BSA responds to Margaret Greenwood MP
For MPs dealing with affected households in constituency surgeries, please note that the DWP has confirmed that current claimants will still be able to take out an SMI loan at any time and have their payments backdated, says BSA.
BSA has responded to Margaret Greenwood's article 'Margaret Greenwood MP: The Government should halt the introduction of the loan in place of SMI' . "The latest data from the DWP shows that 5,000 claimants have not been contacted, however 54,000 (60%) claimants have been successfully contacted by phone. Attempted phone contact with 31,000 (34%) claimants has been unsuccessful.
“For those borrowers that have not yet made a decision, from here on the mortgage lender will stop receiving the monthly direct benefit payment - which pays the mortgage interest on loans up to £200,000. For some this has been the one payment stopping a bad financial situation spiralling downwards into serious arrears.
“For MPs dealing with affected households in constituency surgeries, please note that the DWP has confirmed that current claimants will still be able to take out an SMI loan at any time and have their payments backdated.”
