(SMI) Support for Mortgage Interest ending

sandraM

@elainewillis  When is the last time you were in a caravan. I have a friend that has a camper van and was visiting me recently. It was so well insulated the snow never melted off the roof. Im also thinking on how much it would cut the bills. :-)

I sleep really badly so want to try not having neighbours either side and above and below. I realise I will have to have a few though. Just hope they aren't noisy and have screaming children to make my sleep even worse than it is now. Its certainly another worry!

nanof6

That site in blackpool looks great, im looking out for a wheelchair friendly caravan.i watced it on telly, its better than letting this thieving goverment get all you have worked for,

sleepy1

Sandra as you say we can but dream

I to am planning ahead and have even contemplated what crime would I be able to commit to get a long enough prison sentence without harming anyone......silly I know but in the scheme of things in the eyes of our government we (disabled people) are all thieving lieing worthless lazy money grabbing bar stewards.

Go easy with the packing, God forbid if you were caught lifting an empty cardboard box!

Hugs Rosie

sleepy1

Just been catching up on a few posts and good to see people keeping their spirits up and coming up with some good ideas

I know most of it is in jest atm but in reality if the DWP keep on going down the same route they are taking against disabled people it will not be much fun at all for many of them or the people who will have to try and sort all the mess out when push comes to shove.

Obviously the government have to find money from somewhere to upgrade more important things like new warships, aircraft, and refurbishing historical buildings, not to mention bailing out banks that have been incompetent with our money.  And of course lets not forget their obligation to send billions to other countries to help other more needy people that live in an even more corrupt society that will never even see so much as a grain of rice from our government.

Perhaps I need to eat something!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uii3VhELiuE

redfang55

Hi Everbody
i've just joined as i found this thread on google and it seems to be the most active thread about the Smi mortgage payments.
We are carers for our profoundly disabled 19 year old and have been fotunate enough to be able to get on the housing ladder  some years ago, so obviously we have had these letters about the smi and i've been looking into it as much as possible ( i'm not one to let things go! ).
Now i don't know how many people are also on income support however on the income support letters it shows an amount that the law says we need to live on! under that it gives you the calculations  and then it tells you that part 3 shows the money they will payout directly from our entitlement! now here is my gripe!, the smi is taken from the amount the law says we need to live on! soooo surely that smi payment would then simply be added back into the calculation after the smi ends in april? otherwise they aren't giving us what the law says we need to live on? and thus breaking the law?

So to clarify with figures! ( not actual figures! )

how your income support is worked out!

1 . how much the law says you need to live on

for you and your partner                        £100

because you are caring for someone    £30

For interest on a mortgage or loan        £15

   Total                                                   £145

2 shows the money you already have coming in

Carers allowence                      £50

Total                         £50

3 shows the money we will pay out directly from your

entitlement

For housing ( smi payment )           £15

Total                         £15

4 shows how your weekly benefit is worked out

the amount the law says you need to live on  £145

less the income you told us about                  £50

less the money we will pay out for you           £15

Total amount of income support                    £80

SOOOO they clearly state that they take the smi from

our income support! therefore when the smi support stops

the " £15 " that goes to the smi should be re-calculated

back into the weekly benefit! because if it isn't then

we would only get £65 a week which is £15 below what the

" law " says we need to live on!!

Does that make sense to everyone else?

I am trying to clarify this with someone however the people

are income support have no idea apparently!

CockneyRebel

The only flaw I can see is that the ammount the "law" says you need to live on includes the SMI payment.
That ammount is then taken back and given to the lender
If you didn't have SMI then the Ammount would be £15 less to begin with

CR

nanof6

yes i rang DWP and said just that,  im on a pension and pension credits and said how much is pension credits  well i get £51.70 and they  take  off £14.65 for SMI leaves £37.05  

BenefitsTrainingCo

nanof6,

SMI will no longer be part of the benefits you get (pension credit, or redfang55, income support, or for others, income-related employment and support allowance), from April 2018.

From that date, the amount of mortgage interest will NOT be part of the applicable amount, which is the amount the government say you 'need to live on' when they calculate these benefits. It will be a separate payment, a loan, which you can choose to take out, as all the paperwork should explain - and it will attract interest and be secured on your home.

You won't get any extra benefit to make up for this. I'm really sorry, but there is hardly any transitional protection - just perhaps a few weeks for some people whilst they are setting up the loan. 

What this means is that at the moment, the SMI is taken out of the income support or other benefit which gets paid to you.  However, in the future, the SMI won't be part of your benefit at all. And unfortunately, no, you will not get paid this amount - instead, you can choose to take it as a loan (so that payments to your lender continue), or it stops completely. 

I know that this is causing a lot of anxiety for people and at the moment all we can suggest is that you ask your MP to help. It's the whole policy that is the problem.

Will

redfang55

Well after doing the math on this we've decided that it

is in our best interest to sell our home and move into private rented

because after the proceeds have been spent we will get £115.07

each week towards the rent ( to go into a private landlords pocket! )

and we will only have to pay about £150 a month to top it up!

so it's going to cost the government more in rent than it was doing

in mortgage interest support! and we will be saving in the mean time!

Kinda stupid actually when you think about it!

