In April 2018, the government introduced a scheme for support for mortgage interest in the form of a loan. Claimants are usually eligible for SMI if they have a mortgage and get one of the following benefits:
Income Support
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Universal Credit
Pension Credit
Claimants can start receiving the loan:
from the date they start getting Pension Credit or
after they have claimed Income Support, income-based JSA or income-based ESA for 39 weeks in a row or after they have received Universal Credit for 9 months in a row with no earnings
The rate used to calculate the level of the loan has decreased from 2.6% to 2.09% from April 2021.
The amount of interest the government charges on the loan has increased from 0.3% to 0.6% from July 2021.
Book now for our updated– Introduction to Benefits 2021 course.