Three-quarters of people who missed payments without agreeing a break with their lender are concerned it will impact their ability to get a future mortgage, found the study by Pepper Money with YouGov.
The lender said the situation presents an opportunity for mortgage advisers to help restore people’s confidence in future borrowing.
Four per cent of the 4,151 adults surveyed said they had missed a credit payment in the last six months and half of those people have missed several consecutive payments.
The lender suggested this meant about 2.1 million people had missed a credit payment in the last six months.
Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money (pictured), said: “Covid-19 has been a disruptive influence on the finances of millions of people and official statistics have reflected the popularity of schemes like the mortgage payment holidays, which required customers to contact their lender to arrange a deferral of their payments.
“However, this research shows that many customers have missed credit payments as a result of Covid-19 without a pre-agreed payment holiday in place and three quarters of this group are concerned that it will negatively impact their ability to secure a mortgage in the future.”
He added: “There are many lenders that can take a considered and pragmatic view of mortgage applications from customers who have missed payments as the result of a significant life event, and there are few life events as significant as a global pandemic.”
