The Mortgage Charter, re-issued for 2026

What signatory lenders can offer you, in the Charter's own words, if your mortgage payment has become hard to meet.

Compare four routes, side by side See the four routes compared on your figures

A six-month switch to interest-only, or a one-off extension of the term

When a monthly payment becomes hard to meet, a lender who has signed the Mortgage Charter is not expected to improvise. The Charter names two specific changes it can offer a borrower who is up to date with payments, and sets a limit on how often each can be used.

Switching to interest-only for six months

For six months, the payment covers only the interest on the balance. The monthly payment falls because none of it is going towards paying down what is owed. At the end of the six months, payments return to covering capital and interest again unless something further has been agreed with the lender.

Extending the term

Extending the term spreads the remaining balance over more years, which lowers the monthly payment. The balance itself does not change, and interest keeps being charged for however much longer the mortgage now runs. Where the new end date passes the borrower's expected retirement age, that is its own question for the lender to ask, covered separately on extending past retirement.

Once each, with six months to change your mind

Under the Mortgage Charter, a borrower who is up to date can switch to interest-only for six months or extend the term, once, and change back within six months (HM Treasury, read 3 October 2026). Reverting is not automatic. What it involves, and what changed in the rules that govern it, is set out on changing it back.

Either route changes the monthly payment now and the total interest paid over the life of the mortgage. The mortgage extension calculator shows both figures side by side, worked out on your own balance, rate and remaining term, though it cannot show lender fees, early repayment charges or how rates might move.

These are the two routes the Charter names. If you are looking at other ways to bring your payment down, four routes can be compared on your own figures in four routes, side by side.

Before you rely on it

Check whether the Charter applies to your mortgage

The Mortgage Charter's one-off options only apply where three things are true about your mortgage. Check each one before assuming a signatory lender has to offer them to you.

  • Your lender has signed the Charter

    A lender that has not signed the Charter is free to offer something similar, but it is not bound by the Charter's terms and can set its own conditions.

  • Your mortgage is residential

    The Charter's commitments apply to residential mortgages; buy-to-let mortgages fall outside them (GOV.UK, read 3 October 2026).

  • You are up to date with your payments

    The Charter's options are offered to borrowers who have not missed a payment. A borrower already in arrears is dealt with under separate rules instead.

  • You have not already used the one-off option

    The term extension or interest-only switch is available once under the Charter. A second request falls outside it and depends on what the lender agrees separately.

  • The option you want is one the Charter actually covers

    A lender's signatory status does not mean it offers every combination of term length or interest-only period a borrower might ask for.

Confirming signatory status and payment history is something your lender can tell you directly; none of these conditions can be checked from the outside.

Checking whether your lender has signed up

The Mortgage Charter only applies where your lender has signed it. Signing is voluntary, and a lender that has not signed is under no obligation to offer the Charter's options, whatever a borrower reads about them elsewhere.

Where to check

HM Treasury keeps the list of signatory lenders as part of the Charter itself, published on GOV.UK. Your lender's own website, or a call to their mortgage team, will also confirm whether they have signed and what they offer under it, since a signatory can offer more than the Charter's floor but not less.

If your lender has not signed

A non-signatory lender can still agree a term extension or a switch to interest-only payments with you directly. The difference is that none of the Charter's specific protections apply automatically: the one-off no-affordability-check extension, the six-month interest-only switch, and the guarantee that it will not affect your credit score are Charter terms.

Where a lender is not a signatory, any support offered sits under their own policies or under the formal hardship rules in MCOB 13, the FCA's Mortgage Conduct of Business sourcebook, which apply once a borrower is in financial difficulty. The mortgage lender directory on this site lists signatory lenders so you can check your own lender's status before relying on Charter terms. The mortgage extension calculator can still show you the monthly payment and total interest for extending a term or switching to interest-only, whether or not your lender is a signatory, though the credit-file and affordability treatment will depend on which route your lender actually offers.