What’s the difference between my mortgage and unsecured loan?

Your mortgage is secured against your property, whereas an unsecured loan is not. Your mortgage may be made up of more than one loan, which we call sub accounts. You could have more than one sub account because you took out a further advance on your mortgage. Each sub account has its own account number.

Your mortgage is a priority bill. This is because of the consequences if you don’t keep up with the payments. If you fall behind on your payments, we may ask the court for possession of your property and you may lose your home. If you’re struggling with your mortgage payments, you can find more information on the support we can offer in the Mortgage worries section of our Support page.

Examples of other priority bills are council tax, gas or electricity, court fines and child maintenance. If you’re struggling with the payments on your priority bills you may find it helpful to speak to a debt advisor.

A debt advisor will look at your overall financial position and recommend ways to deal with your debts (including your outstanding mortgage balance). They won’t tell anyone you’ve spoken to them unless you instruct them to act on your behalf and speaking to them won’t affect your credit score. Many people say they have their first good night’s sleep in months after speaking with a debt advisor*.

*Source – StepChange Debt Charity – June 2023

Your unsecured loan isn’t secured against your property. This means it is not a priority bill as you won’t lose your home if you fall behind on the payments on your loan.

If you’re struggling with the payments on your unsecured loan with us or other unsecured debts, you may find it helpful to speak to a debt advisor.

You can find more information about the debt advice organisations we work closely with in the Independent support section of our Support page.

If you previously fell behind on the payments on your unsecured loan, we may have obtained a County Court Judgment (CCJ) and asked the court to grant us a charging order against your property. If we did this, the loan is now secured against your property and is a priority bill. Our solicitors and the court would have sent you paperwork to tell you that we had done this. If you’re not sure, you can call us on 0330 159 7152 and we’ll let you know. Phone lines are open Monday to Friday 08:30am – 6:00pm.