Select the relevant topic for more frequently asked questions:
If I'm renting, how do I ask my landlord for a rental holiday?
If you're struggling to pay for your rent the government advice is to speak to your landlord. If your landlord isn't able to offer a flexible way to pay your rent, trey to pay to pay as much as you can afford.
You can also check out this learn article for more information on rental holiday here.
Payment freeze
emergency payment freeze means that you've agreed in advance with your credit provider that you'll not be making repayments for an agreed length of time i.e. 3 months.
This does not mean that you don't pay the amount owed. You'll still owe the amount you haven't paid during the emergency payment freeze. However, the repayment will take place at a later date. For more information on the repayments, you'll need to contact your provider (i.e a bank or lender).
If you're unable or you're at risk of not being able to fulfill your financial commitments because of illness from COVID-19, reduced pay or losing your job as a result of COVID-19, you can contact your provider directly to request an emergency payment freeze.
Should I cancel my direct debits, if I can't contact my provider?
If you miss a payment without agreeing to an emergency payment freeze with your credit provider this may be shown as a late payment on your credit report and could have an impact on your score.
For more information on how missing payments and other factors can affect your score, please check out this article.
What happens to my credit score if I set up an emergency payment freeze?
Once you have an emergency payment freeze agreed with your provider, they'll suspend future payments and freeze the repayment status of your account at the date the emergency payment freeze was agreed.
They'll then continue to report this repayment status to the CRA’s (credit reference agencies) for the period you're on an emergency payment freeze. This should minimise any impact on your credit score.
There are no specific flags or markers that indicate the presence of an emergency payment freeze.
Once you have an emergency payment freeze agreed with your credit provider, they'll suspend future payments and freeze the repayment status of your account at the point the emergency payment freeze was agreed.
They'll then continue to report this repayment status to the CRA’s (credit reference agencies) for the period you're on an emergency payment freeze.
If you were up to date with your repayments before the emergency payment freeze starts your payment status will show as ‘up to date’ and will continue to appear this way whilst you're on an emergency payment freeze.
However, if you were in one month’s arrears before the emergency payment freeze starts, your payment status will continue to show one month in arrears. Unless you make an additional payment to clear the full arrears.