Model the cost of a payment pause and keep it separate from other support routes such as temporary interest-only payments or term extension.
Pause Warning
Interest continues to accrue during a payment holiday
Possible Length
Some payment breaks may be up to 12 months depending on circumstances and payment history
Charter Support
At signatory lenders, eligible up-to-date borrowers may be able to switch to interest-only or extend term
Calculator
Use the planner to model a full payment pause where interest continues to accrue and is added to the mortgage. It then shows two follow-on paths: catch up inside the same term, or keep the original monthly payment and accept a longer calendar timeline.
Some lenders may allow a temporary stop or reduction and it may be up to 12 months depending on your circumstances and payment history.
This planner models a full payment pause with no payments made during the selected months. It does not model temporary interest-only support, part-payment arrangements, fees, or lender-specific reporting rules.
This is the extra time added after including both the pause itself and any extra repayment months afterwards.
These are the repayment months needed after the pause if you keep the original monthly payment.
Positive means the pause leaves you paying more overall even though the monthly payment stays unchanged afterwards.
The balance rises during the pause because interest continues to accrue and is added to the mortgage. The calculator then shows two clean recovery paths: catch up inside the original term, or keep the old monthly payment and accept a longer calendar timeline.
Ask whether your lender is offering a true payment holiday, a temporary payment deferral, an interest-only switch, a term extension, or another support route. These options are not interchangeable and the credit-file treatment can differ.
Support Routes
This distinction matters because the cost, credit-file treatment and lender process can differ materially.
This is the scenario the calculator models directly: payments stop or reduce for a period while interest keeps accruing. Ask the lender to confirm the exact terms before you agree to it, including what it means for the mortgage afterwards.
Eligible, up-to-date borrowers at signatory lenders can switch to interest-only payments for six months without a new affordability check or affecting credit score. That is not the same thing as a full payment holiday.
Eligible, up-to-date borrowers at signatory lenders can also extend the mortgage term to reduce monthly payments and then ask to revert to the original term within six months. Again, that is a different support route with a different cost pattern from a full pause.
Before You Agree
Work through these checks in order before you agree to any temporary support.
Ask whether it is a payment holiday, a temporary interest-only arrangement, a term extension, a part-interest arrangement, or something else. These are not interchangeable labels.
Even when a short-term support option helps immediately, the recovery path afterwards matters. This is why the planner shows both a same-term catch-up payment and a keep-payment extension path.
Payment holidays can affect your credit file. Ask the lender to explain the reporting treatment in plain English before you agree to the arrangement.
Next Tools
A payment pause question is rarely isolated. It usually sits inside a broader affordability or deal-ending problem.
Check what a higher mortgage rate would do to your monthly payment if your issue is affordability pressure rather than a one-off cash shock.
Compare fallback and replacement deals if the better fix may be a switch rather than a payment pause.
Use the action-plan page if the problem started because your fixed deal is about to expire.
Compare this with an offset structure if the real need is keeping cash accessible while controlling interest cost.
No. A payment holiday or payment deferral is a lender-specific arrangement to stop or reduce payments temporarily. The Mortgage Charter also covers other support routes for eligible, up-to-date borrowers at participating lenders, including a temporary switch to interest-only payments for six months or a term extension to reduce payments.
No. Interest continues to accrue during a payment holiday, which is why the planner shows a higher balance after the pause and a higher total cost afterwards.
Yes, it can. Ask the lender how any arrangement will be recorded before agreeing to it. That is different from the Mortgage Charter support options available to eligible, up-to-date borrowers at signatory lenders, which can be taken without affecting credit score.
Some lenders may let you temporarily stop or reduce your payments and, depending on your circumstances and payment history, the break could be up to 12 months. That is not a promise that every lender or every borrower will qualify for the same pause.
Ask whether the lender is offering a true payment holiday, an interest-only switch, a term extension, or another support route; whether interest will be capitalised; how the arrangement will be shown on your credit file; and what the payment or term looks like afterwards.