800'000 disabled children in the country, if 200'000 of them are

in families which own their own home with mortgage and they all

decide to sell up and rent instead the housing benefit bill will

be upwards of £20million a week! if the government instead just

made a mortgage help policy of £25 a week that would be more like 

£5million a week! 

The government are screwing us over in a big way! and we all know this

loan is nothing but greed on the governments part.

I'm quite looking forward now to having a little more money in the

pot each week and costing the government more in rent.

They only have themselves to blame!

The government should be ashamed of themselves attacking the lower

class like this! but it doesn't surprise me one bit!

sandraM

@redfang55  I too am selling my home but buying a cheaper one...hopefully, I feelI have no other option.  While you have capital you most likely won't get any benefits after 6 months until you run out of money, and I guess they will want to know where your money has gone.

Will be interesting to hear how you get on.  Good luck with it.

elainewillis

@sandraM. I presume that the £16,000 max savings rule will apply after the 6 months, although you have to notify them of anything above £6000 and they then take back back £1 for every £250 you have over the 6k.  I agree they will want to know where your money has gone. When I had an inheritance some years ago I had to provide proof and receipts for almost everything I spent. They will allow you to use the money for certain things like home improvement and a car but I’m sure they wouldn’t allow stuff like a world cruise

elainewillis

Half my post has disappeared. I added that, once you got below the £16k limit would you then have to start the whole claim process over again? It’s a flippin’ minefield!

sandraM

Spot on @elainewillis . Its stressful enough without having to go all through it again, thats why I'm hoping to buy something else but it might mean moving into cheaper house areas I'm not familiar with to enable me to buy.  My elderly parents usually visit and help me out often but my dad has said he won't be happy driving further afield.  I'm at a loss as what to do for the best.

vicky68

We have had the phone call today. My partner has MND and recently had an extention built for him. We won't be able to stay in our home. It's just more added stress.

Debbie_Alumni

Hi everyone, 

Welcome to @redfang55 and @vicky68, thanks for getting involved and adding your voices.

Thanks to everyone for your input. It's really great to see everyone's posts. A big thank you to Will @BenefitsTrainingCo for your last post. 

I've been picking up from my enquiries that people are being advised to seek financial advice from a Money Adviser. Fair enough, but where do you find free advice for very specific and complex issues? If CABs and other advice services aren't able to advise who can?

I checked the Money Advice Service website and found information about Getting Free Financial help and information.

If you've tried all of the things suggested it goes on to talk about

When to pay for financial advice

Financial advisers are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and therefore provide regulated financial advice.

Regulated advisers can only recommend and sell you products that are suitable for you.

If they sell you an inappropriate product or give you inappropriate advice, you can make a complaint and if necessary take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service 

Deciding whether to use a regulated financial adviser depends on how complicated your finances are and what type of product or service you want.

If you’re looking for a basic savings product or straightforward car or house insurance, you might not need regulated financial advice.

However, if it’s something more complicated like a pension, investment or mortgage, don’t risk going it alone unless you’re certain you know what you’re doing.

If you’re not, then get advice from a regulated professional – not doing so could cost you far more than you will pay in fees.

Suddenly there is an extra cost involved if you need to seek professional advice. This comes at a cost. A cost that isn't affordable when you're living on an already stretched budget. If you can't get that advice how can you be certain that this loan is right for you?

The DWP say they won't cover the cost of financial advice. 

Where does this leave people?

The Money Advice Trust - the charity running the National Debtline raised their concerns about the changes to SMI, as did Turn2us. See https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-government-quietly-axed-free-10958915 for their quote.

Has anyone contacted the National Debtline about their situation and would you recommend it to others?
I'm really concerned about the short time left before the changes come in. 

It's been really helpful seeing all your posts. Please keep asking questions and posting. 

Have a good evening

Debbie

sandraM

Hi Debbie, your last 2 links above don't seem to be working.

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @sandraM,

Thanks for letting me know, I hadn't realised. I've edited now and hopefully they work now.
There's been some recent coverage about the changes which you can find in this link (hope it works)

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/thousands-facing-real-hardship-even-11940919

Have a good day

Debbie

sleepy1

Hi Debbie

Just read that link!

"“Over time, someone’s house is likely to increase in value, so it is reasonable that anyone who has received financial help towards their mortgage should be asked to pay that back if there is ­available equity when the ­property is sold.”"

I really don't know where to begin on that statement, but will give it a try. 

So if you work hard all your life take on a mortgage buy a property pay lots of tax and are unfortunate to become too ill to work, all the taxes that you paid earlier on in life now count for nothing as you will be made to pay again (where possible) anyway.

Oh yes that sounds very reasonable!

Don't think it will just stop with SMI claw back, I think they will try and extend this to all other benefits.

Workhouse's could be the next big thing me thinks X

sleepy1

Hello Sandra, was going to say hope you are well but thought twice about it.........hope you are coping under the circumstances.

Thought this link might come in handy

https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/

Did you look at that Mirror link Debbie posted?

Hugs Rosie

sandraM

Thank you Rosie @sleepy1

I think the mountain bothies are a place of shelter for hillwalkers to get in from the cold. I would also need a neig@sleepy1
Because I'm such a bad sleeper I would like a semi bungalow or such like but you know the old saying "Wanting and getting are 2 different things" I know I can't afford one and even the mobile homes are extor@sleepy1

How are you getting on? Sending (((((HUGS))))) back.