Mortgage interest paid from dwp

abranch

Hi,
We have had to claim income support as I have had to give off work for the time being
to care for my husband full time. They have told me I only have to wait 8 weeks to receive half interest as I am caring for my husband due to me now receiving underlying entitlement to carers allowance so we can claim income support. After 19 weeks which is middle of January 2009 they will pay 100% up to £100,000. Our mortgage is quite large £240,000 and I thought the government had introduced from January that they are raising to a maximum of £200k. I rang and asked them this and they said it was only for new claimants in January 2009.We started claiming in October 2008 when my husband was diagnosed with a critical blood disorder. The dept informed me that we was existing so we still would only get help up to 100k which I feel is not fair. Is any one in the same boat or knows if they think they will have to change the rules as well for excisting claimants. Our mortgage company have not been very helpful and wont postpone payments for us and have not signed up for this new rescue scheme what the Government are bringing in yet. If anyone has any information about the new rules it would be much appreciated.
Many thanks Allison

Conor_3

I'm interested in this as well because the only reason for me to stay signing on is to get my mortgage interest paid after 13 weeks. I'm actually £14 a month OUT OF POCKET signing on as I have to travel 30 miles to do it and don't get re-imbursed and also don't get any JSA.

[Deleted User]

Most people have been assuming that the new rules would apply to existing claimants as well,although there does seem to be some confusion with the BDC`s,might be worth waiting till january then asking them again,or better still see if your MP can get some confirmation for you.it would certainly be very unfair if some had 100k mortgages paid and others 200k

real1314

The new rules from jan haven't really been sorted out yet. I'd be surprised if some people are left on "old rules" regarding the mortgage limit, as it wouldn't make sense (although....).

In your situation it might even be worth closing your claim on 31/12/08 and then claiming again on 01/01/09. You might actually need to break it by a day; i.e end it on 30/12/08.

Only you will know whether this might be worth your while, but with that size mortgage it might be worth it?

[Deleted User]

Could well be worth it as 6.08% on 200k is worth £120 per week more than on 100k

dmg24

real1314 wrote: »

The new rules from jan haven't really been sorted out yet. I'd be surprised if some people are left on "old rules" regarding the mortgage limit, as it wouldn't make sense (although....).

In your situation it might even be worth closing your claim on 31/12/08 and then claiming again on 01/01/09. You might actually need to break it by a day; i.e end it on 30/12/08.

Only you will know whether this might be worth your while, but with that size mortgage it might be worth it?

The difficulty with this is that there is likely to be quite a backlog of claims in January. This could lead to the OP getting into arrears with their mortgage, which would be especially bad as their lender is already unsympathetic.

huffinpuffin

To best of my knowledge DWP pays interest at rate of base rate plus about 1.5 (1.75?)% not your actual interest rate so if your interest rate is higher than their standard rate you will have to make up the difference - don't know if this will be same under new scheme but that is how it is for anyone currently on IS

dmg24

huffinpuffin wrote: »

To best of my knowledge DWP pays interest at rate of base rate plus about 1.5 (1.75?)% not your actual interest rate so if your interest rate is higher than their standard rate you will have to make up the difference - don't know if this will be same under new scheme but that is how it is for anyone currently on IS

The interest rate is currently 6.08% and is being held at that rate for six months/ the foreseeable future (depending on where you read). It is usually BoE + 1.58%.