Huge one off payment, debts and Income support

LindsayJT

Thanks for all your advice it is a lot to take in. The compensation isn;t for injury though. I wouldn't have enough to pay back all of my debt but I wanted to pay back as much as I could. I have been paying a small amount back every month but on IS I hardly get enything, and I will never be able to pay it off otherwise.

lil_me

For injury or not, it depends when it was awarded and why as to when they will consider it as part of your income from. If they only class it as capital you will probably not have to repay anything but it would effect future payments and parting with it quickly would probably be seen as Deprivation of Capital. You would be best finding out where you stand before promising to repay with it or you could leave yourself without an income or anything else to live on for quite some time. CLS may be able to help advise but if it was me I wouldn't proceed with any urgent repayment until you have IN WRITING that it won't effect your IS if you repay the debt if that is what they state. http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/en/search/index.jsp?search=Benefits&topicid=5382 Don't forget to inform them as soon as you get the cheque, letting them know as soon as it'll be in your account to save you having overpayments to repay.

LindsayJT

Wow ive known it was coming for a long time and I have already promised to pay back the debt when I get the money. I was considering banking it then writing a cheque and just not telling the IS. It clear you think that’s a mistake. I thought they might not notice.

I don’t have any written agreement for the loan but he wrote the cheques out for me for my debts so we can show IS that – will that help??. But am I still aloud to pay off a loan via my account that is not a bank loan? If it was a bank loan then could I of paid that off without it effecting my IS?

sorry to be stupid but i cant get how i cant pay back someone who helped me out becuase i dont see the money as mine when i owe it to someone else .

seven-day-weekend

LindsayJT wrote: »

Wow ive known it was coming for a long time and I have already promised to pay back the debt when I get the money. I was considering banking it then writing a cheque and just not telling the IS. It clear you think that’s a mistake. I thought they might not notice.

I don’t have any written agreement for the loan but he wrote the cheques out for me for my debts so we can show IS that – will that help??. But am I still aloud to pay off a loan via my account that is not a bank loan? If it was a bank loan then could I of paid that off without it effecting my IS?

sorry to be stupid but i cant get how i cant pay back someone who helped me out becuase i dont see the money as mine when i owe it to someone else .

But it could also be said that when you had the money in your account you wouldn't have had the benefits you've had. Therefore you owe it to the DHSS.

However, they might not decide that, come clean about it, tell them the original loan was for paying debts off and you wish to repay the person, and see what they say.

(If you'd owed it to a bank you would have been paying a monthly instalment to the bank, they would expect you to carry on doing so and not pay it off with capital. This is a different scenario).

I repeat, just come clean with them before you do anything. You might still be able to use it to pay debts, but you MUST make sure first.

Oldernotwiser

LindsayJT wrote: »

I thought they might not notice.

I do think that this is a very worrying point of view to take!

briona

As others have said, you need to get PROPER advice – there is no way you can continue to claim benefits whilst assigning 25K to pay off a debt that there is no record of!

There will be a record of your ex's cheques going into your bank account but no record of what you've actually done with the money. Since you have nothing in writing, as far as anyone's concerned, he could simply have been giving you housekeeping money or sending you out furniture shopping!

If I were you I would pull together as much paperwork as I could find – credit or store card bills showing your debt, bank statements showing your ex's cheques going in and your cheques/DDs going out to the pay the debt and a record of any repayments you've made to your ex – and armed with that, I would go get some advice ASAP.

LindsayJT wrote: »

I was considering banking it then writing a cheque and just not telling the IS. I thought they might not notice.

BAD IDEA! If you do this and get found out, there's a very good chance you'll be borrwing the money back from your ex to live on in lieu of benefits.

lil_me

LindsayJT wrote: »

Wow ive known it was coming for a long time and I have already promised to pay back the debt when I get the money. I was considering banking it then writing a cheque and just not telling the IS. It clear you think that’s a mistake. I thought they might not notice.

I don’t have any written agreement for the loan but he wrote the cheques out for me for my debts so we can show IS that – will that help??. But am I still aloud to pay off a loan via my account that is not a bank loan? If it was a bank loan then could I of paid that off without it effecting my IS?

sorry to be stupid but i cant get how i cant pay back someone who helped me out becuase i dont see the money as mine when i owe it to someone else .

Regardless of not being able to see how, rules are rules. Take it from me, someone who's been investigated because her bank account showed a large payment in ( I sold a car and repaid the finance with it but had to provide the agreement, payment details and give them contact details for the buyer, as it was only £3000 it didn't effect anything but they assumed it was from work and I was on IB), I seen the several years worth of MY bank statements they had obtained, they are watching, there is no way of hiding anything. I suggest you contact the ex and let him know the situation to keep him informed while you get advice.

ALIBOBSY

Even if you pay off a bank loan or credit card it can be classed as deprivation of capital. If you may min payments say for 2 yrs which then grandually reduced the capital it would be seen as alright.

ali x

LindsayJT

lil_me wrote: »

Regardless of not being able to see how, rules are rules. Take it from me, someone who's been investigated because her bank account showed a large payment in ( I sold a car and repaid the finance with it but had to provide the agreement, payment details and give them contact details for the buyer, as it was only £3000 it didn't effect anything but they assumed it was from work and I was on IB), I seen the several years worth of MY bank statements they had obtained, they are watching, there is no way of hiding anything. I suggest you contact the ex and let him know the situation to keep him informed while you get advice.

I never even thought they might think it was from working. ...dumb blonde! I suppose thats why they check bank accounts. They must have a trigger amount that lets them know any amount like a wage payment I suppose.
I will get every thing together and call that helpline. You are all really helpful. thankyou

manhattan

Is it not possible to sign off Is for a while so you can repay the ex then sign back on?