Mortgage Interest Supplement

Information

Mortgage Interest Supplement provides short term support to help you pay your mortgage interest repayments. Your interest is assessed as your gross monthly interest less mortgage interest relief and any mortgage allowance or mortgage subsidy payable towards the interest part of your mortgage by the local authority.

You will only get assistance with the interest portion of your mortgage repayments. You will not get help with the portion that pays off the actual loan and house insurance. You should contact your lender to discuss repaying the actual loan.

If you have a consolidated loan, only the interest portion of your loan that relates to the essential purchase, repair or maintenance of your home will be taken into account.

Rules

To get Mortgage Interest Supplement you must meet the following conditions:

• When you began your mortgage, you could afford the repayments 
• Your house is not up for sale 
• The amount of your mortgage interest payable does not exceed an amount the Health Service Executive considers reasonable to meet your residential and other needs
• Only the portion of your loan that relates to the essential purchase, repair or maintenance of your home will be taken into account
• It is reasonable to award mortgage interest supplement having regard to any arrears on the loan 
• You are habitually resident in this State.

You won’t qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if:

• You or your spouse or partner works more than 29 hours a week (for exceptions to this rule - see ‘Employment and Mortgage Interest Supplement' below) 
• You are involved in a trade dispute
• You are attending full time education (for exceptions to this rule - see 'Education and Mortgage Interest Supplement' below)
• You are unlawfully in the State 
• You have made an application for asylum under the Refugee Act, 1996 and such application is awaiting final decision by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform 
• You have made an application under the Aliens Act, 1935 to remain in the State and such application has not been determined 
• You are admitted to an institution (for example, a hospital) for a period of in excess of 13 weeks.

Employment and Mortgage Interest Supplement

You will not qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if you are in full-time employment. That is, employment for 30 hours per week or more. (In the case of couples, if one of a couple is in full time employment, both are excluded from claiming Mortgage Interest Supplement).  However, there are special retention arrangements that may allow you to keep a proportion of your Mortgage Interest Supplement.

Note: In July 2010, the Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt Expert Group recommended that the Mortgage Interest Supplement (MIS) scheme should be revised, including a change to the qualifying conditions that will allow you to claim MIS if your partner is in full-time employment, provided you pass a means test. The Department of Social Protection has also published a report on revising the terms of this scheme. Legislation will be required to implement changes to MIS.

Special retention arrangements
You can continue to get Mortgage Interest Supplement while you are in employment under special retention arrangements, for example, if you are participating in a Community Employment Scheme or getting a Back to Work Allowance or Back to Work Enterprise Allowance. Your gross income from work must not be above €317.43 per week.

Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Family Income Supplement (FIS), PRSI, reasonable travel expenses and any childcare allowance payable on certain training courses is not taken into account in the assessment of the €317.43 weekly income limit. 

Under these special retention arrangements you will continue to get 75% of your Mortgage Interest Supplement rate during your first year in employment, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third and fourth year. After the fourth year you will no longer be entitled to Mortgage Interest Supplement if you are in employment.

Education and Mortgage Interest Supplement

You won’t qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if are attending full time education. However, if you are getting Mortgage Interest Supplement and qualify for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), you will keep an entitlement to Mortgage Interest Supplement. You will be means-tested and if you changed from a reduced social welfare payment to the standard BTEA rate it will affect the amount of supplement you get. 

Means test for Mortgage Interest Supplement

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 - see 'Rules' above.

Income taken into account for Mortgage Interest Supplement

• Net Income from employment (this is gross income less PRSI and reasonable travel expenses. A child dependant aged 17 and under in full-time education will not have their income from employment taken into account for Mortgage Interest Supplement.) 
• Social welfare payments (there are some exceptions - see 'Income not taken into account' below)
• HSE payments (there are some exceptions - see 'Income not taken into account' below) 
• Family Income Supplement 
• Cash Income (for example, maintenance) 
• All income and the value of all property of which you may have deprived yourself in order to qualify
• Capital (for example, savings, investments and property but not your own home)

The capital value of property (except your own home), savings and investments will be assessed on a weekly basis as follows:

 

Capital	Weekly means assessed as
First €5,000	Nil
Next €10,000	€1 per €1,000
Next €25,000	€2 per €1,000
Any capital over €40,000	€4 per €1,000

 

Redundancy payments

A redundancy or lump sum payment will be assessed as capital, unless it has been used to reduce the balance of your mortgage or other outstanding loans.

