Credit Card + Mortgage = not good.

A recent report from housing charity Shelter has suggested that as many as one million households are using their credit cards to meet their monthly mortgage or rental payments. This figure represents 6% of homes in the UK, with the charity adding that the problem is growing amongst the middle classes. Without doubt, this is a worrying trend as not only will you be increasing your current debt, you’ll probably be paying interest payments on both your mortgage and your credit card! Shelter have called these figures a “shocking discovery” and warned that in some cases if people were to default on their credit card payments, their homes could be repossessed.
In addition to these striking revelations, Creditaction has reported that 9,300 new debt problems are reported to the Citizens Advice Bureaux and 1,000 people are seeking some formal debt rescheduling plan every day. Therefore, it is unsurprising that in the same report, it is highlighted that a property is being repossessed every 11.2 minutes throughout the UK.
My advice would be not to let the situation get so bad that there is no way back. In the current climate, mortgage arrears are frowned upon as the worst possible misdemeanour. Worse than CCJs, Defaults and other missed payments on credit. Make sure you review your circumstances and take action before it happens. Once mortgage arrears, CCJs or Defaults are registered, every financial institution (including insurance & mobile phone companies) will see these when making decisions on whether or not to lend to you. At the same time, it is likely that any online internet application will fail should you have one of these issues registered against you within the last 12 to 24 months, as nearly all lenders use credit scoring and these inevitably will have a detrimental affect to you score.
To continue the scare mongering, there are only three or so lenders left in the market who will assist clients with adverse credit. The best case scenario is rates around the mid 5%s for historic adverse. The worst case is rates starting from 9.90% with eight, yes eight years redemption penalties to pay if you want to leave them. Therefore, the moral of the story is a simple one. If the going is beginning to look tough, speak to AToM for assistance. Sooner, rather than later!