Additional Information on Payment Difficulties:

for customers with Regulated mortgages

If you are having trouble paying your mortgage, we will try to help you. These sections explain how we will treat you fairly, and what steps you should take to help yourself.

We will

• Contact you as soon as possible to discuss your problem so please respond to our calls or correspondence.
• Talk to an agency which gives debt advice (for example, Citizens' Advice), if you want us to.
• Give you reasonable time to pay back the debt.
• Only start proceedings to repossess your home if we cannot solve the problem with you.

We might be able to

• Arrange a new payment plan with you, taking your and our interests into account.
• Change the way you make your payments, or the date you make them.

If we cannot offer you any of these options, we will tell you why. If we can make one of these arrangements with you, we will explain how it would work and give you time to consider it. If we cannot offer any of these options, we might agree to you remaining in the property to sell it yourself depending on your circumstances.

What you can do to help us

• Tell us as soon as possible if you are having problems repaying your mortgage or think that you might experience problems shortly.
• Seek debt advice if you would like help with managing your finances.
• Contact us quickly, if we try to contact you.
• Make sure you keep any other people paying the mortgage, and anyone guaranteeing the mortgage, up to date with what is happening.
• Keep to the payment plan we agree with you, or tell us if there is a change in your circumstances which may affect the arrangement. If you do not make the agreed payments, we might have to go to court to get back any money you owe us, or to repossess your property.
• Check whether you can get any state benefits or tax credits which could help to increase your income.
• If you have an insurance policy, check whether it would help with your payments.
• Tell us if you move to a new address.

Getting advice

You may want to talk to a professional adviser, such as a debt counsellor or a lawyer, before you change your mortgage arrangements. We would strongly advise that you seek independent, free, debt advice.

You can get advice from:

Costs and charges

If you fail to make your payments as agreed by direct debit or if you are in arrears, we may charge you for reasonable administrative and legal costs. We will tell you the amount you will have to pay.

If we cannot agree on a solution

• We may agree to send a field agent to see you to discuss your financial circumstances, and the cost of the visit may be charged to your mortgage account.
• We may go to court to start proceedings to repossess your home. If proceedings take place, we strongly recommend that you attend the court and that you seek independent debt and legal advice.
• Starting court proceedings does not necessarily mean that we will repossess your home. We will keep trying to solve the problem with you. Possession is a last resort.
• Before we repossess your home, we will give you advice about getting in touch with your local authority to see if they can find you somewhere else to live.

If we repossess your home

• We will sell it for the best price we can reasonably get. We will try to sell it as soon as possible.
• We will give you reasonable time to take your possessions from your home.
• We will use the money raised from selling your home to pay your mortgage and any other loans or charges.
• If there is any money left over, we will pay it to you.

If selling your home does not raise enough money to pay off the mortgage

• If there is not enough money from the sale to pay the whole mortgage, you will still owe us the amount that is left (a shortfall debt). We will tell you what this is as soon as possible.
• If you bought your home with other borrowers, each of you is responsible for all the money borrowed. This is true even if you normally only pay part of the mortgage.
• We will contact you within six years of selling your property (five years in Scotland) to arrange for you to pay back what you still owe.
• We will take account of your income and outgoings when we arrange a payment plan for this shortfall debt with you. But if we cannot arrange a suitable plan, we may go to court to get our money back. You might have to pay additional court costs.
• If a shortfall debt is not paid, it could affect whether you are able to get credit in future.

Additional Information on Payment Difficulties:

for customers with Buy to Let mortgages

• Our approach to customers having payment difficulties with Buy to Let mortgages is slightly different compared to customers who are owner occupiers. These are considered to be loans to assist with the investment objectives of customers and not for the purpose of using the property as their own primary residence.
• Therefore the Bank will treat any such cases with a more commercial approach than in the case of owner-occupiers, while at the same time we will still work sympathetically and fairly with any of our Buy to Let customers who are experiencing difficulty in making their mortgage payments and will try to develop a schedule for repayment of the debt that is acceptable to both you and us.
• In addition to the above, where we cannot agree a solution, this may result in the Bank seeking collection of the rents directly from the tenants, in some circumstances via a receiver in accordance with the Law of Property Act 1925.

Complaints

At Heritable Bank Plc - In Administration each of our customers is important to us, and we believe you have the right to a fair, swift and courteous service at all times.

We welcome your feedback as it gives us the opportunity to put the situation right, restore your faith in us and improve our customer service in the future.
We will provide you with full information at the outset on how to make a complaint and what to do if you are unhappy with our response.

We manage complaints to Financial Service Authority (FSA) regulatory standards and comply with Treating Customers Fairly guidelines.

Internal Complaints Procedure

If we are unable to resolve your complaint straight away, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days of receipt.

We take your complaint seriously and will investigate each of your concerns thoroughly, in a fair and impartial manner.

Our aim will be to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and we may contact you to obtain further information and keep you updated on progress on a regular basis.

We will explain our position clearly and in easily understandable language ensuring that we reply to each point that you have raised.

In most cases you will receive a Final Response within 4 weeks of us receiving your complaint. However, in the unlikely event that we have been unable to complete our investigation and provide a response within 4 weeks, we will write to you with an update, explaining the reasons for the delay, along with details of when you can expect to receive our response.

• Customer information Complaints Handling (general version)

If you remain dissatisfied or in the unlikely event of us not issuing our Final Response within 8 weeks, you have the option to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Should you wish to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (which must take place within 6 months of receiving our Final Response), the relevant contact details are:

The Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR

Telephone 0300 1239123
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The Financial Ombudsman Service will only be able to consider your complaint after you have either received our final response or eight weeks have elapsed since your complaint was received, whichever is the earlier.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage