What do I do if I cannot afford my mortgage repayments?
The most important thing is that you’re open and honest with your bank before you get to the point of financial despair. It is critical that you protect your future credit rating as much as possible. You should speak to your lender before your bills mount up. Before approaching your bank read the Irish Mortgage Federations Code of Practice on Mortgage Arrears on the http://www.ibf.ie website. Ensure you have all the facts and entitlements in advance of meeting your bank
Option 1
Request a payment holiday whereby you will not have to make any repayments of capital or interest. This is what you should ask for first.
Option 2
Ask to be moved to interest only until you are back on your financial feet
Option 3
The Mortgage Interest Supplement. provides short term support to help you pay your mortgage interest repayments. You will only get assistance with the interest portion of your mortgage repayments.
What is the process?
To apply, fill in a Mortgage Interest Supplement Form . Part of the form will need to be filled in by your lending agency. You will also need to fill in another form called the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Form – this form is used to gather additional details relevant to your application for Mortgage Interest Supplement. The Community Welfare Officer or local Citizens Information Service will help you complete these forms
When you apply for Mortgage Interest Supplement the Community Welfare Officer will assess your means. This will show the Community Welfare Officer how much of the mortgage interest you can pay. A means test examines all your sources of income. However, some income is not taken into account in the calculation of your means. You may qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if your income is below a certain amount and you meet the other conditions. Check out http://www.welfare.ie for more details
http://www.careermentors.ie, Mairead Griffin, Career Coach & Outplacement Specialist
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What do I do if I cannot afford my rent?
You may qualify for a Rent Supplement if you live in private rented accommodation and are unable to meet the cost of your rent. You must be in receipt of either a Social Welfare payment or Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) payment in order to receive this Supplement.
Community Welfare Officers (CWO’s) in local Health Centres have guidelines on what is considered reasonable accommodation for your family size.
If your rent is above the maximum ‘cap’ or limit for your family size the Health Board can refuse to pay any rent supplement. Each HSE district has its own maximum rent levels and different levels apply to single people, couples and couples/lone parents with children.
If you apply for a Rent Supplement you will be referred to your local authority for an ‘assessment of housing needs’. You may not qualify for a rent supplement until a housing assessment has been completed by the local authority.
Some of the most common reasons that people do not qualify for a rent supplement are:
- The rent is too high
- Your income is too high
- One member of the household is working full-time (over 30 hours
per week or more)
Rent / Mortgage Interest Supplement
Taking up part-time employment can effect your Rent/Mortgage supplement. Income is assessed in the following way:
The first €75 of ‘additional household income’ is disregarded.
Additional household income over €75 is disregarded at 25% of its value
There is no upper limit on the amount that can be disregarded.
For more information on this contact http://www.inou.ie or http://www.welfare.ie
http://www.careermentors.ie Mairead Griffin, Career Coach & Outplacement Specialist
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