Coronavirus: help and support
We’re here to support you if you have been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19)
If you are a business owner, we have a dedicated coronavirus support for business area for you.
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If you are struggling to make your monthly payments, you can use our support tool to find the right support for you. This can help you to see where your money goes and what you can ask us for support with, including:
- A payment holiday to help you manage your money
- A plan to help you pay off any amount you’re behind by
- Give you the time and space to get some free independent help and advice
- Set up a repayment plan to get you back on track.
Payment holidays are not for everyone. It is important you understand the implications of all options available before you make the decision on what is right for you.
A payment holiday is subject to approval. If accepted, you won’t need to make the usual repayment amount for up to 3 months, this could be a reduced amount or your full monthly payment. You can only take up to 3 months at a time (6 months in total). The amount you owe will go up and you will pay more interest overall.
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.
We offer payment holidays on:
- Mortgages
During your payment holiday, we’ll still add interest to your mortgage. At the end of the payment holiday, the amount you pay each month will go up, this is to cover the payments and interest charges you’ll miss while you take a break. Learn more about payment holidays for your Bank of Scotland mortgage or your Halifax mortgage including how to apply online.
- Credit cards
If your payment is due now and you can’t make the minimum payment, we won't charge a late payment fee or remove any promotional interest rates in the short term.
- Loans
If your loan repayment is due within the next 7 working days, you will still need to make this payment and any repayment holiday you are given will start the following month. If you have a joint loan, any repayment holiday will be given to both of you. If your repayment is due now and you’re unable to make the repayment, we won't charge you a fee.
Our support tool helps you explore options for your credit card or loan payment holiday.
There's no need to cancel your direct debit. But if you have, you need to make sure you can start repayments again after the repayment holiday. You can do this by re-instating your direct debit.
- Car finance
At the end of the payment holiday we will work out how much extra you need to pay, based on the interest rate shown in your agreement. This means you will pay more as you take longer to pay back the amount you borrowed. We will add this amount to your agreement. To request a payment holiday log into your online car finance account and follow the instructions. Find out more.
- Home Insurance
Please contact us on 0345 122 1511 or go to our home insurance page to discuss how we can best help you, for example by offering a payment holiday or reviewing your level of cover.
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.
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.
- A payment holiday to help you manage your money
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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.
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Support for your personal current account
Application Deadline Extended to 31st December 2020
We are here to support our customers during the impact of coronavirus and if you are going to struggle we are still here to help. It might be that you have or expect to have a temporary loss or reduction in income for you or other members of your household because of coronavirus. If so, you can ask to have a temporary interest-free amount of up to £500 for 3 months on your personal current account arranged overdraft. To help support you during this difficult time, we have extended the deadline to apply for this support until 31st December 2020.
To ask for a temporary 3-month period of up to £500 interest-free on your arranged overdraft, please apply on or before 31st December 2020. If you need further support, or help with completing this form, then please contact us.
If you have previously benefitted from a temporary interest free waiver on your personal current account arranged overdraft due to coronavirus, you can apply again, but if you are currently receiving this support you must wait until your current support ends. You must apply on or before the 31st December 2020 deadline.
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.
- Using our mobile banking app, select ‘Overdraft’ from your bank account menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
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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.
- Combining borrowing to reduce monthly payments or the amount you pay overall.
- Changing the term of your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment or pay off faster to reduce the interest you pay overall.
- 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.
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.
Bank securely from home
Log in to Internet Banking today
A safe and easy way to bank right now is through Internet Banking and our Mobile Banking app.
Benefits of Internet Banking
Here are just some of the things you can do securely online:
- View – your balance and transactions any time, on any device.
- Pay – your bills and send money to people, including those outside the UK. You can also pay in cheques using our app.
- Manage – your direct debits and standing orders. Freeze transactions using our app to control how your cards are used.
Get free help on how to use the internet
How are our services affected?
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Most of our branches are open but occasionally we may have to temporarily close a branch. Check our branch locator to find out the opening hours of your local branch.
To protect you and our colleagues, we’ve put social distancing measures in place in our branches so you can bank with us safely. You will also be asked to wear a face covering unless you’re unable to do so. When you visit, we may ask you to wait outside if it’s busy and things may take a little more time to complete, but we’ll help you as quickly as we can, so please bear with us.
You can also do your everyday banking at your local Post Office. You can check your balance, make withdrawals and pay cash or cheques into your current account at Post Office counters. Make sure you check their website for up-to-date information about opening hours.
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So that we can support those in the most vulnerable situations, please use the numbers below if your enquiry is urgent. Our call wait times are much longer than normal.
Call us on 0345 721 3141 (or +44 1313374218 if you’re calling from abroad) to access your accounts using our quick and easy 24/7 automated service and our advisers are available 7am to 11pm if you need to speak to someone. If you aren’t already registered, we can help you start the registration process to make it easy for you in the future.
Alternatively, call us direct from your Mobile Banking app. As you’re already securely logged in, there's no need to remember any passwords. Learn more about calling from the app.
You can call us on 0345 850 1022 to register for our voice ID service.
We have set up a dedicated phone number for customers aged 70 and over. You can find the number in either the letter or email we sent, or from one of our colleagues in branch. If you’re a nominated trusted person you can also ask for the number in branch.
You can still use our Internet and Mobile Banking services.
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If you have booked travel and your flights or holiday have been cancelled, you may be able to get your money back. This can be done through a number of ways:
Contact your travel provider
The company you booked with may be able to help. To resolve any travel disputes please contact the merchant in the first instance and check their website for helpful information.
Below are links to the web pages for the main travel providers used by our customers, which may help you further. We’ve also included the links for their coronavirus web pages, however we suggest you ensure you look at information across all of their web pages to understand how they can best help you.
Bank of Scotland is not responsible for the content or function of third party websites.
Ways we may be able to help
If you're struggling to get a refund from the travel provider, you can use our handy travel disruption tool to see some of the options available to you.
We know that this is a very confusing time, so we’ve answered some of your frequently asked travel questions to help make things simpler.
If you paid with a Bank of Scotland debit card and use our Android app, you can now use our handy travel disruption tool within Mobile Banking.
You can do this by logging onto your app then following the below 3 steps:
- Go to your statement screen and select the transaction that you would like to dispute (e.g. the payment made for your holiday).
- Click ‘Help with this transaction’ at the bottom of the pop-up screen.
- Select the question ‘Holiday no longer going ahead? Find out if you can get your money back’ to use our travel disruption tool.
If you didn’t pay using a Bank of Scotland debit card or don’t use our Android app, you can still use our handy travel disruption tool online.
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We’ve extended the length of time you can leave your property empty for. Usually it shouldn’t be left empty for more than 30 days (60 days for some policies). However, if your property is empty for longer due to the coronavirus outbreak (for example if you’re stuck abroad or staying with family) we will still cover your property for as long as it takes for the situation to be resolved.
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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.
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Your money is safe in your account. We’ll never call, text or email to tell you to move money to another account, or ask for your banking details.
Fraudsters are using coronavirus to try out new scams. They're selling items online like face masks, testing kits and hand sanitisers that are fake or don't exist. Before you buy anything online, check reviews to make sure a seller is genuine. And pay by card as it helps to protect your money if there’s a problem.
Look out for other scams by email, phone and text that offer advice, a test or a cure for the virus. The NHS Test and Trace service is now running and it’s free. If the NHS get in touch, they won't ask you to pay or for your banking details.
You can protect yourself by using the following steps:
- Hang up the phone – Fraudsters can pretend to be your bank or other companies you trust. We’ll never call from the number on the back of your card. If you’re not sure who is calling, hang up.
- Make sure it’s genuine – Even if you know who sent a message, be careful with one that arrives out of the blue. Check that it’s genuine before you reply. Call the sender on a number you trust, not one from an email or text.
- Click with care – Only click on a link in a message if you know it's safe and trust the sender. We’ll never send you a link to log on or ask you to give your personal or banking details.
Here are a few more tips to help you stay safe from scams:
- Protect your devices – Update all your devices as soon as updates are available. Know where your device is at all times and lock it when it’s not in use.
- Protect your passwords – Create a new, strong password for every account you use. It’s best to choose three random words and add numbers or special characters to make it hard to guess. And keep it private.
- Share with care – Take care with what you share on social media. Always keep your personal and banking details private.
You can find out more on how to stay safe from scams on our Fraud Hub.
Frequent questions from our customers
We’ve answered common questions on cancelled events, payments and more.
Important information
Calls may be monitored or recorded in case we need to check we have carried out your instructions correctly and to help improve our quality of service. Not all telephone banking services are available 24 hours, 7 days a week. Please speak to an adviser for more information.
Bank of Scotland Credit Cards are issued by Bank of Scotland plc, Registered in Scotland No.SC327000. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration no. 169628.