Is this going to mean I can't get a mortgage?

kunekune

We have had the week from hell, tbh. Like a lot of forum members, our domestic unit is directly affected by the LloydsTSB/HBOS merger, and it will be some time before we know whether DH's job will survive. If he is made redundant, the payout if anything will be small as he has only been with the bank for 2 years. He is 48, so it may be difficult to find a new job (in IT). We were coming to terms with that over the weekend: I earn enough that we can manage to buy a house, although it will mean big cutbacks. But around here, a deposit of around £30K and a £140K mortgage translates to a reasonable if not flash house.

Then yesterday, the floor under the rug that had been pulled out was also pulled out, when DH received a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. We don't know how long he will be able to work, and we don't know whether I will be able to carry on working until I'm 67 either. We have young children, and were counting on the next 20 years to make up for our lack of financial commonsense in the past.

There is also the state benefits catch22. If we are homeowners and I do have to give up work at some point with the mortgage not fully repaid, there won't be any meaningful assistance with housing costs. If we were tenants, there might be, but if we are renting for the next 5-10 years, we would also be saving ... so we'd have to use that up first. So if we spend it on reducing a mortgage, we get caught out and if we save it we also get caught out. I think, on balance, we're better off buying and trying to pay off as fast as possible: it will be a long time, hopefully, before he needs full-time care. If it's just a matter of not being able to look after the children after school, I will buy in help.

But - and sorry for the ramble, I'm in a state of shock still - is the fact that my working life might, just might, be cut short by someone else's progressive disease something that has to be declared (he'd likely still be working when we did a mortgage application), and if it was declared, would it lead to us being turned down????

Sure, fear about housing is a replacement for all the other fears I might have at the moment, but it is a genuine concern, given that we rent privately and this house could rapidly become unsuitable, what with having four stories!

poppy10_2

Just giving you a well-deserved bump - sorry I don't have any suggestions to offer myself.

kunekune

THanks poppy - I was reluctant to do my own bump but now will! At the risk of sounding self-indulgent, it is a real question and a scary situation.

theboyjb

I'm really sorry to hear your news; there must be a lot for you to take in right now, and financial concerns have a place in that mix, although there is obviously no need to make a quick decision.

I only speak from the experience of having a mother who provides care to my terminally ill father, but the advice I would give is as follows:

1. I am presuming that your husband is not yet at the stage where he needs a massive amount of care and that his illness is at the early stages. At the time in the future that you will need more state assistance, the key is to make sure that as many assets and savings are in your own name as possible and to minimise the assets in your husband's name. As and when you are able to broach that subject, it is probably worth discussing this with your husband and starting to transfer assets accordingly. When it comes to state assistance, they are not premitted to consider assets held in your sole name, but will consider assets held in joint names or your husband's name. Minimise these.

2. Start out with a clear mind about how the future might pan out and get as much assistance as you can as early as you can. If you provide "too much" care yourself in the early stages you can find that it is very difficult to increase the level of care in later stages.

If the issue of housing is one that you are concerned about, I'd suggest that you should plan on buying what you can comfortably afford based on your own salary and whatever savings you have and consider carefully whose name the property is held in (seek legal advice.)

As I said, as mercenary as it might feel, I would not plan on cutting short your working life in order to provide care yourself. If that is what you choose to do later on, then that will always be an option. However, if you do this too early you may become one of the vast army of unpaid and undervalued full time carers in our society. In my experience, once you end up in that position, it is impossible to get out of it, unless you are willing to go very much against the grain.

3. Get involved now with some local support groups and speak to some other carers who might have faced similar dillemas in the past. Get their advice about how the system works and the mistakes/good moves they made in the past in terms of getting help. Once you know some of them well, they might be more forthcoming than you think in terms of discussing financial issues.

I wish you, very sincerely, the best of luck and hope that things work out for the best for you and your family.

kunekune

Good advice, thanks. I'm already a carer, in fact, because one of the children is disabled, so I have some knowledge of navigating the system. The point about the house is a good one (fortunately, around here, we can get a house based on my income alone, and should have been planning to do so anyway): I'm a lawyer myself, but will certainly broach the issue with the expert(s) when the time comes. It'll be a more expensive mortgage, because we may not be able to use DH's HBOS staff mortgage (though that's something to explore), but it is certainly something that I can repay before my own retirement age.

The plan is probably: DH moves to part-time (which means we also save on childcare costs, and by the time he can't, the children will be lower maintenance), I make as much use of flexible working as I can (entitled anyway, independently), we choose a cheaper house that is on public transport to his work, I take driving lessons (possibly using direct payments ... memo, get a carer assessment), and we overpay for as long as possible. When DH does (or if he does) either give up work or get made redundant, he will be able to get carer allowance for looking after our son, on top of any other benefits. We won't get anything means tested, but DLA and all that stuff adds up. Fingers crossed we can get through three years of him earning, even at a reduced level, because then the ill-health retirement provisions in his pension come in, and it may well get topped up. Even if that's only a pension of £200 a month, every penny counts.

And, oddly, we may buy sooner rather than later, because of stability.

theboyjb

kunekune wrote: »

We won't get anything means tested, but DLA and all that stuff adds up.

Just to add that what I was thinking of in respect of the means testing was "continuing care" from the NHS PCT - nursing care provided in the home as opposed to being provided in a care home. This isn't a social security benefit, but this type of healthcare is means tested based on assets and income.

It has been quite a shock to us to find that the cost of someone coming in to shower my father in the morning is chargeable at a rate of £100 per week in the event that his assets are greater than £12,000. Given that my mother provides all other care (ie: 23.5/7) for free it seems outrageous, in fact. At such a time as you might need such assistance for your husband, it's important (and, frankly, just) to ensure that all his hard work in the past is not eaten up in charges for nursing care.

It sounds as though this is a long way in the future for you, though. I hope you have many happy years still to come before this presents itself as an issue.

neverdespairgirl

So sorry to hear about your news - hope you and DH are coping OK.