Practical help managing your mortgage

There may be times when you need support to manage your mortgage. You may be struggling to talk to someone, or your circumstances could have changed and you need help managing your finances for a while.

 
We're here to help you decide which is the best option for you.

There are many reasons why someone may need help managing their mortgage – here are some examples:

  • Long term illness
  • Life events such as a bereavement, divorce or redundancy
  • Language barrier
  • Low confidence in managing finances
  • Help with alternative formats to aid sight, hearing or speech

We understand that each situation and challenge is personal so we’ve put together some examples of what help is available.

Third Party Authority

If you want us to talk to someone else regarding your mortgage, we’re happy to do this – you could choose a professional, a charity, a family member or a friend to help. You’ll just need to give us authority to speak to them – this is called ‘granting third party authority’.

The person you choose can talk to us about your mortgage, but will not be able to make any changes to your mortgage. If you’d like someone to make changes to your mortgage on your behalf you would need a power of attorney rather than a third party authority.

Once you have decided who you would like to help you manage your mortgage simply let us know in one of the following ways:

  1. Logon to your hub and complete the Third Party Authority Form Download the form and send it to:Bank of Ireland
    Mortgage Services
    PO Box 3191
    Bristol
    BS1 9HYIf you haven’t got a printer, ask us to send one to you.
  2. Call us on 0345 300 8000* and give us your authority over the phone.

We’ll need authority from everyone named on the mortgage. Each named person can contact us in the most suitable way for them – via your hub, post or phone.

We’ll get in touch with the third party once we’ve received the form.
*Calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Lines are open 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday. We’re closed on Bank Holidays. 03 calls cost no more than calls to geographic numbers (01 or 02). Calls from landlines and mobiles are included in free call packages.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you, the donor, appoint one or more people to help you make decisions together or on your behalf. The appointed person(s) are granted Power of Attorney (POA).

Appointing someone as your attorney

Use the following links to find out more:

Documents we’ll need

Once POA has been granted and registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, please send us either:

  • The digital access code that’s supplied if the POA was set up online. We’ll use this to check the POA details on the government website*.

Or if you don’t have a digital access code:

  • An original or certified copy of the POA certificate. This must be posted to us at Bank of Ireland, PO Box 3191, Bristol, BS1 9HY.

We’ll also need the following from the person who has been granted POA:

  1. An original or certified copy of identification (ID)
  2. An original or certified copy of proof of address
  3. Confirmation whether they’ll be paying the mortgage on your behalf as we’ll need to ask some additional questions*.

* You can give us the access code and details whether the POA will pay the mortgage on your behalf by sending us a message via your hub, emailing mortgage.services@boi.com or calling us on 0345 300 8000**.

  • Acceptable forms of ID and address

    Proof of person

    • Full UK/EU passport – not more than 10 years old
    • Old style UK driving licence – not more than 51 years old
    • Full or provisional driving licence – not more than 10 years old
    • Disabled persons card with photo & reference – not more than 10 years old
    • Pension/Allowance/Benefit book – must show full name, be valid and in date
    • Shotgun/Firearm certificate – must be valid and in date
    • Tax coding notice – not more than 13 months old
    • Northern Ireland voters card – not more than 10 years old.

    Proof of current address

    • Utility bill. Acceptable bills are electricity, gas, water and phone, but not mobile phone bills – not more than 3 months old
    • Council tax bill – not more than 13 months old
    • Solicitor letter confirming completion – not more than 3 months old
    • Credit card/Bank statement – not more than 3 months old
    • Mortgage statement – not more than 13 months old.

    We recommend posting us certified copies of these documents so that your originals don’t get lost. They can’t be faxed or emailed to us. We’ll accept black & white copies which have been correctly certified by a person working in one of the professions below. There may be a charge for this.

    Once we have your copies, they’ll be saved to your account. As we don’t send them back, they’ll be destroyed securely.

    If you choose to send us the originals, we recommend they’re posted using recorded delivery. We’ll also use recorded delivery to return them.

    Your documents should be posted to Bank of Ireland, PO Box 3191, Bristol, BS1 9HY with your mortgage account number as a reference.

     

    How to certify documents correctly

    We accept certified documents from the professions below. The person being verified can’t certify their own documents or have them certified by a close relative.

    • Accountant
    • Barrister
    • Solicitor
    • Bank or building society official
    • Commissioner of Oaths
    • Justice of the Peace
    • FSA / Registered Broker / Introducer
    • Embassy, Consulate or High Commission of the country of issue
    • Attorney at law
    • You can also use the documentation certification service at the Post Office. Information on this can be found by visiting postoffice.co.uk/identity/document-certification

    The person certifying must write the following on each of the copies:

    Either of these statements:

    • I certify this is a true copy of the original document
    • True certified copy of the original document
    • Certified copy of original, original document seen

    And must include:

    • Their signature
    • The date of the certification
    • Their full name
    • Their business stamp if they have one, if not the company name and address
    • A contact phone number

     

 

**Calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Lines are open 9am–5pm Monday to Friday. We’re closed on Bank Holidays. 03 calls cost no more than calls to geographic numbers (01 or 02). Calls from landlines and mobiles are included in free call packages.

If you need information to be sent in an alternative format then we’re happy to help.

  • Sight: We can arrange for any correspondence to be sent in braille, audio or large print. All transactions can be done over the phone
  • Hearing / Speech: You can use Relay UK to contact us
  • Hub Messaging: Send us a secure message through your hub
  • Request third party authority if you would prefer someone to help manage your mortgage.

We know that managing your finances online isn’t always easy. That’s why we have put together a guide to using your hub. Our guide gives you lots of information including hints and tips on:

Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage