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When to start looking at finances?

Squeak
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Hi,

my husband is about to start immunotherapy. Of course no one knows how he will react but he currently has no symptoms at all from the cancer. He may get side effects that completely change his lifestyle and have to stop working or the treatment doesn't work and eventually he'll become gravely ill and I will be looking after him.

Currently he is working full time and I work alongside him. Once he is unable to work both our incomes go.

We had already decided to move house and downsize to pay off the morgage before this all came about in May but it's taken longer than I thought to sort the house and garden with everything else going on. (My dad has also just been diagnosed with cancer and we have 3 adult sons at home. One is just about to move out. One is working full time. One has a few issues but is looking for work).

I have looked at the info in here re dealing with finances etc and am pretty organised with our finances. No other debts apart from morgage. I know we can most likely take a morgage holiday when it comes to it.

At what point should I contact morgage company, utilities etc? Should I just wait and see what happens first?

My biggest concern is that he will suddenly have to stop working and we'll be struggling to pay our bills and put food on the table. He is pension age but I am not. I have looked into benefits but it doesn't look like we would be elgible for much until nearer the end.

Many thanks
Squeak

  • Thanks for your question  . Firstly, I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s diagnosis but all credit to you for thinking ahead financially and being so organised.


    You could contact your mortgage lender in advance to ask what options would be available if you were going to struggle with payments, it’s a normal thing to call about even if you’re not anticipating a drop in income. It’s completely up to you whether you disclose any details of your husband’s health, but your lender may have a specialist support team for people dealing with illness.

    Payment holidays could be an option, they may also offer interest-only periods or accept reduced payments for a while. It’s important to ask them how these different things can affect your credit file, future mortgage payments or ability to change interest rates in the future if you chose to stay in the property.

    If you were to call them closer to the time of struggling with your payments, they may ask you to complete an income and expenditure form. This could be a good exercise to do anyway to help assess your spending. There’s a budget planner here on the MoneyHelper website, which is run by the Money & Pensions Service.

    If you’d like to speak to somebody in more detail, you can call for free on 0808 808 0000 (option 1, 2, 1). The Financial Guides are open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm. We can also help with other areas such as pensions, insurance policies, will writing, debts and other personal finances.

    The Macmillan Support Line also has Welfare Rights advisors who you could speak to about potential benefit & grant entitlements should you both lose your incomes. They can tell you about eligibility criteria for claiming and then you will have the knowledge in advance, as well as being aware of how to claim. They can be contacted Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat-Sun 9am-5pm on 0808 808 0000 (option 1, 2, 2).

     

     

     Kind regards,

    James

    Financial Guide

  • in reply to James - Macmillan

    Thanks very much James. These are good things to ponder. We are already on an interest only morgage (long story). I think I'll wait and see what happens with the treatment and bear all this in mind.

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