As long as you maintain your usual payments or you have gone into an agreement with a mortgage lender under COVID-19 payment holiday terms then your credit score will be unaffected if we are to believe the main three rating agencies.

The three main rating agencies, being Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, have agreed to an ‘emergency payment freeze’, which will protect those who take a break from repayments.

This means that any breaks or credit arrangements agreed with your mortgage lenders as a result of the coronavirus will not be recorded on credit reports or scores. But to be clear you must ask your lender for the holiday, you cannot just cancel a direct debit and take it. Most lenders agree quickly to this and they suspend your payments so you have to do nothing yourself.

It is also possible that other arrangements with credit lenders you may have, including reduced payments, paused payments or increased credit limits will also be protected by the freeze.

Most banks and building societies now have an online form that borrowers can complete to request a payment break.

Payment holiday option for landlords with a buy-to-let mortgage.

A lot of banks had only offered payment holidays to their residential borrowers, however some are now also allowing landlords to share in this scheme. Barclays bank this week for instance changed their stance and now are happy to engage with landlords to see if they can help them.

Most banks are however wanting confirmation that the tenant is unable to pay the landlord the rent first. Otherwise the landlord could be getting double assistance; continued payment from the tenant plus a mortgage holiday. The real plan behind this scheme is to ensure that landlords can retain their investment property, but also so that tenants can have a rent free period.