You cannot keep up with the mortgage. What can you actually do?
Call the bank in the month you realise you are going to fall short, not after you have missed three payments. That is the short answer, and it is also where almost everyone goes wrong, because the instinct is to wait until a demand letter arrives before making contact.
What most borrowers do not know is that restructuring is not a favour you are asking for. Under the Bank of Thailand's Responsible Lending rules, in force since 1 January 2024, a lender must offer a borrower a restructuring plan at least once before the loan becomes non-performing and at least once after, before it sues, sells the debt on, or seizes the property.
Read that again, because it means you have two chances, and the first one only exists while you are still current. Wait until you are more than ninety days behind and you have burned the better of the two without using it.
Why hurry, when you can still cover another month or two?
Because what shrinks is not tied to how much you owe. It is tied to how many days you are behind.
| Where you are | What is still open to you |
|---|---|
| Nothing missed yet, but next month looks impossible | Full restructuring, a lower instalment, a longer term, or refinancing to another bank entirely, because your credit record is still clean |
| One or two payments behind | Restructuring under the pre-default rule still applies, but refinancing elsewhere gets hard, because the new bank can see the record |
| More than ninety days behind, now non-performing | One restructuring right left, on tighter terms, and usually requiring a lump sum up front |
| Proceedings have started | Mediation is still open, and you can still sell the house yourself if it has not been seized, but court and legal costs are now added to the balance |
| Seized and heading for auction | Mediation at the enforcement stage, or finding the money to clear the debt before the sale date, which most people cannot do in time |
The difference between the first row and the last is not money. It is time. Someone who talks to the bank before missing anything has a full table of options. Someone who waits until seizure has two things left that barely count as choices.
What restructuring actually looks like
The word sounds grand. In practice it means changing the terms of the loan to match the money you actually have right now. Banks use a handful of methods, and each has a different price attached.
| Method | What it does | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Extend the term | Stretches the loan over more years, so the monthly payment drops straight away | More total interest over the life of the loan, and it may run into the lender's age ceiling |
| Temporarily reduced instalments | You pay less for six to twelve months, then go back to the full amount | The shortfall is usually added back to the balance, so the payment after the relief period is heavier than before |
| Interest only, principal paused | The largest immediate drop in the monthly payment of any option | The principal does not move at all during that period. You are buying time with cash |
| A temporary rate reduction | Either the same payment clears more principal, or the payment falls to match the new rate | Banks grant it sparingly, and usually alongside a longer term |
| Consolidating other debts into the mortgage | Moves expensive card or personal loan debt onto the cheaper secured rate | Debt that was unsecured is now secured against your home. Miss a payment and the house is at risk |
The point to be clear about is that none of these makes debt disappear. They move it. The option that lowers this month's payment the most is usually the one that costs the most in the end. If the problem is a temporary gap, three months between jobs with a new one lined up, pausing the principal fits the problem. If income has dropped permanently, stretching the term until the payment is one you can genuinely meet every month is the honest answer.
One more thing worth knowing before you call: the Bank of Thailand's rules say restructuring must carry no fee, other than a genuine cost such as revaluing the security. If someone quotes you a lump sum processing charge, that is worth asking about in detail.
What to have ready before you call
The difference between the borrower who gets good terms and the one who gets tight terms is not who sounds more desperate. It is who can answer the bank's questions clearly, because what the bank has to decide is whether it believes the new payment is one you can really make.
- The monthly figure you can genuinely afford. Work it out beforehand rather than at the desk. Take net income, subtract what truly cannot be cut, and quote what is left. Understating it to leave yourself room gets the proposal rejected, because no amount of stretching reaches an impossible number.
- Why your income changed, and when it comes back. Redundancy, a pay cut, a business that stalled, illness in the family. This answer is what decides whether the bank offers you a temporary fix or a permanent one.
- Payslips or bank statements. Three to six months as a rule. If you are self-employed, the statements are the only evidence you have, so bring every account money actually lands in.
- A full list of your debts. House, car, cards, and informal borrowing if there is any. Hiding it achieves nothing since the credit bureau shows it anyway, and a plan built on incomplete numbers is a plan that fails in month three.
- Documents for whatever happened. A termination letter, a medical certificate, evidence the business stopped. Not every bank asks, but having them moves things along noticeably faster.
Ask for the name and direct number of whoever you speak to, and a reference number every time. A conversation with no trail is a conversation you start again from scratch when the staff member changes.
The channels that work for a mortgage, and the ones that do not
This is where people lose weeks. The Bank of Thailand runs several borrower assistance programmes with similar names, and they do not all cover home loans.
| Channel | Does it cover a mortgage? |
|---|---|
| Going to your lender directly to restructure | Yes, and this is the main route for a mortgage |
| The Bank of Thailand's debt assistance channel | Yes. Use it when the bank itself is not moving. It puts your case in front of the lender and requires them to come back to you |
| Debt Clinic | No. It covers credit cards, cash cards and unsecured personal loans only |
| The chronic debt closure programme | No. It is about revolving credit where interest has outrun principal for years |
| Pre-litigation and enforcement-stage mediation | Yes, but these are late stages, used once the matter is already in the system |
The short version: a mortgage is secured debt, so it falls outside the schemes designed for unsecured debt. Anyone who applies to the Debt Clinic because they cannot pay their mortgage will be turned down, having spent the weeks that mattered most.
If you genuinely cannot pay, selling beats being foreclosed on
This one is straightforward and people accept it late. Selling your own house on the open market and letting the bank seize it for auction are two different things in terms of what you end up with.
- You control the price and the timing. You set the asking price, you choose which offer to take, and you pick the transfer date. In an auction you have no say in any of the three.
