Can you advise my friend?

kate705

Hi there,

I am friends with a couple who have a son aged 18months and the wife is expecting again in 2 months. They live in a housing assosiation house.

The husband had several heart attacks and is advised at the moment not to work. His wife is working (low pay) cleaning.

Since he had to give up his job he has tried to claim housing benefit but the amount awarded to them does not cover the rent. Therefore he is now in arrears and has been threatened with eviction. He has a loan and credit card with Lloyds.

He has explained his situation to Lloyds but unfortunately when his benefits go into the account Lloyds take their cut for the card and loan and leave him with nothing. As said before he is getting into debt with rent and also council tax. He has had some success in arguing that Lloyds repay some of the charges but they are putting his housing at risk by taking a big share of his money.

Through reading posts on this site I advised him to get a new bank account (as everyone on here says) he cannot do this as his credit is now spoiled and his account is not good.

How does he pay the priority bills when Lloyds keep taking out such a big percentage. He keeps getting angina because of the stress.

Thanks everyone....

**MissL2**

Hi

I'm not an expert I'm sure someone will come along soon but just wanted suggest they visit the Citizens Advice who will give them freem impartial advice

Lx

RAS

Hi

They need to get themselves a new basic bank account that does not need a credit check to stop the bank offfsetting their debts against the account and to speak to shelter urgently. Will be back with details soon.

Also they need to speak to one of the debt charities. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help If the bank have been helping themsleves to benefits, it may just be possible to get that paid back and use it to settle some of the rent arears.

98jdougl

to echo the previous poster- he needs a new bank account, even with bad credit he can get a basic account with no credit facilities or, from my recollection you can get the benefits paid by giro (cash it at post office) which is designed to stop the bank taking oney from your benefits if you are overdrawn etc

kate705

Thanks so much for the information i will show him your replies.

RAS

Your friends need a bank account that is not related to any of their previous credit providers. List here.
http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk...k_accounts.pdf

kate705

Thanks RAS really kind of you x

fatbelly

kate705 wrote: »

They live in a housing assosiation house....

His wife is working (low pay) cleaning.

Since he had to give up his job he has tried to claim housing benefit but the amount awarded to them does not cover the rent.

There are usually less problems with getting HB for a housing association property than with private rented property because the rent amount is, by definition, fair. When the partner gives up work, that should mean full HB and full Council Tax Benefit

If we take LLoyds out of the equation (maybe £1 per month to the loan, £1 to the overdraft), would the budget balance?

Are there other factors or debts here? Could you persuade them to put together a statement of affairs?

kate705

I asked him last night why his partner did not give up work. He said that she has some debts of her own with another bank. If she were to give up work and claim benefits she would not be able to pay her debts either.

Does this make sense to anyone? They say that the charges for unauthorised borrowing are rocketing but Lloyds have repaid some of these. I think they are in a catch22 position.

I will let him know about the basic bank accounts, once this happens do they offer a token amount to the bank until he can get back to work?

Many Thanks

MrsTinks

Kate ideally we really need him to come on here and do a full SOA so we can see what is going on But yes he really needs to open a basic account for his benefits and also to pay his priority debts - an overdraft is not a priority so the bank can sniffle off for now
Tell him to contact CAB and see if they have an emergency appointment

MrsTinks

And until we know how much he has after important bills then we can't really say if there IS anything to offer the bank - they will have to wait