It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Carly84

What lovely words Sylvan. An inspiration. Thank u x

Carly84

Oh & I did ring the jobcentre back to query this.
They told me that the government states that you can live on £60.50 a week.
My husband pays his half of mortgage = £235 a month. They 'generously' let me 'keep' £20 a week of this & then minus the rest off the £60.50 a week that I can supposedly live on, hence £26.27.
What makes me mad is that this rule applies whether u have a mortgage & bills or if you live with your mum still. Whether you have depedants or not. Where's the logic in that. They said that CTC was there for my daughter but I clearly told him whats the point in that if I havent got enough to keep the roof over our heads.
Makes

Carly84

Oh & I did ring the jobcentre back to query this.
They told me that the government states that you can live on £60.50 a week.
My husband pays his half of mortgage = £235 a month. They 'generously' let me 'keep' £20 a week of this & then minus the rest off the £60.50 a week that I can supposedly live on, hence £26.27.
What makes me mad is that this rule applies whether u have a mortgage & bills or if you live with your mum still. Whether you have depedants or not. Where's the logic in that. They said that CTC was there for my daughter but I clearly told him whats the point in that if I havent got enough to keep the roof over our heads.
Makes no sense at all to me!

Sylvan

Looks as though I jumped the gun though - I see you already knew about the DSS and your husbands mortgage payments. Typical - my family say I'll be late for my own funeral!:rotfl:

It used to be the case that the power companies weren't allowed to cut you off for non-payment of bills if you had small children, and that new mortgage interest deferment scheme for people that have lost their jobs would probably help, if you're worried about the next couple of months.

It's awful having to go into debt but it will feel so good when you clear it.

<hug>

ceridwen

Sylvan wrote: »

Just a thought - is your gas for running central heating? We found that whenever we had long power cuts it didn't matter how much gas we had because the pump runs on electricity, so you can heat the water but it won't go anywhere. Spent 5 days with no power and several feet of snow one year, thanking our lucky stars that we had ONE open hearth. :rotfl:

Oh well.....in that case...I wont feel bad about asking whether I am correct in my assumption that my gas fire (one of those Baxi Bermuda ones - of the type that used to have a back boiler behind it - till I got a decent boiler) will work as normal even if the electric goes off.

love (totally non-techno minded ceridwen)

(I knew my gas central heating/water heating wouldnt work if the electric is off - but am comforting myself with the thought that "At least I'll have one warm room whatever - because of that gas fire").

ceridwen

Hi Carly

Re that holiday due in January that you say you had already booked and paid for - then that money tied up in the holiday could presumably be released for living on - by claiming on the insurance you took out on that holiday? I can understand why you would be planning to go on the holiday anyway - i.e. keep life as normal as possible and surely you will get another job soon? - but I'm thinking it would be wise to cancel the holiday and claim that insurance on it - its safer to think "no job is a done deal - until I actually physically have it and have started it". (I am reading a lot of stuff these days re people who have even got the letter telling them their start date - and the firm turns round and changes their mind.)

Errrrr....I guess you DID take out insurance on the holiday?

I was wondering how come so little money from the D.W.P. - of course, that would explain it.....no mortgage interest for however-many-weeks (basically the first 39 weeks for a recent-ish mortgage I believe) - so you are due for rather more money than this from them - but not until you've gone through that (39?) weeks. I recall when this was brought in years ago - I bought my house so many years ago that it was the case at that time that if one went onto benefit then all the mortgage interest was paid straight away (apart from that initial 3 days where one gets nothing) and that was the case whatever the size of the mortgage and it went on however long one was claiming benefit for. So I knew - at that time - that I was totally safe for my mortgage being covered by the D.H.S.S. (as was) however long I was out of work for. All I had to watch out for was that my mortgage was a repayment mortgage - not an endowment one (which I had made sure it was when I took it out) and that I held that mortgage with a respectable lender (ie they would then accept that they were getting interest only - and no capital repaid - for however long I was on benefit). So - I had total safety for those payments.

Things changed and they introduced swingeing cuts - and the main one of which is that initial period of some months before the D.W.P. (as now is) pays the mortgage interest. At the time it was stated - think it still is - that homeowners would have to cover that mortgage interest themselves - by means of taking out insurance cover that would pay that interest for them if they went onto benefit.

Errrr.....I guess you havent got that insurance cover? I just have this awful feeling that a lot of people don't take out that insurance cover - and keep their fingers crossed instead that they would never need to claim on it:eek:
(NOTE TO PEEPS GENERALLY - THAT MORTGAGE PROTECTION INSURANCE COVER IS AS NECESSARY AS THE INSURANCE ON THE HOUSE ITSELF).

Purple_Sparkles

Hugs Carly,

I've been in the same boat and can appreciate how you feel, it's not easy but you'll get through it I'm sure. You have us to help you along.

Do check your insurance like Ceridwen says sometimes we forget we have these things.

If you don't have the insurance could you ask your mortgage provider if you could take a payment holiday for a couple of months or so just until you can find your feet. It would be one less thing to have to worry about for a while.

