Help with mortgage interest (or not).

pineapple

Can anyone advise on this please?
I have been on contribution based JSA for a few months and was amazed, back in November, to receive forms to fill in for help with mortgage interest. When I said to my local job centre, that I thought you had to be on income based JSA to get help, they said there had been a recent change in the law and both types of JSA were now allowable.
Indeed I posted about it on here!
I duly filled in the forms but 10 weeks later still no word. So I rung the office which had sent me the forms to chase it up and they said they couldn't understand it as mortgage interest help was only paid if you were on income base JSA and they didn't know anything about any change in the law!!!. I did point out that they themselves had sent me the forms to complete...
Anyone knowledgeable about this?
Cheers

dmg24

The first advisor was correct, those on CB JSA who have an underlying entitlement to IB JSA are entitled to SMI.

There are big delays with SMI at the mo, so this may be why your application has not been processed.

Do you definitely qualify? Do you have any other household income, or savings over £6,000 (or £16,000)?

tr82

I haven't heard of such a change in the law.

It sounds to me that you originally claimed for JSA(C) and JSA(IB). Both personal allowances are £64.30 p.w. so you get paid the JSA(C) element first, that takes priority over the JSA(IB) element.

The mortgage office set a reminder on their computers to issue you with an MI12 form four weeks before your mortgage qualifying date (and for most people the qualifying date is at week 13 of their claim).

The form gets issued, you fill out your part, send it to the lender, they fill out their part in it gets returned to DWP. Assuming it's straightforward, the mortgage element gets assessed & paid. The mortgage element is effectively JSA(IB), your personal benefit is effectively JSA(C).

I don't like the way it's been explained to you. It implies that you can get SMI without claiming JSA(IB) - that's just not correct.

pineapple

I am on contribution based JSA. After 3 months I was sent the form to claim for mortgage interest. Yet I thought it was only for those on on income based JSA.
So I mentioned it to my local job centre and was told that there had been a change in the law and people on both types of JSA were eligible to claim..
After 10 weeks and no word, I phoned the office which had issued the form. Briefly the person who answered said there must have been a mistake. She said I wouldn't be eligible to make a claim till March, when I would move from contribution based JSA to income based JSA.
I pointed out that it was their office which had sent out the form and which would have received the form back. You would think she would be able to track it and give some explanation - no such luck!
I've actually emailed a government advice line about this.

dmg24

If you answered my questions we could tell you if you were eligible.

Essex_Don

dmg24 wrote: »

The first advisor was correct, those on CB JSA who have an underlying entitlement to IB JSA are entitled to SMI.

There are big delays with SMI at the mo, so this may be why your application has not been processed.

Do you definitely qualify? Do you have any other household income, or savings over £6,000 (or £16,000)?

Hi Dmg,

I am in a similar situation to pineapple.

I wonder if you can advise me:

My situation is this - I have worked for 10 years and recently lost my job due to the recession.

I signed on for JSA and was told that I would be going onto CB based as I had been working.

I am also eligible for JSA IB and I believe this is underlying on my claim.

What do I do on week 13 of my claim? Do I get a MI12 form and send it to my lender or do I need to fill in a JSA 3 Form and send this to my local benefits office at the same time as I send my lender the MI12?

I am worried sick I wont get SMI - I have no savings at all and I am a single male of 25 who has a ex partner named on the mortgage but she is long gone and hasnt contributed to the house for around 2 years? Will this effect my claim? I have asked her to supply a letter stating that she doesnt pay towards the house and that she wants on the mortgage and I have asked her to sign it.

Will this add any weight to my claim?

Thanks in advance.