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Support for Mortgage Interest
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leftholdingthebaby
Posts: 28 Forumite
I wonder if anyone can offer advice please.
I have today been awarded Income Support after DWP losing my application etc etc.
I also received a letter saying they will send me a form to fill in to claim SMI for help towards my mortgage interest.
In the letter it says that the SMI will be deducted from my Income Support award. Does that mean they will reduce my current award by paying the SMI?
Also I read somewhere they if your husband had died or deserted you, you can claim SMI immediately without a waiting period. Is this correct? My husband abandonded me and our young children without any warning taking all our money and my gold.
Thanks for any advice.
I have today been awarded Income Support after DWP losing my application etc etc.
I also received a letter saying they will send me a form to fill in to claim SMI for help towards my mortgage interest.
In the letter it says that the SMI will be deducted from my Income Support award. Does that mean they will reduce my current award by paying the SMI?
Also I read somewhere they if your husband had died or deserted you, you can claim SMI immediately without a waiting period. Is this correct? My husband abandonded me and our young children without any warning taking all our money and my gold.
Thanks for any advice.
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Comments
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The "taking it off your award" is really miss leading. Acutally, it makes no difference to what you get for your Income Support.
They will ask for how much your mortgatge was and is, and then they will calculate a weekly payment of interest against your mortgate. This may or may not cover all the interest on your mortgate. This gets paid direct to your mortgate company every 4 weeks.
Do check once you have got the letter from the DWP that the mortgage company have been told about this, the mortgage company should then change your DD to how much you need to pay to make up any short fall.
I don't know about the waiting period I'm afraid, can't help you on that one.
Once they have sorted out your mortgage interest payment, you will get a letter saying "by law you are allowed to live on (for example) £150 a week, where as a previous one may have said "£70 a week". This is beccause the mortgage payment will be added.
The mortgages departement of the DWP are considerably more organised than the new claims department, and can sort things out in days rather than months.
Mind you, being more organised than the claims dept wouldnt really be that hard would it?0 -
leftholdingthebaby wrote: »Also I read somewhere they if your husband had died or deserted you, you can claim SMI immediately without a waiting period. Is this correct? My husband abandonded me and our young children without any warning taking all our money and my gold.
Thanks for any advice.
Where did you read this?
I know someone in the same position as you and SMI wasn't paid until she had reached the 13 weeks waiting period.
Directgov website says:
so I'm not sure what 'normally' actually means in this context.How SMI is paid
SMI is normally paid direct to your lender after a waiting period, which is 13 weeks after you’ve claimed benefit.0 -
That's what normally means in this context - however there can be exceptions if for example you had been on a contributions Benefit and then moved over to an income related one, which is what happened in my case so I had no waiting period as I had already done 13 weeks, so it was processed without another 13 week period if you see what I mean. So if the OP has only just been awarded the IS then there will be 13 weeks to wait, but you can fill out the SMI application now with all relevant details and they process it in the mean time for payments to lender to start at right time.0
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Another exception is if you are claiming Guarantee Pension Credit. There is no waiting period in these cases.
OP, I believe that SMI can be given 13 weeks after the date of your claim )someone will correct me if I'm wrong!)
Since you seem to have had difficulties with your claim for IS then I would be asking then to clarify when the 13 weeks began.0 -
Where did you read this?
I know someone in the same position as you and SMI wasn't paid until she had reached the 13 weeks waiting period.
Directgov website says:
so I'm not sure what 'normally' actually means in this context.
normally means to lenders who are part of the scheme(most are)for those that arent smi is paid to the claimant0 -
The mortgages departement of the DWP are considerably more organised than the new claims department, and can sort things out in days rather than months.
Mind you, being more organised than the claims dept wouldnt really be that hard would it?
More organised? I was quoted recently by the Pension Service for Pension Credit claims that sorting out SMI takes approx 3 months to sort out once they have had the MI12 form back. This would be on top of the waiting period for some benefits.
Now if that is organised, I can't say much for their systems.
It is not unknown for the bank/building society to take many months to return the MI12 form. One case I am aware of had the claim date as late 2009, three MI12's later before the reply was received by the DWP in January 2011!!!0 -
Where did you read this?
I know someone in the same position as you and SMI wasn't paid until she had reached the 13 weeks waiting period.
Directgov website says:
so I'm not sure what 'normally' actually means in this context.
This is what I read:-
Special Rules
If you or your partner are aged 60 or over the DWP will pay the interest in full immediately with no waiting time.
You will be treated as if your loan was obtained prior to the changes and not have to wait the full 39 weeks if:
- You do not have to sign on because you are caring for someone who is sick.
- You have had a mortgage payment protection insurance claim refused because of pre-existing illness or HIV/AIDS related illness.
- You are a prisoner on remand.
- You have a child living with you and you are claiming Income Support because your partner has died or has deserted you.
This info could be completely out of date as I dont know anything about waiting 39 weeks.0 -
If any of those special rules apply to you then you need to tell DWP that this is the case. The only difference being 39 weeks is now 13 weeks - which if one or more of these rules applies then that 13 weeks bit would not apply. You still need to fill out the MI12 pretty sharpish.0
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leftholdingthebaby wrote: »
This info could be completely out of date as I dont know anything about waiting 39 weeks.
The info you've quoted is definitely out of date, the waiting period has been 13 weeks for some time - at least since sometime in 2009 when it was reduced from 39 weeks!
Where did you find the information you quoted?
I'd get in touch with the appropriate dept as advised on Directgov website:
https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest/eligibility
and ask if you are subject to the 13 weeks waiting period or not.0 -
Horseunderwater wrote: »You still need to fill out the MI12 pretty sharpish.
Yes it should be. But that doesn't mean to say that it will be returned to the DWP any time soon. The majority take up to 3 months to return it and some are known to take up to 18 months!!
The poster won't get any help with the mortgage interest until the DWP receive the MI12 back and have then had time (up to another 3 months) to verify and calculate the award.0
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