TRICIA PHILLIPS
Q
IF I take a mortgage holiday due to coronavirus will it affect my credit rating? I keep hearing different answers to this.
A
TAKING a mortgage holiday should be a last resort. If your provider agrees to the payment holiday then, yes, it could affect your credit score and could reduce your chance of getting credit in the future.
Q A
THANKS to the ‘triple lock’, the state pension increase will still go ahead in April, rising by 3.9%.
This means the rate for the new state pension will increase in April from £168.80 to £175.20 a week, or to £9,110.40 a year.
Those on the older style pension will see their pensions rise from £129.20 to £134.25 per week.
Q
MY SON got offered a new job. He finished his old one in February and was due to start the new role at the end of March – but it was in a restaurant and they have now shut. Neither of the firms say they can help him financially now. Is there anything he can do?
A A Q
WE ARE in the process of buying a new house and we were due to sort out an exchange date in the next couple of weeks. Will we be able to put this off to a later date in the year?
I’M SURE you can do this. Exchange of contracts is the point at which a property transaction becomes legally binding. Which means you are contractually bound to the sale/purchase on the agreed completion date which could be later in the year. I’d speak to your conveyancer and others involved because they may be keen to push things back too.