Bureaucracy gone mad

I have a mortgage.  I have insurance on my mortgage that pays out should I become sick or lose my job.  Yes, this is the dreaded PPI.

I have claimed on this mortgage because I lost my job.   Because I claimed, I did not look into claiming on the government's scheme to pay mortgage interest.

Out of the blue, I got a form to claim on the government's scheme.  I ignored it, assuming that even if I did claim, I would not be eligible.  But then a few weeks later, a second form comes through the door.  At this point, I start to think maybe I should fill in the form.  It is only a short time later that I receive... you guessed it... a third form.  This comes with a letter giving me a deadline to return the form.

So I fill it in.  It has to go to the building society before for them to fill in parts of it too.  But my local branch won't do it - it has to go to their head offices.  So this form goes all the way round the country and gets back to the DWP of Job Centre central HQ, or wherever.

How do I know it took this epic journey and reached its destination?  Because I get a letter and a form asking for more details about my previous mortgage.  Which is fair enough, I remortgaged only a couple of years ago.  And the mortgage before that - which ended more than ten years ago.  And the mortgage that I bought my house with - more than 15 years ago.  So I dig out all my old paperwork, blow off the dust, and answer their questions.

A few weeks after that, I get another letter and another form with a demand for further detail of my mortgages and remortgages.  If you've lost count, this is my fifth form.

And finally (so far), I got a sixth form last week.  This one is about my mortgage insurance.  I haven't filled it in yet, but I'll keep you posted if I get anymore after this.