- The buyers are a different crowd. Someone buying a house to live in pays according to what the house is worth. Someone bidding at auction is buying to resell, so they price from the margin they need, not from the value of the home.
- Anything left after the debt is yours. Sell for more than the outstanding balance and the difference comes back to you. The better the price, the more you walk away with to start again.
- You do not need a lump sum first. This trips people up. A mortgaged house can be sold: the mortgage is discharged at the land office on transfer day, using the buyer's money to clear the bank right there.
The mechanics of selling while still paying are in selling a mortgaged condominium and what to prepare. If you want to see how auction buyers think, buying an NPA versus bidding at a foreclosure auction makes it obvious why the prices differ so much.
If it comes to selling, sell while there is time. A house marketed with room to choose a buyer and a house that must be gone this month do not fetch the same price.
The one legal point worth opening your contract for
Plenty of people believe that once the house has been auctioned, that is the end of it: the debt is gone and you start again. There is a real basis for that belief. It is just incomplete.
Section 733 of the Civil and Commercial Code sets out that where mortgaged property is sold at auction and the net proceeds come to less than the outstanding debt, the debtor is not liable for the shortfall. Which sounds final.
But section 733 is not a provision of public order, so the parties can agree otherwise, and in practice a bank's mortgage contract commonly contains a clause saying that if the auction does not cover the debt the mortgagor accepts liability for the remainder. Such a clause is enforceable and is not void.
So the answer to "if I lose the house, is the debt gone?" is not in the statute. It is in the mortgage contract you signed on transfer day. Dig it out and read the part dealing with a shortfall after enforcement, because if your contract carries that clause, letting the house go does not end the matter. It means losing the house and still owing money, which is worse than selling by a distance.
What not to do, however much it feels like help at the time
- Do not borrow informally to make the payment. Informal rates are a multiple of a mortgage rate. Paying cheap debt with expensive debt accelerates the problem rather than delaying it.
- Do not draw on a credit card to cover the instalment. Same reasoning in a more respectable suit, and it damages your credit on two fronts at once.
- Do not stop answering the phone or leave the letters unopened. Silence does not make it go away. It gives the bank a complete record that it contacted you and you did not respond, and that record is usable in court.
- Do not trust anyone offering to clear the debt if you transfer the house to them first. Transferring your home to someone to hold on your behalf, expecting to buy it back, is the single most common way people lose a house permanently. Before signing anything that moves ownership, get advice from someone with no stake in the deal.
- Do not wait for the third missed payment on the basis that it is still fine. Day ninety-one changes your status, and the terms available afterwards are always tighter.
If it has not reached crisis point, there are lighter options
Some borrowers are not failing to pay. The payment is simply so heavy that nothing is left at the end of the month. That case does not need restructuring yet. Try these two first.
The first is asking your existing bank for a lower rate, usually called retention. It is available once the promotional rate has expired and your payment record is clean, it is quick, and it needs no revaluation. The second is refinancing to another bank, which usually gets a better rate but costs more and takes longer. Both are compared in refinancing a home loan: when it pays and what to prepare.
Worth knowing: the Bank of Thailand's rules say early repayment must carry no penalty, with one written exception, refinancing a mortgage within the first three years. So if you are past three years, moving banks should not attract a penalty from your existing lender.
And if the honest conclusion is that the house was beyond your means from the start, selling and moving to something lighter is not a failure. It is fixing the cause. See houses for sale and townhouses for sale, or the house selling service if you would rather have someone price it and handle the sale.
Frequently asked questions
How many missed payments before the bank sues?
There is no fixed number, but a loan is generally classified as non-performing once it is more than ninety days behind, and banks usually send formal notice before starting proceedings. The Bank of Thailand requires a lender to have offered restructuring at least once after default before it sues, sells the debt or seizes the property.
Does restructuring damage my credit record?
Restructuring before the loan goes non-performing does far less damage than letting it default, because the status recorded is different. Waiting out the full ninety days is the path that harms the record most.
Can the Debt Clinic help with a mortgage?
No. The Debt Clinic covers credit cards, cash cards and unsecured personal loans. A mortgage has to be taken up with the lender directly.
How many times can I restructure?
The Bank of Thailand sets a floor of at least once before default and at least once after. That is the minimum a lender must offer, not a cap on what you can ask for.
Is there a fee for restructuring?
Under the Bank of Thailand's rules there should be no fee, other than a genuine cost such as revaluing the security, which must be disclosed in advance.
If the house is auctioned, is the debt cleared?
It depends on your mortgage contract. Section 733 says the debtor is not liable for the shortfall, but the parties may contract out of it, and lenders' contracts commonly do. Read your own contract.
Can I sell a house I am still paying off?
Yes. The mortgage is discharged at the land office on transfer day using the buyer's funds, so the seller does not need a lump sum first.
What if the bank will not engage at all?
Use the Bank of Thailand's debt assistance channel, which puts the case to the lender and requires them to come back to you, and keep a record of every attempt you made to make contact.
Key takeaways
- Call in the month you know you will fall short. What shrinks is your options, and they shrink with days behind, not with the amount owed.
- Restructuring is something the Bank of Thailand requires lenders to offer: at least once before default and at least once after.
- Every method of lowering a payment moves the burden rather than removing it. The lightest option today is usually the dearest one overall.
- Work out the figure you can genuinely pay before you call, and take a reference number from every conversation.
- The Debt Clinic and the chronic debt programme do not cover mortgages. Applying wastes the weeks that matter.
- If it comes to selling, selling yourself beats being foreclosed on, and a mortgaged house can be sold with the loan discharged on transfer day.
- Open your mortgage contract and read the clause on a shortfall after enforcement. It answers whether losing the house ends the debt.