Your Universal Credit (UC) claim can include a claim for help paying your housing costs, including mortgage interest payments.

These payments are known as Support for Mortgage Interest payments (SMI).

SMI payments are paid as a loan, but you will only have to pay it back once you sell the house or give it to someone else. The payments can help you pay the interest on your mortgage. It cannot help you pay anything towards the capital sum of your mortgage.

You can usually claim help with interest payments on loans up to £200,000.

The amount you get is based on a set rate of interest on what’s left of your mortgage. The rate is set at the Bank of England’s average mortgage rate. Check Gov.uk to find out the current rate and further information.

You can usually get SMI starting from 3 months after you claimed Universal Credit.

Payments are paid straight to your lender.

The payments are paid as a loan. This means that you have to pay them back, with interest, when you sell or transfer ownership of your home. The current rate of interest added to the loan is 3.03% but this may go up or down.

If you are claiming UC but cannot afford your mortgage, you might have to reconsider your housing options. Have a look at our pages on mortgage arrears and mortgage repossession for further advice.