Benefits & Crisis Loan

Richard_P

Help with Mortgage Interest is calculated and paid by DWP. There is normally a wiaiting period, dependant and when you took the mortgage out.

Housing Benefit is for people how rent their home and is administered by your local council. You cannot apply for this as you do not rent.

Council Tax Benefit is available to all on a low income and is administered by your local council in the same department as Housing Benefit.

Have you told your mortgage lenders that you have left your job and applied for mortgage interest help from DWP?

You must have had a large amount of arrears for some time for the lender to start threatening litigation

healy

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Not quite right, in my recent experience....any council tax relief you are entitled to will be processed by the HB team

Yes CTB is dealt with by the council but I was talking about HB and did not mention CTB so my post was correct.

Richard_P

A Crisis Loan is just that A LOAN - you would need to pay it back from your weekly ebenfit, giving you less to live on. Equally, they would not give you a loan every month to pay your lender.

Equally, a Crisis Loan is for when you have no money coming in, which you do and to pay for an emergency. Your "emergency" could last up until the time the mortgage interest help clicks in - it's not a bottomless pit giving your hundreds of pounds each month to meet your contractual payments to your mortgage lender.

Before you get any loan from Social Fund [Budgeting or Crisis] you are assessed to give a maximum amount they can lend you considering your level of benefit income.

dmg24

Hi Buntin,

Welcome to MSE, and sorry it is under such difficult circumstances.

There seem to be some conflicting posts on here, so just to clarify:

Help with mortgage payments is made through ISMI, which is administered through the DWP. HB is not applicable to those with mortgages. There is usually a 39 week waiting period for ISMI to kick in, however there are some circumstances when this doesn't apply (detailed here).

Help with Council Tax is administered by your local council. When you completed your IS forms you probably completed a form for this also.

Social Fund loans/ grants are for very specific circumstances, more information on when they may be available is available here.

With regard to your mortgage arrears, please talk to your mortgage company now. It is important to keep them aware of your situation, and then hopefully you will be able to come to some arrangement with them.

If you need any more info, please post back. If you need anything and don't feel up to posting, feel free to PM me x

Buntin

Richard_P wrote: »

A Crisis Loan is just that A LOAN - you would need to pay it back from your weekly ebenfit, giving you less to live on. Equally, they would not give you a loan every month to pay your lender.

Equally, a Crisis Loan is for when you have no money coming in, which you do and to pay for an emergency. Your "emergency" could last up until the time the mortgage interest help clicks in - it's not a bottomless pit giving your hundreds of pounds each month to meet your contractual payments to your mortgage lender.

Under no circumstances did I this it was a bottomless pitt Richard! I came here for a little advice, I have worked 40hrs plus for the last 17 years paying taxes and NI like most people so I have no understanding about benefits what so ever. I don't expect the DWP to meet my contractual payments for my mortgage each month, I was just enquiring what the procedure was as I am unfit to work at the moment - as stated in my last post! Your advice is very demeaning and abrupt, thanks for that! just what I needed.

dmg24

I think you misread Richard P's post ... I don't think he was having a go at you, just stating facts x

Richard_P

Thanks dmg24 - No, I was not having a go, far from it.

If you think about it, if the ISMI payments will not click in for nearly 9 months, DWP are hardly going to pay your interest with a Crisis Loan in the interim.

The best advice given on here is talk to your lender, explain the situation, they know about the delay in Interest Payments and as with any debt, if you are upfront and honest your creditors will be more understanding. What they don't like is people who ignore the situation or make a promise to pay and then don't keep your promise.

Because of a number of reasons combined together things look very bleak but you are not alone, there our friends on here to give your pointers.

In the past I have faced loosing my house that I had worked very hard for. It was horrible. My way of coping was to face things straight out - not everybodies choice, I know. There is very little point in hoping that a way out is to take out more loans to cover a debt you already cannot pay. Equally, a loan on a loan adds more interest making the debt bigger although Social Fund loans are interest free.

If you are having problems with your mortgage payments, I am sure that you have other debts. You must not take one debt in isolation when working out what to do and the way forward. It's a rotten job but you need to sit down and list everything that you owe. Search out the services of a debt counsellor either through CAB or CCCS.

DON'T go to one of these debt agencies that charge you for the services they provide.

Best of Luck

Buntin

Just want to send you my sincere apologies richard, I didn't mean to sound off at you as I know you were trying to help.x It's just a very frustrating time for me at the moment and I was probably being selfish as I know a lot of people are in the same situation as me, if not worse. I'm gna have a long hard think about things in the morning and see what I can sort out, starting by talking to my mortgage company.

Once again, I'm sorry.

dmg24

Good luck for tomorrow Buntin, keep in touch with how you get on x

jobbingmusician

healy wrote: »

Yes CTB is dealt with by the council but I was talking about HB and did not mention CTB so my post was correct.

Yes, your post was absolutely correct. I was just dealing with the fact that it is worth getting in touch with the council - although they don't do HB, Buntin should pursue CTB. Sorry we had crossed wires!! - my fault as my original post wasn't very clear