Not only is the Covid-19 crisis a health-based emergency, it\u2019s also a massive financial emergency. Most of us will have just experienced an unexpected drop in our wages and we will all have to, at some point, adjust our spending habits to bring them in line with lower income levels. The more you can do now to plan your finances for the future the better. Now is definitely not the time to bury your head in the sand and ignore your finances. So to assist you, here are some financial tips to help you get through this strange time:<\/p>\n
Make an emergency budget<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re worried about cashflow, have a look at what income you have coming in, and everything you\u2019re spending. Make a list of all your income (which of course may have been reduced recently) and a list of all your outgoings. This will illustrate exactly what your income is, and what you are spending your money on. You may need to cut back on certain things to get through the next few weeks or months. Make sure you know exactly where your money is going, and if you can cut back on any unnecessary spending then do it!<\/p>\n Use your savings<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you have any savings? You could access your money if it\u2019s in a fixed term or notice savings account – some banks and building societies are saying they\u2019ll give access to savings accounts, with no penalties. Check with your bank or building society and see if they\u2019re able to help.<\/p>\n Talk to your creditors if you think you\u2019re going to miss payments<\/strong><\/p>\n If you still think you\u2019re going to struggle to pay essential bills once you\u2019ve done your budget, make sure you talk to the people you owe money to before it becomes a problem. Don\u2019t ignore your creditors or bury your head in the sand. It\u2019s always better to let creditors know about your cashflow problems, they may be able to help.<\/p>\n Check your insurance policies<\/strong><\/p>\n You may have insurance policies that cover your mortgage payments or replace some of your income. For example:<\/p>\n These insurances are often offered with life insurance policies or mortgages, so it\u2019s easy to forget that you may be covered. There is usually a minimum time period which could be several months before these policies pay out so you should talk to your insurer to find out more, particularly if you are worried about redundancy.<\/p>\n Problems paying your rent or mortgage<\/strong><\/p>\n Something that is going to be hard to cover if you\u2019ve got a sudden drop in income and don\u2019t have access to savings is your mortgage or rent payments:<\/p>\n If you have a mortgage – <\/strong>mortgage lenders have announced support if you have to take time off work because of Coronavirus, including a repayment holiday of up to three months. This includes buy-to-let mortgages. Any decisions to offer this support will be made on a case-by-case basis. So, the most important thing is to talk to your lender as soon as possible to discuss your options if you think you could miss any mortgage payments.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re renting – <\/strong>the government has announced emergency legislation to suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation during the coronavirus crisis. Your landlord will not be able to apply to start possession proceedings until you have missed rental payments for at least three months.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re living in a buy-to-let property, your landlord will be able to apply for the three-month mortgage payment holiday if you are experiencing financial difficulty so they shouldn\u2019t put any pressure on you to meet rent payments during this time.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re unable to meet rent payments after three months, your landlord should take every step to ensure that you continue to stay in your home. They will be expected to take into account your financial circumstances and try and work an affordable repayment plan with you before they start any proceedings.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a social housing tenant, talk to your tenancy support officer or housing officer who will be able to support you and work out an affordable repayment plan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not only is the Covid-19 crisis a health-based emergency, it\u2019s also a massive financial emergency. Most of us will have just experienced an unexpected drop in our wages and we will all have to, at some point, adjust our spending habits to bring them in line with lower income levels. The more you can do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n