"We recently added the option of a mortgage payment holiday, which we had not previously offered, and now we are providing additional relief"
The bank will offer short term support through reduced or deferred payments for mortgages, with longer term support through extending the remaining mortgage term, switching rates or switching part or all to interest-only mortgage arrangements.
The support package now includes a mortgage payment holiday, which was not previously offered to help borrowers in financial difficulty.
Last Friday, HSBC announced a reduction of 0.15% on its standard variable rate mortgage following the second Base Rate reduction by the Bank of England. It had previously agreed to pass on the full 0.50%.
Additionally, from tomorrow all bank account and Advance account customers will receive a temporary £300 interest free buffer (which is the equivalent of the weekly National Living Wage) on their current account.
Customers can also access fixed rate savings accounts with no closure charges and a temporary increase in credit card and overdraft limits.
Tracie Pearce, HSBC UK’s director of retail banking said: “We are here for our customers in these truly extraordinary times. While we put in place a package of support for customers across a number of product areas, we recently added the option of a mortgage payment holiday, which we had not previously offered, and now we are providing additional relief on overdrafts for millions of our current account customers. This will provide some welcome short term cashflow support at this crucial time.”
