"Mortgage breaks" and "payment holidays" sound like wonderful pain relief options for the headache of a monthly mortgage burden, especially as pressure on family budgets increases in the run-up to Christmas.
For recent buyers - who will typically have to make higher value repayments using a lower income than that of more established homeowners - the idea of being able to ignore their loan repayments in favour of more seasonal purchases for a month or two can seem appealing. Most lenders will allow customers to take breaks from their mortgage for a number of months, although some do not advertise the fact.
At Bank of Ireland and ICS Building Society, for example, borrowers can defer repayments for three consecutive months up to four times during the life of the mortgage. At AIB, customers can take holidays for up to six months on variable rate loans.
Permanent TSB's website points out the number one drawback with availing of this type of mortgage break.
"At the end of your payment holiday, the deferred interest is added back to your loan and your repayment is increased so that your loan is repaid within the remaining term," it explains.
So while mortgage holders might revel in the freedom of being "on a break", they will have to tighten their belts eventually - not easy to do after the financial gluttony of Christmas.
"In general, I don't recommend payment breaks at all, as effectively the customer is increasing the amount of interest they're paying by not making a repayment," says Mr Liam Ferguson of mortgage intermediary Ferguson & Associates.
"As such, these options should be seen as what they are - a form of borrowing - and should therefore only be considered in the absence of any savings," he says.
People planning a bonanza festive season with all the trimmings and trappings on the back of such a mortgage break must remember to put the family home first.
"I don't believe they should be used, for example, to help fund luxury or unnecessary items, as effectively the customer is borrowing against the security of their home to fund a luxury item," says Mr Ferguson.
"If you do need to take a break from mortgage payments, you should endeavour to make a lump sum overpayment later, if and when finances allow, to reduce the amount of interest to its original level."
Mortgage holders can build up overpayments before they take advantage of a break. "There would be no cost to taking a payment holiday if you had already overpaid your mortgage," Permanent TSB notes, provided that the overpayment exceeds the value of the missing months.
Customers of First Active's current account mortgage can automatically do this without having to apply in writing. In practice, other borrowers will find it easier to simply save and spend, rather than mess about with ad hoc changes to their mortgage.
There is another kind of payment holiday, however, which can be planned in advance. This allows people to spread repayments over 10 or 11 months and then take one or two months' break every year, "to allow for a little cash for Christmas or summer holidays", as AIB says.
But homeowners will have to be able to afford the higher repayments during the rest of the year.
For example, on Permanent TSB's Skip Months, a mortgage holder with a €200,000 loan over 25 years who skips one or two months will have repayments of €1,098 and €1,208 respectively, based on its standard variable rate of 3.55 per cent. Normal repayments on such a loan, where no months are skipped, are just €1,006.
