I can’t moan about the persistent rain, so far all my family has had to endure is endless cancelled football matches and a brimming cess pit – which I won’t go into.
The news is full of whole communities, cut off from their homes and businesses, clearly spending their time trying to save their homes and possessions rather than popping off to work as usual.
Besides the obvious problem of claiming on insurance for flood damage, it got me thinking, how are these people going to cope with their loss of earnings? If they were ill they would at least get something, but as far as I know “Can’t get to work because there is a river downstairs in my house,” won’t get a pay-out from anyone.
Thankfully, some banks have announced a range of support for flood victims; Santander said it would offer free overdraft extensions and mortgage payment holidays to customers who have been affected by the flooding. Last week The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group - which includes NatWest announced that RBS and NatWest mortgage customers with flooded homes will be able to apply for a three month mortgage repayment holiday.
Hopefully by the time this article has been printed, other lenders will have come out in sympathy with the thousands of families battling short-term financial difficulties as they work to recover from the floods.
I would urge anyone having trouble paying their loan (for any reason) to contact their mortgage provider. There are a number of steps they can take to help including payment holidays, accepting interest only or reduced payments for a period of time. The key is to keep the dialogue going, so please contact them as soon as you can. And to anyone who has been affected by the recent flooding – may I wish you the very best of luck with the recovery operation!
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