Reason 5

Repayment mortgages can be altered if times are hard. There are two ways to cut your costs if you are struggling to meet your repayments. First you can extend your mortgage term – use the calculator mentioned earlier or ask your lender how this can help. Of you can ask to just pay your mortgage interest for a while until you find your feet again. This cuts costs sharply – the £170,000 mortgage that costs £1,056 on repayment terms will cost just £779 as an interest-only mortgage. But remember that the debt itself does still have to be repaid one day – experts say you shouldn’t go interest-only for long unless you know exactly how you will clear the mortgage in the future. Fortunately switching from repayment to interest-only terms and back again can normally be done at any time. You shouldn’t be charged for it either.