Hi all
Dx March this year
main symptom is fatigue and slow movement on left side. Still working full time in an admin role.
My mortgage deal comes to an end soon and I will revert to the standard variable rate.
I’m currently paying interest only and was looking for my pension to pay off my outstanding capital amount in three years time.
has anyone any experience of mortgage lenders and advances to PD sufferers?
thanks
Duncan
Hi Duncan
I am currently remortgaging and my health didn’t come up in any part of the application process - I just had to provide the usual bank statements, payslips etc. That said, probably easiest to remortgage with your existing provider as there will likely be less paperwork required.
However, it sounds like you are looking to clear part or all of your mortgage from your pension - for that I believe you would need to discuss with your pension provider about drawing down early for medical reasons.
Hope that helps
JF
Thanks JF, much appreciated
I know that both our offspring has to disclose that a parent had Parkinson's but that was when they took out their first mortgage.
I am not sure of your financial position so this may not apply.
I had to give up my job due to pd symptons , I was not able to claim esa because I was then assessed as being able to work in a less stressfull environment.
I was not able to claim job seekers as had an income from a ill health pension from a previous job , this pension was more than jobseekers but less than my repayment mortgage.
I had like you only a few years to pay off my mortgage as it was a repayment mortgage I was paying very little interest.
I applied for housing benefit and got a shock ! the benefits are calculated on the interest owing not the outstanding loan. ok if you have just started paying your mortgage but not near the end of term.
I could pay my utility bills, food from my pension but not my mortgage. I had just moved back into my house I had been renting after my partner decided he did not want to be 'held back' married to a woman with a progressive illness.
Within 3 months my mortgage provider was threatening to re possess my home, I was 52 yrs old and living alone, no job.
I tried to change my mortgage to interest only so I could afford the payments but they refused as I had no job. I had another pension plan that would pay out in a few years but they would not accept this as not yet applied for.
The only job I could find was a phone line job as a Tarot Card reader ! where a company put calls through to my landline. no joke I paid off my mortgage telling people they would meet a tall dark hansom stranger , sold all my jewellery some of great sentimental value and anything else not screwed down.
Check what benefits you would be entitled to in a worst case scenario, keep to interest only or endowment ? repayments type of mortgage may be not the best idea.
I am no expert just know how near I came to having my home repossessed.
Wishing you all the best, I hope your retirement plans go well just cover all bases. x
Wow, I am both impressed and saddened in equal measure. I do suspect that there are many of us with Parkinson's facing losing our jobs and homes and in my experience, advice is pretty hard to come by. I am clinging on to a job that I can no longer do well, if I'm honest, because if I lose my job, I can't cover the mortgage and I will be homeless.
I am waiting to be advised that I am no longer capable of safely working in my current setting BUT that I am capable of doing 'something' so I will get neither benefits nor early retirement. My employer would dearly love to lose me because budgets are everything and I'm going to become a financial burden at some point and I can already hear the cliches about tough love and letting people move on to the next stage of their journey - personally, my life with Parkinson's is not a journey, it's a car crash!
Thank you for posting this, I can't emulate it but it lessens the sense of isolation that can descend. I won't rant about the lack of useful, non vague and non fluffy information for pwp regarding mortgages and other financial challenges - and i seem to have used up my allowance of replies anyway - but ......
Take care. j :-S
Oops, 45 mins to type a post and I still got it wrong! Arghh.. I can't copy and paste any more, I get a message about pressing keys I don't have on a touchscreen. Am I just being dozy! Anyway, it was supposed to say I have used up my ration of replies to my midnight rants from the poor souls at PUK who have to read them :-S Better, however, than the ones I sent to my manager and HR. And you can't delete work emails, they just get archived - who knew? PD and hormonal mood swings huh! J :-Z. :-Z.
I was self employed when I had to give up my job as contract work was better paid , thought I would be able to cut down hours ,and gave up a permanent job, eek! just wasnt planning on the pd diagnosis.
If in a permanent job you may be able to tweak your workload etc under the disability act, reasonable adjustments could be made to make things easier ? If you have a work pension and you become ill and unable to work as poorly may be able to claim ill health pension.
The concern is some employers may go down the route of Incompetency , where management may start to accumulate evidence that you are unable to do your job. If they take this route may make it difficult to claim ill health pension.
In any case I think it may be worth seeing if there is a free legal centre in your area, sometimes called employment centres. You need legal advice to just check out what your rights are. Are you in a union ? if not are you able to join one UNISON , ? they would fight your corner.
I am sorry for firing things at you but it is a minefield and stress just does not help. I truly wish you can get some piece of mind at least be reassured of how to play it for the best outcome for you. Your employers will be doing exactly the same.
Take Care xx
Me again,
Pensions do vary but for most you are able to claim early payment of your pension on ill health grounds should you meet the criteria.
1. Are not able to do your job due to an illness that will not improve .
2. Are not capable of working over 30 hrs.
You need to have a read of the pension blurb and check what the criteria is for your pension.
I feel like I am going on a bit but worried for you.
TH xx
Hi Tee Hee,
Thank you so much for your replies, all advice is gratefully received so you're definitely not going on.
As I understand it, I can be dismissed on health capability but still considered fit enough to do some 'other' job which would mean that I wouldn't qualify for my pension. The earliest I can take it is 55 so my revised PD life plan has been to hang on until then in any way I can. It does have a few failings I have to admit but I have been clinging on for a year or more in the face of a never ending restructure. I've also been down the access to work route but it's a difficult balance as I work in education and sooner or later fitness to teach is going to be mentioned. In reality, management and HR don't like this diagnosis and never have but it would be hard to prove.
My union, pretty much in line with other organisations, doesn't really like to get involved in individual cases as this costs time and money and yields little. The last advice I was given was to make the most of my 10 minutes of being listened to because it would quickly pass and after that nobody would be interested. My line manager's take is that if I cannot do my job I will need to reduce it - she's not big on adjustments. I can push for these and will get them - but as you know better than me, maintaining the energy to do so is tricky.
I will keep seeking advice while simultaneously perfecting my cat with claws impression.
Anyway, enough of my moaning, thank you again for the replies and advice.
Hope things are as ok as they can be with you. J :)
55 yrs unless granted for ill health , it is payable earlier.
Your pension may say not fit to do your job as a teacher, but you can do other jobs that are not as stressful as teaching and still get your pension.
Please check the 55 yrs bit.
Contact your pension provider. Be wary of the capability procedures they could get rid of you before you apply for ill health pension.
I had a ill health pension paid out before 55 and was employed in another capacity and was allowed to work 30 hours or less.
In pension speak it may say not able to undertake gainful employment, this is misleading it means work full time NOT and that you can only work less than 30hrs due to illness.
It looks like it means cannot do another job but you can.
Pensions information is written in a legal speak manner and you really need to thrash out the detail.
TH xx
Sorry gainful employment means not being able to work full time it does not mean you have to be not capable of doing any other work.
Check your pension wording its misleading.
It may be you can apply before 55yrs if ill health is preventing you being able to do your job. Carry on working on a part time less than 30 hrs basis in a less stressful role.
Discuss with your pensions provider.
TH going on and on xxx
Hi,
Just wanted to say thank you for steering me in the right direction regarding my finances.
I've started looking into my pension and mortgage. Of course I've misplaced all the necessary passwords and so I'm having to prove I'm me (which is taking a while) - and I've already got confused, but it's a start.
Thank you. :). J
