High street banks have offered their support to those affected by the floods.

RBS has announced that RBS and NatWest mortgage customers with flooded homes may be able to apply for a three month mortgage repayment holiday.

In addition, the bank will send specialist business support teams to affected areas in the coming weeks to help SMEs with short term financial problems as they conduct urgent repair work and deal with loss of trading income.

These moves are in addition to the RBS/NatWest £250m UK Storm Business Fund announced in January that can provide short-term, interest-free financing to help speed recovery for businesses affected by recent floods and gales. The fund is available to all businesses, not just those that are customers of RBS and NatWest. Full details of the mortgage repayment holiday will be made available tomorrow.

RBS CEO Ross McEwan said: “Thousands of families and businesses will battle short-term financial difficulties as they work to recover from the floods. RBS will stand by our customers and help them in any way we can. I hope the steps we are taking will make a meaningful difference to the communities that are working so hard to manage through the floods and then recover from them.”

Relevant links:
http://www.natwest.com/global/support-for-floods.ashx
http://www.rbs.co.uk/global/support-for-floods.ashx

Nationwide customers can contact its emergency support teams, which are on hand and ready to help.

Mortgage borrowers who need help with their mortgage repayments should contact 0845 6011184.

Customers with Nationwide home insurance who have questions regarding their cover or wish to make a claim on their buildings and contents insurance should contact 0845 8351054. The mutual says its insurance partner has people on the ground in affected areas and on the phones ready to help customers make a claim.

Nationwide current account customers are able to ask for a temporary overdraft or an increase in their overdraft limit to cover emergency expenses. They should contact 0845 6011184.

Antonio Simoes, head of HSBC in the UK, said: “We understand the huge strain the floods are placing on our business and personal customers in affected areas and we want to make sure we are providing the support that they need now and in the future.

“We recognise that the consequences of the floods will be long lasting and we will continue to provide the financial support and flexibility our customers need.”

HSBC is offering customers impacted by the floods the following financial support:

• It will provide increased financial flexibility to its customers, such as fast-track credit acceptance, and loan and overdraft extensions.
• It will lend to customers according to their needs and not constrained by any overall cap
• It will consider a loan repayment holiday of up to three months.
• It will extend flexibility to waive or reduce arrangement fees on loans and overdrafts.
• It will remove limits on emergency payments for insurance customers to ensure they receive immediate support to repair flood damage.

In addition:

• HSBS says it has been calling its agricultural customers impacted by flooding to ensure they have the support they need.
• It is working with latest mapping technologies to try to identify properties at risk of flooding and proactively make contact with customers to offer support.
• Insurance claim loss adjusters have been posted to some of the worst-hit areas, such as Somerset and the Thames Valley to ensure claims can be processed quickly.
• Its personal insurance call centres have been working additional hours to ensure calls and claims are dealt with in real time where possible – with most calls answered within 20 seconds, it said.