FOR A MORTGAGE HOLIDAY? This post is likely to be most helpful for homeowners, but some tenants may find it interesting too
Over the last few weeks 'mortgage holidays' have been talked about widely on TV and social media, but they've also been misrepresented. I've seen a lot of people arguing that if their landlord gets a mortgage holiday, they should automatically get a rent holiday
Although I'd love to see financially-comfortable landlords letting struggling tenants live rent-free for at least a couple of months, as I'm about to explain, the last thing you want is for their mortgage holiday to be passed onto you
Basically, if your lender agrees to give a homeowner a mortgage holiday, this means that mortgage repayments won't need to be made for a specified period of time. Basically, it's like your mortgage is put on pause
Unfortunately, the missed payments will need to be paid back eventually. This is likely to mean that once the mortgage holiday is over, the homeowner's mortgage repayments will increase
Let's imagine you usually pay £350 a month. Your lender may agree to a 3 month mortgage holiday, meaning you won't have to pay anything until July. But when your repayments resume, you may have to pay £370, £400, or even more than that each month
The exact amount will depend on a number of things such as the lender's terms, the amount of debt you have, and the period of time you'd like to spread the missing payments over
Not only will most homeowners be expected to pay back the missed payments eventually, they'll also have to pay more interest too
Basically, a mortgage holiday isn't as fun and rewarding as it may sound. Essentially, you're just taking on more debt
If you're really struggling to make ends meet at the moment, a mortgage holiday may give you some much-needed relief while your finances are overstretched. But please remember this isn't 'free' money & if your financial circumstances haven't drastically changed as a result of COVID-19, you'll probably be better rejigging your budget so that your mortgage repayments continue to be a top priority
Hope you're all doing as ok as can be♥️

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Exactly, @themoneyshed 👏
Now is not the time to scold or berate people for not already having an emergency fund. Simmer down with the "I ToLd yOu sO" silliness because it's unhelpful & unproductive
Not everyone's financial circumstances have been negatively impacted as a result of coronavirus & there are people out there who would be wise to put money away for the future - especially when our social lives have taken a hit & we can't spend on restaurants, nights out & holidays etc
But most of those without emergency funds are without emergency funds for good reason. it's unlikely to be any easier for them to save now than it was before
We're all doing the best we can & our past selves could never have imagined how drastically our lives could change as a result of this crisis. We didn't see it coming & we're not to blame for not doing more to safeguard our finances

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Guess who's got herself a flatmaaaaate! That's right... me!
Today I said goodbye (for now) to my bedroom and moved into the spare room to make way for a lodger
My shift at work tonight was a weird one because I just kept thinking: "there's someone in my flat and it ain't me!" When I got home, my flatmate's door was open so I went over to say hello and to see how she'd gotten on unpacking
Mate. Our girl is COMFORTABLE! 😂 I was only in work for 4 hours and in that time she's fully made the room her own. It looks so much cosier than before. The picture above is from last year FYI
Getting a lodger has been a nerve-wracking process, made even scarier by everything that's going on at the moment
But I'm very aware how lucky I am that this is even an option for me. Put it this way: I'm getting paid to have a flatmate rather than paying to be a flatmate, and I don't think you can get much more fortunate than that

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My heart bleeds for them

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I know this picture was probably created with toxic relationships in mind, but it's relevant right now too, don't you think?
Mother's Day flowers didn't sell very well at work on Sunday and I think it's because people were choosing not to visit their mums
We've got mums and dads fresh out the hospital, introducing their own parents to their newborn babies through living room windows
We've got couples in long distance relationships who are having to wait even longer than originally planned before they can see each other
And then we have all the travellers that are still stranded abroad due to repeatedly cancelled flights and the people back at home who miss them 💔
Right now I'm trying to figure out how I can teach my mum to download and use Houseparty when we're not in the same room as one another 📸picture reposted from @secondsapart

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'snitches get stitches' no longer applies

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