Home Owners: Helping you to keep your home and where to get advice

Are you able to increase your regular weekly income or obtain a one off extra sum of money? This could help pay your mortgage and arrears. 

The checklist below contains some suggestions - remember there could be other possibilities and you can discuss all of these with one of the free money advice agencies or citizen advice bureaux listed at the end of this leaflet.

• Are you receiving all the welfare benefits, or the correct levels of welfare benefits, you are entitled to?
• Do you have any insurance policies you might be able to claim on? For example mortgage protection insurance, payment protection insurance, or loss of earnings insurance? Remember even if these policies have been declined it might still be possible to get them to pay out.
• If you are not working, can you or any partner get a part-time job? If you work for 16 hours or more per week you may be eligible for Working Tax Credits which could substantially increase your income. Support might be available to help you re-train for work and develop new skills.
• If you have children and are separated, are you getting all the maintenance you are entitled to?
• Are you paying too much tax? (including income tax and council tax).  
• Do you own anything you could sell to raise some cash? (don't sell something you owe money on).
• If you have a spare room, can you take in a lodger? (ask your mortgage lender for permission first).
• Have you had credit card or bank charges applied to your account(s)? Your advisor might be able to reclaim some of these on hardship grounds.
• If you are a student, can you get a larger student loan or an emergency payment? 

If your struggling financially it's easy to be tempted to borrow more money as a short term fix. But borrowing at very high interest rates - like payday loans - will only make things worse. It is always better to negotiate a reasonable repayment plan with your lender.

Free help with all of these possibilities to increase your income is available from the free money advice agencies and citizen advice bureaux listed at the end of this leaflet.