I hope you manage to get back on your feet soon.

Hugs x

ceridwen

Hi all

I have been pondering the plight of several posters on these Boards recently - and I do think its necessary to urge EVERYONE to be aware that no job is secure these days - its just the case that some are secureR than others - but none are totally secure.

Many younger people are maybe still thinking along the same lines I did myself when I was younger - which I guess could be summed up as "OTHER people lose THEIR jobs - it wouldnt happen to me. Its people in unskilled manual etc type jobs that lose their jobs - so I wouldnt."

Errrrr.......you might. I honestly couldnt believe it when I had a first redundancy - I wouldnt be at all surprised if my first words (I dont recall them) were "But thats not possible - it wouldnt happen to me". I then went on subsequently to have further redundancies - each time feeling surprised that it could have happened to me - even one time when I took a job that shoulda been pretty "cast iron" secure.

So - please everyone - it could happen - even to you - so do be insured on everything necessary (holidays, mortgages, etc), use spare money to get some savings - rather than pay for holidays (until such time as you have a reasonable amount of savings first) and generally take what safeguards you can to protect yourself - it COULD be you.

cw18

Carly84 wrote: »

Hello all.
I am in desperate need of advice please
Can anybody help please?

Hi Carly,

It's morning, I'm at home on my faster connection, and I'm back as promised

Assuming you were totally broke, had nothing coming in, and hadn't worked at all this Tax Year, you would qualify for

Income Support for a single adult = £60.50
Benefit for a child (paid through Tax Credits) = £52.59

Giving a total of £113.09/week

This would be reduced if you had savings over £6k, and you wouldn't qualify at all if you had savings over £16k.

You would also be allowed to keep the first part of any child support payments (I think this is £10/week if you've used CSA or £20/week if you haven't), and would qualify for full Council Tax Rebate. Mortgage Assistance kicks in after 13 weeks from next month -- and although there's nothing official I've seen yet, my understanding (and it is only an understanding from reading the benefits board) is that claims that are already in the system will also be reduced to a 13 week qualifying period. (Plus the amount they'll pay the interest on is going up from £100k to £200k).

You will also continue to receive Child Benefit (currently £18.80/week, due to rise to £20/week in January)

What it looks to me as if they've done is to treat the £235/month your ex is paying towards the mortgage as maintainance, at a rate of £54.23/week. Of this you can keep £20, so £34.23 gets deducted from your Income Support payment. (£60.50-£34.23=£26.27)

Does your ex pay this to you to pay to the mortgage company, or does he pay it direct to them? I'm not sure if it would make a difference, but they're more likely to discount it if he pays direct.

What you get from Tax Credits is also a figure I can't double check, as it will not only be based on the fact you're on Income Support, but also (as best I can tell having used their on-line calculator a few months back) on your income from last tax year/this tax years -- whichever is the lower of the two. If it's currently based on last years and you think your income this year will be lower (sounds like you've been on a lower salary, but not sure how many weeks in each year you'll have been on Maternity payments) then phone them now with an adjusted income.......


Now for the really bleak bit -- and I speak from recent experience on this, as we received IS Mortgage Interest assistance (ISMI) from Dec 07 to Feb 08.

It sounds to me like the best thing you can do is speak to your mortgage company urgently..... If you're on a repayment mortgage, then you need to see if you can get onto interest only (not all lenders will allow this, ours didn't as the value of the house didn't excess the balance of the mortgage by a sufficient amount) -- especially as you'll have to continue making the capital repayments yourself even after you start receiving ISMI. The other thing to ask is whether you can take a payment holiday (or make reduced payments) for a couple of months. My lender would have allowed me to take a 12 month holiday (we actually scraped through without needing to use this at all), but you can't start getting ISMI while you're on a payment holiday so be careful about this one. And you also need to be aware that it can take a couple of months for ISMI to start paying even once you qualify, meaning you fall into arrears then as well -- and then they pay ISMI every 4 weeks, so will still have a shortfall to make up on the interest (balanced out by a 13th payment that comes in such that they make 2 payments in one calendar month at some point in the year).


Feel free to drop me a PM (private message) if you want to talk more about things more specifically in closer detail, and I'll do what I can to point you in the right direction -- but it does look like the only way you'll get any more money is if you can convince them that the £235/month from your ex isn't actually a maintainance payment

cw18

OK, so I see some of the questions have already been asked/answered with regards to my previous post (and that my assumption on how they've done the calculations is correct) -- that'll teach me to remember to catch up on posts before starting to type In my defence, I got up and made a brew, then made this my first "stop of the day" as I'd made a promise to come back once I was on a decent connection.

You need to speak to you ex about getting him to pay the money directly to the mortgage company, as I think that's the only way you stand any chance of it not being counted against you at the moment.

But you also need to be aware that if IS are then prepared to discount this as maintainance they will expect him to start paying that as well -- and if the two of you don't come up with an amicable agreement they will drag the CSA into it.