claiming unemployment benefit and mortgages

[debbie2525]

Can anyone please inform me if you can claim some kind of mortgage payment assistance if you are claiming unemployment benefit over here?

[spanish_lad]

if you are claiming unemployment benifits here then im sure that you can go to the bank and speak to them. make an appointment with with manager, take proof that you are recieving it. request that they reduce you to paying the interest only ?


just as an aside, noticed a thing in the sur - telefonica are offering a 25% discount on telephone bills and movistar contract phone bills if you are on benifits.

[debbie2525]

Hi, husband not unemployed yet but i feel it is a matter of time. he went to the bank and the manager said that if you prove that you cannot pay the full mortgage they can reduce it.......but it costs 2000 euros to set up!!!!!! Don,t know if this applies if you are claiming benefits though.

[spanish_lad]

yeah it wont be like a 2000 euro bill to pay there on the spot, it´ll be 2000 added to the total mortgage cost.

hope he dont get let go, it sucks. i was let go in october, still waiting for wages and payslip.. without it i couldn´t claim and the guy wont take my calls. spain.. is.. great.. yay

[debbie2525]

yeah, even though i love the weather, food etc, sometimes Spain really gets me down i think if you find a decent employer here you are really lucky.

[spanish_lad]

i was on a v. good wage and everything paid. it was a fantastic job. it all went downhill when the big boys stopped building golf courses

nevermind, sorry bout the hijack

anyone know anything about mortgages?

[clarkie]

Hi
In reply to Debbie2525, a friend of mine was unable to pay his mortgage because he was not being paid by his employer He went to the bank to see if he could change to paying Interest Only for a period of say 6 months, during which time he hoped that the situation with his employer would be resolved. His bank would not temporarily switch him to Interest Only. It does cost quite a lot to change over to Interest Only apparently and, of course, my friend did not have the funds to pay for this. His bank did not offer for the costs to be added to the mortgage debt. However, his bank did help him out in another way - they extended the term of the mortgage thus reducing his actual monthly payment, which was better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick! This obviously depends on your age as they will not usually extend the term past your 75th birthday. All he had to do was to go with the bank to the Notary and the cost was €275, so this is a cheaper option if you end up having to do so. Good Luck!

[debbie2525]

Thanks for that info, but worst fears realised...husband has been laid off, he will be able to claim unemployment benefit so i hope that they will be able to help with our mortgage until we both find work again. Hopefully we will find out tomorrow when he signs on.

[Julie]

Sorry to hear that Debbie

[spanish_lad]

Hi
In reply to Debbie2525, a friend of mine was unable to pay his mortgage because he was not being paid by his employer He went to the bank to see if he could change to paying Interest Only for a period of say 6 months, during which time he hoped that the situation with his employer would be resolved. His bank would not temporarily switch him to Interest Only. It does cost quite a lot to change over to Interest Only apparently and, of course, my friend did not have the funds to pay for this. His bank did not offer for the costs to be added to the mortgage debt. However, his bank did help him out in another way - they extended the term of the mortgage thus reducing his actual monthly payment, which was better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick! This obviously depends on your age as they will not usually extend the term past your 75th birthday. All he had to do was to go with the bank to the Notary and the cost was €275, so this is a cheaper option if you end up having to do so. Good Luck!

ouch.. but as you said, a cheaper option

[frog]

well guys spain is a *beep* place ,if you got no money you get no money,most people would be lucky to get a contract to get a bit of dole,just remember that when you move here ,you cant scrounge of the state like you can in uk

anyway whats happening with kerry katona

[Tartan Bar]

with being layed of from my job in january I went to unemploded centre found them verry help full also found out for
dole money have to work 366 days you will get about 800€ per month less money if you have not work366 days.
also they is top up if you are willing to sing up for corses they is one running at the moment where if you were layed of from work on the 1st jan 2008 and not getting any money you can get 350€ per month
but no help with morage But bank told use to put are 18 year old on to morgage as you get more years to pay of and under the spanish law the house will be hers when we are dead so she will pay less death duties as she alread own a some of the house

[JAWG]

This is probably going to elicit all kinds of adverse comments. But here goes.

Tartan Bar may I suggest that you read your postings before actually posting them. I have read postings with a lot of mistakes in the past, but yours takes the cake. More mistakes than contained in any two previous postings.

(Having said that, I probably made several errors in either spelling or basic punctuation.)

[DWPinSpain]

One thing about unemployment benefit in Spain - you don't have to have worked a year to be entitled but you must have made some contributions to social security.

Spain calculates the amount you are entitled to based on your last 6 year's social security contributions. If you don't have 6 years contributions in Spain they have to take into account your contributions across other EU countries. They do this through form E301 which you can get from the HMRC. Download the application form here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/2005/ca3916.pdf

When this form arrives take it to the INEM office where you made your application and they should recalculate your benefit. Don't wait for it to arrive though, get your claim in immediately! You only have 15 days after being made unemployed.

[janda_grant2]

Isn't it nice to get a reply from the horses mouth (sorry DWP, I'm sure you're not really a horse!)

[Tartan Bar]

In reply to AWG the post was sent by my wife who is severely dyslexic. She was just trying to help and your reaction is a bit over the top I feel.

[Andy1]

Tartan Bar, ignore him! There are some people that don't want to contribute to forums just lurk about and criticise people when they try to help. I knew what was being said, it doesn't take a genius to work through any spelling mistakes.

I think the nit picking JAWG was totally unjust. This forum is also open to people that have dyslexia, people from other countries where English isn't their first language etc etc. Why don't you go back to your original promise and quit posting and stick to 'monitoring' as you call it!

PS, I haven't done a spell check or grammar check...shame you can't overwrite posts with a red font eh, as that would give you something to do all day.

[Jool]

So under the rules are you allowed to claim anything in Spain as an ex self employed person (which is what I will be soon) as I have made over 6 years contributions to TGSS here in Spain? The local unemployment office tells me I am entitled to nothing........and I cannot find anything more out.....is there anything you can suggest?

[Paula]

Unbelievable!! Someone posts useful information and gets slagged off that it doesn't pass the grammar and spelling standards wanted by the chosen few!

Only a matter of time before this forum consists of half a dozen people chatting to each other about the bloody weather.

[blondie]

With regards to benefits over here, for every year you have worked \9on a contract) you accumulate 3 have months dole. if you have worked autonomo you wont get anything(which is very unfair) having said that they are apparently looking at letting autonomos also be able to claim dole in the future - which doesnt help anyone for now.

Mortgage-wise, it depends on your bank. Some have signed up to help people out if they are having problems paying - a friend of mine has cut his payments in half just by letting the bank know he would have to give up the house if they didnt help him out. My bank were nowhere near as helpful, I actually had to take in my escritura to check whether we could do anything re stopping payments for a while. As it turns out my escritura allows it up to 3 times during the life of the mortgage, for upto 12 months at a time. Unfortunately I havent paid off enough of the capital yet so I can only stop it for 3 months. But hey its better than nothing - at least we can stop it until it gets renewed at a lower rate!