Income not taken into account when calculating Mortgage Interest Supplement

When calculating your Mortgage Interest Supplement, the Community Welfare Officer (CWO) will not take into account the following income:  

• An amount equal to the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) rate for your household circumstances 
• Child Benefit
• Mobility Allowance  
• Foster care payments from the Health Service Executive (HSE)
• Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act 
• Income from Gaeltacht students 
• Grants or allowances from schemes promoting the welfare of blind people
• Money received from charitable organisations, for example, St Vincent de Paul 
• Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board 
• Maintenance grants paid by VEC or Local Authorities for educational purposes 
• Domiciliary Care Allowance  
• Income from employment with the HSE as a Home Help 
• If you are aged 65 or over (or where one of a couple is of pensionable age) and have a combined household income greater than the rate of SWA appropriate to your household circumstances, you are allowed a disregard equal to the difference between the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) appropriate to your circumstance and the rate of SWA appropriate to your circumstances 
• The half-rate Carer's Allowance 
• If you are getting the standard Carer's Allowance payment for caring for two people, the amount of Carer's Allowance above the appropriate SWA rate for your situation (either the adult dependent rate or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account.   
• Any amount of Carer's Benefit in excess of the basic SWA rate for your situation (either the adult dependent rate or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account. 
• Respite Care Grant 
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory) and Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory) 
• Rehabilitative Earnings Disregard is a certain amount of your income from rehabilitative work which is not taken into account. If you are getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension, €120 from rehabilitative training or employment is not taken into account in the assessment for Mortgage Interest Supplement. Any earnings over €120 from rehabilitative training or employment will affect your Mortgage Interest Supplement. If you are earning above €120 you can be assessed using either under Rehabilitative Earnings Disregard or the Household Income Disregard (but not both) whichever is in your interest. 
• Household income disregard is a certain amount of your household income which is not taken into account. €75 of any additional household income is not taken into account. Also, 25% of additional household income over €75 is not taken into account. There is no upper limit on the amount that can be disregarded.

Additional household income is income from part time employment or part time self-employment, maintenance payments in excess of €95.23, Family Income Supplement, Community Employment (CE), Back to Work Allowance, Back to Enterprise Allowance or FÁS course.

Maintenance and Mortgage Interest Supplement

Maintenance is assessed as additional household income (see above) and the household income disregard is used to find out how much of your maintenance is taken into account as means.

For example, if your only additional income is maintenance, all of your maintenance payment up to €95.23 per week is assessed in full. The next €75, which is any maintenance between €95.23 and €170.23, is not taken into account. 25% of all maintenance over €170.23 is also not taken into account.

Your contribution to mortgage interest (Household Contribution)

You must pay at least €24 towards your mortgage interest.  You may pay more than €24 because you must also contribute any means you have towards your mortgage interest.

 

 

Rates

Calculating Mortgage Interest Supplement

Calculating your Mortgage Interest Supplement can be difficult. The Community Welfare Officer in your local health centre will decide if you are eligible for Mortgage Interest Supplement and calculate the amount you will get.

The Community Welfare Officer (CWO) will add together all your income which is taken into account in the means test for Mortgage Interest Supplement. The CWO will then subtract any income not taken into account. Your remaining income and Household Contribution are added together to find your contribution to your mortgage interest - see 'Means test' above. Find out more about Calculating Mortgage Interest Supplement.

The Mortgage Interest Supplement payable to you is the difference between your actual mortgage interest and your contribution to mortgage interest, as long as the difference between the two is a reasonable amount to meet your residential needs. Your CWO may use the maximum rent limits set out for Rent Supplement as a guide to decide what a reasonable amount is. 

Generally the CWO will ensure that your income after paying the interest on your mortgage does not fall below a minimum level. This level is the Supplementary Welfare Allowance minus €24.

How to apply

To apply, fill in an application form for Mortgage Interest Supplement (pdf). Part of the form will need to be filled in by your lending agency. You will also need to fill in a separate Supplementary Welfare Allowance application form (pdf), 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 can help you fill in these forms.

The type of documents you need to bring include:

• Identity documents for you and your dependents, such as full Birth Certificates, passports, driving license, work permit, immigration (GNIB) card
• Documents to show your income and financial situation, such as pay slips, P45, P35, P60, bank statements
• Documents to prove where you live, such as electricity, gas or phone bills
• Documents to prove you have a mortgage and your ownership of the property, such as loan application, loan offer, solicitors letter and other documents that the CWO may request.

You can get a complete list of the documents you may need when applying for Mortgage Interest Supplement.

The CWO will usually visit you to confirm your circumstances.

Appealing a decision made by the Health Service Executive (HSE)

If you are not satisfied with a decision made in relation to Mortgage Interest Supplement, first find out why the decision was made by asking the Community Welfare Officer, who will give you the reasons in writing. If you have any extra documentation to back up your case, give this to the Community Welfare Officer.

Then talk to the Superintendent Community Welfare Officer about the decision. They can change the decision if your case deserves it.

If the decision is not changed, ask for an appeal form. Put in as much detail as possible and keep photocopies of everything. If your appeal is not successful, you are entitled to have the appeal referred to the Chief Appeals Office in the Social Welfare Appeals Office. You can ask for a face-to-face hearing and you can bring along a representative to help you argue your case.

Where to apply

To apply for Mortgage Interest Supplement contact the Community Welfare Officer at your Local Health Centre.