Coronavirus: help and support

Priority phone line for NHS workers

To help ease the waiting time for our NHS workers, we have set up a priority phone line so you can speak to someone as quickly as possible.

If you are an NHS worker, you should have received a letter from us with details of the phone number. If you have not received this or misplaced the letter, you can ask for the number in branch.

Additional personal belongings cover on contents

For NHS and care workers we’ll cover your personal belongings that are damaged, lost or stolen whilst working or commuting under your standard contents policy, at no extra cost during the pandemic. 

You're eligible for this cover if:

• You hold a current contents home insurance policy, and you or a member of your family living with you is an NHS staff member or care worker.
  

What is the additional cover provided?

• Your personal belongings will be covered whilst you’re working and when you’re commuting to and from work.
• Items covered are any personal items owned by you that are worn, used or carried by you in your everyday life.
• Personal belongings will be covered until the 30th September 2021.

What to do if I need to claim?

• Please notify us that you or a family member are an NHS or care worker.
• You may be asked for a form of identification to verify your claim. You may also be asked for proof of ownership such as a receipt or photo in line with our normal claims process.

For more information about making a claim see our help and guidance page. You can also make a claim online with our online claims form.
 

Support if you are struggling to make payments

Mortgages

If you have a Bank Of Scotland mortgage, please visit our Bank of Scotland support page for further help and guidance. Alternatively, if you have a Halifax mortgage, you can use our Halifax Mortgage Support Tool to find the right support for you. 

Loans & Credit Cards

If you are struggling to make your monthly payments, you can use our support tool to find the right support for you. 

Car Finance

For further help and guidance on support available for car finance, you will need to log in to your online car finance account.

Home Insurance

Please contact us on 0345 122 1511 or go to our home insurance page to discuss how we can best help you. 

Please visit our Money Worries page to find out more ways we may be able to help you. Additionally, the Money Advice Service Money Navigator Tool also gives instant help based on what you tell it about your circumstances.

End of your payment holiday

You may be coming close to the end of your payment holiday period. Remember there is no need to contact us, we’ll be in touch before your current payment holiday ends on how we can help.

If you’re in a position to resume your payments after your break, we strongly recommend that you do so to keep the amount of interest you pay as low as possible. If you are worried about being able to restart your full payments, there are ways we can help you.

Mortgages

Car finance 

Our support tool helps you explore your options at the end of your credit card or loan payment holiday.

Payment Protection Insurance 

If you have Payment Protection Insurance you may be able to claim under your policy if you are unable to work due to sickness or unemployment. Visit our Payment Protection Insurance page for details.

If you are facing, or expect to face, financial difficulties, you can find help and support available on our money worries page. For further support, you can find out more about other free independent advice.

You can call our dedicated team for information and support which may include applying a temporary interest freeze, setting up a repayment plan or refinancing your debt.

Overdraft limit increase

If you need to increase your existing arranged overdraft limit, you don’t need to call us – you can apply online.

• Using our mobile banking app, select ‘Overdraft’ from your bank account menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
  
• Using Internet Banking, just log in and select ‘More actions’ on the bank account that you have the arranged overdraft set up on. Then select ‘Overdrafts’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

Please find more information about our Internet Banking or help on signing up .

Apply for an arranged overdraft

If you want to apply for an overdraft, you can do this online.

• Using our mobile banking app, select ‘Overdraft’ from your bank account menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
  
• Using Internet Banking, select ‘Our products and services’, then ‘Overdraft’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

You may have borrowing across a range of products such as mortgages, arranged overdrafts, loans, store cards and credit cards. A regular review can be really helpful for managing your money as effectively as possible. There are a few options available which may help, subject to eligibility.

1. Combining borrowing to reduce monthly payments or the amount you pay overall.
2. Changing the term of your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment or pay off faster to reduce the interest you pay overall.
3. Switching to a new mortgage deal with a lower interest rate, to reduce the monthly amount you pay.

 1. Combining borrowing to reduce monthly payments or the amount you pay overall

If you have multiple borrowing products like store cards, credit cards, personal loans or arranged overdrafts it may help to consolidate them into a single product with a single monthly payment. This will help you budget more easily as you won’t need to worry about multiple payments. It could also reduce the amount you pay monthly and the amount of interest paid overall – but it’s important to understand how much interest you are paying in relation to each.

Sometimes combining all borrowing into one or extending a product term can reduce how much you pay each month, but could result in you paying more interest overall.

Balance Transfer

• If you have multiple credit cards, it may help to keep all your credit balances in one place and transfer high interest balances to a card with a lower rate. There may be a fee to transfer. Our balance transfer page.

Debt Consolidation/Refinance 

• Consolidating your debt under one loan may help as unlike a store card, credit card or arranged overdraft, a loan gives you a clear date that your borrowing will be paid off by. More information about debt consolidation. 
• If you are a Bank of Scotland or Halifax mortgage customer and have larger borrowing needs to consolidate, you might be able to apply for additional borrowing on your mortgage. Similar to an unsecured loan, you’ll have one monthly payment and a clear date of when your borrowing will be paid off. Information about additional borrowing.
  

You could lose your home if you don’t keep up your mortgage repayments.

2. Changing the term of your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment or pay off faster to reduce the interest you pay overall

You can ask to change the mortgage term from what we originally agreed with you. This might be because:

• You think you can afford to pay more and would like to pay off your mortgage sooner, reducing the interest you pay over the life of your mortgage.
  Note: if you are in a fixed term mortgage there may be early repayment charges, so you need to work out what is most appropriate for you.
  or;
• You want to reduce your monthly payments by extending your mortgage term. You will need to get our agreement to do this.

Extending your mortgage term can reduce your monthly cost, but remember by repaying your mortgage over a longer period this will however increase the amount of interest you pay overall. Find out more about how you can manage your mortgage.

3. Mortgage product transfers to reduce the monthly amount you pay

You may be able to switch to a cheaper deal by applying for a Mortgage Product Transfer, early repayment charges may apply, visit our switching deals page for more information.

You could lose your home if you don’t keep up your mortgage repayments.

If you would like some suggestions on budgeting and planning for the future we have created a helpful page on how to make the most out of your money. 

If you need access to your savings held in a fixed term account, we will be waiving the charge.

To do this, we will need to close your account and transfer all the funds to a different account. For Junior Cash ISAs, the money in the account belongs to the child and cannot be accessed until the child turns 18. This means that withdrawals from Junior Cash ISAs are not permitted.

To access your savings, please call us and we will arrange for your money to be moved into an account of your choice.

Making a claim for a cancelled package holiday, flights or accommodation

If you’re struggling to get a refund from the travel provider, and you paid on a Bank of Scotland credit card, we may be able to help. Use our travel disruption tool to see the options available to you before making a claim.

Making a claim for anything else

We want to help you if you’ve had a problem with a transaction on your Credit Card. Maybe there’s something wrong with what you’ve bought or perhaps you’re still being charged for a service you no longer use.

Find out how to make a claim