Serious debt problems - please help me!

angelaf_3

Sorry I can't help in any other way but I can help bump u up. Hope that works. Good luck.

dack_2

Thanks for the bump Angel. :beer:

RAS

Hi

Dack

Not an expert on the benefits. Do you have a benefits advisor attached to your council? Or could CAB help.

You could pm debt doctor who knows this stuff.

Ossireo

Hi Dack

Got a little bit of blurb from my own experience, but I am not an expert.

Tax Credits is a confusion in its own right as your award is basically an estimate for the current year based of your previous years Income (nice and peachy of you are in a stable job with no changes!!!!)

Basically any change you report will prompt a recalculation and change in the amount you are paid (for example I went from earning 18k to being on Income Support in Aug 07 so my money changed as soon as I rang up)

What then happens is they heavily rely on your review form at the end of a tax year to finalise the award for the previous year and arrange to recover overpayments from the current award. Which is why people tend to end up with lots of overpayments if they dont report changes during the year.

As far as the Mortgage Protection Policy, it is usual that this is disregarded (once its verified its for the mortgage only) as its to cover your housing costs in effect and is not an "income" unlike some Income Plans/Income bonds. "Other Income" for an Income Based benefit such as Job Seekers Allowance & Income Support is a bit of a minefield and requires a Specialist Decision by DWP.

Tax Credits have a comprehensive list of what they deem as 'Income' and if its not on that list you don't need to worry about it (below is taken from their website)

Other Income
As well as social security benefits and earnings from your work, we also take into account other income.

You only need to include other income if it adds up to more than £300 for the tax year. If it does, you only need to enter the amount that exceeds £300 (in the case of a couple, £300 should be deducted from your joint income). However, for Adult Dependant's Grant and miscellaneous income you need to include the full amount.

The different types of other income taken into account are

• Savings, Investments and Dividends
• State Pensions
• Occupational/Personal Pensions
• income from Property
• Trusts and Settlements
• Estates
• Foreign Income
• Notional Income
• Adult Dependant's Grant
• Miscellaneous Taxable Income

I know from a personal view I tend to contact them and just ask for clarification, if they tend to say something will be unfavourable to me, thats when I start digging for more details. If they say not to worry about it I make sure I note down who tells me that so if it turns out to be wrong later you can argue that any overpayment is official error!

Hope its a little (even if longwinded) help!

Nicola

dack_2

Thanks for your replies, sorry I haven't been back for a while, thought thread got lost in this huge forum

Nicola, many thanks for your comprehensive reply. Your info helps a lot and has made things much clearer.

Dack