MSE News: Support for mortgage interest benefit cut by thousands

dhep1

Incapacity, what I do not understand is, I know they have dropped the rate but we do not understand is when our income has not changed and the interst rate is around 3.75% so we should get more than £3.85p towards the mortgage.
The letter said we are allowed £200? to live on they showed this as including £70 housing benefit but they are giving £3.85 instead of the £70!

carlaeliza

I was left with huge arrears by my ex husband who left the planet and is not to be found, and then became a single mum, I worked hard to get rid of the arrears and came to an agreement with the court and mortgage company for the small remainder which allowed me to avoid repossession, but due to negative equity and my ex husbands name on the mortgage i can not sell or change to a cheaper deal.

after my job was no longer appropriate for my baby I ended up on Income support, I borrowed money from my mum to pay the 13 week wait period on the mortgage and now receive support for mortgage interest.
From October 1st i'm £100 (approx) less than I need to cover payments, which on Income support I just can't meet!

I cant work because unless i go full time plus extra hours I will not make enough to cover the bills ect, and that's not feasible with a baby/toddler, and the rules around work and benefits make it impossible to make up the money without loosing money! So now I am stuck! i'd happily be moved out of here to a council home to remove all this stress, but sadly I don't think it's that easy, I'd happily rent but again it's not clean cut, il end up bankrupt, not able to get work and homeless. It's going to cost more, and it's not fair,

There should be a scheme in place to catch us! I'd happily sell my home to the local government but the help just isnt there!
The point is that one size fits all is stupid, and in fact will cost more..... watch this space, the flood of repossessions and homeless families

carlaeliza

poppy10 wrote: »

Well, exactly. As a renter, if I were to lose my job, I would get absolutely no help towards paying my rent, unlike you who will still get your mortgage interest paid by the government even after this cut. I would have no options other than to be evicted by my landlord and rehoused by the council in the "grotty council estate" you seem to fear so much. Why is that fair?

that's not true, if you receive benefits you will get rent paid! people on Mortgage interest support are getting certain benefits and the same benefits would mean a renter gets all rent paid, however you'd get it from day one and we had to wait 3 months, meaning we all have to negotiate to avoid repossession before help even comes!

wiuld you rather all people who get housing benefit, Mortgage payments are homeless? you wouldn't be able to move on the streets!

carlaeliza

poppy10 wrote: »

It concerns all taxpayers when it is our money being used to subsidize them. Plus it is a potent reminder to other would-be buyers in similar situations as to the potential pitfalls of starting a family when you are not in a secure enough financial position to do so.

accidents happen for goodness sake! Don't judge what you know nothing about! I'd rather be homeless with a child than childless with a home!

Im not saying it's good to be irresponsible, but if everyone waited to be secure before having a baby there would be barely any newborns, the world should be fairer, meaning people have a right to family, and a right to affordable housing, truth is the world is greedy and greed got us into the mess we are in, we might be one of the richest countries in the world but by far are we the poorest when you look at depression, suicide loneliness and selfish behaviour.......

I might loose my home, but with my son in my arms Il face it with strength knowing i have the greatest love of all.

poppy10_2

carlaeliza wrote: »

I might loose my home, but with my son in my arms Il face it with strength knowing i have the greatest love of all.

Awww

Best of luck with everything :T

looby38

I am amazed at how quick other people are to judge those of us who become reliant on benefits. Every person who claims has a different story to tell, alot of us with genuine needs. I am a single mother of 4 children, I never imagined I would be a single parent when I set out to have my children. However it happened, I didn't wallow in self pity, I got myself to university, gained a degree and am now set to start a proffessional MA, all to provide a better, secure future for my children, one which will prevent us being reliant on the welfare state in future years. However, to be able to achieve this I ave had to claim benefit and have been lucky enough to qualify for a 10p allowance of income support, one which has entitled me to interest payments on my mortgage so I can maintain some security for my children. I recently looked into selling and moving in to rented accomodation when my DWP payments reduced by 50% with very little notice i may add. However, it seems it is not as straight forward as it may seem to claim LHA. Technically I would make myself homeless if I sold and went into rented voluntarily, I therefore face a wait before being able to claim LHA. To lose my house through repossion impacts the rest of my life and the CAB advised against letting this happen. I urge people to consider people individual needs when making assumptions about those of us reliant on benefit's. We are not all 'scrougers' many of us would prefer not to be so reliant on this system. I am certainly not lazy, not sure thats possible with 4 very active children.

dhep1

I do not understand it, in our possition nothing has changed.
We had to wait 40 weeks before we could claim for help with the morgage, we did not want to go on income support my wife had over 35 years of stamp but when she applied for incapacity in 2008 they said she was short for 3 weeks in 2005!
We are not in arrears, they only paid for interest as it is a interest only mortgage and the interest rate is 3. something %, but they insist we are only entitled to £3.85 per week towards out interest.

mbeast

Have you contacted your local citizens advice bureau yet?

They would best be able to advise you and work out what you should be entitled to so you can appeal against what your being paid now if there's a difference in amounts.

blueberrypie

sophievenusdoom wrote: »

This is the part that I always find really hard to believe. Maybe I am being ignorant as I am fortunate enough to have a job, but surely there must be SOMETHING. Be it bar work, cleaning toilets, or as I suggested earlier, shelf stacking in the local supermarket...even if it is just part time to get you back into the groove of working??

One of the local supermarkets advertised jobs this week. They're taking on 20 staff. There were over 300 people in the queue for applications for those 20 jobs...

dhep1

My wife managed to speak to dss they said we have too much money! £200 per week for two of us and run the house they told her if we lose the house then we will have to go into rented and they will pay the full rent of £425 p/m but wont pay £280 or even the £200 they were paying all they would say was it was the budget that has caused this? I looked at the highlights of the buget on the website and nothing about dropping the allowed income for mortgage payers.
I voted for these people, never again they want all this extra money so what do they do, they go to the bottom of the income pile and take that, the uproar when the £44k and above will lose £20 per week but nothing about the people like us that will now lose our house that we HAVE worked for.