Crisis Loan

marydot

Has anyone else had trouble phoning this crisis loan ? which is a 0800 number been trying now for 3 days and impossible to get through!

Nothing I can do !! Was reading on another site it took someone 4 days to get through:eek:


so why are they even bothering having this line if no one can get through!

NASA_2

It saves money on paying out crisis loans if no-one can get through.

AsknAnswer

Of course people can get through which is in effect the problem. The reason some people have so much bother getting through is simply due to the volume of calls. There isn't much that can be done about the amount of people who call. The optimum time I believe to get through is first thing in the morning when the phone lines open.

astonsmummy

I have never had problems getting through, i've waited for about half an hour for an answer, but never days!
Best thing is to phone at 8.30am.
They do the whole application over the phone now rather than offering call backs so the lines are even busier now.

Dave81

What area do you live in, which district?

davethorp

Waited about half hour today and then told I had to call back tomorrow

atomicsheep

davethorp wrote: »

Waited about half hour today and then told I had to call back tomorrow

what time did you get through. i would always offer to call YOU back if i cant take the call

ianian99

My freind came round a while ago to use my landline as they had used all there credit calling the local 0800 crisis loan number here in coventry.
The thing here is that the call is automatically answered asking you to press 1 for crisis loan and 2 for everything else, if you press 2 it tells you that this number is for crisis loans only but if you press 1 it is ALWAYS ALWAYS engaged.
The only reason i can see for this is that the vast majority of unemployed only have PAYG mobile phones and 0800 numbers are charged at a premium with most networks and never encluded in any free minutes so their credit is used up in no time therefor either have to stand in phone box all day or go without.
You cant even call 0800 numbers from the phones in the job centre plus.
Its all a big scam on their behalf to avoid giving out money.
I'm sure there will bge numbers for NON ENGLISH SPEAKERS that
a: Are normal 01 or 02 numbers +
b: Answered straight away.
Just my opionion.

marydot

iam in the london area.Yes when you ring this 0800 number its impossible to get through as its a free number they cant put you on hold.There is 2 options when you call press 1 or 2, 2 is for the crisis loan only. I press 1 and spoke to a guy there and he sent me out the forms which i just recieved today and posted today.waited a week for this form to arrive.

The guy also told me that the line for crisis loan is imposssible to get through too not because of high volumes of calls it because it is a free number so when you ring it, they dont put you on hold..just have to keep trying!!! even called it this morning at 8.30 same thing all day!! so just sent the forms out today !!!

AsknAnswer

There are no numbers for non English Speakers. There is a text phone for people who have hearing or speech difficulties.

I have always said that if a person is in a Crisis then why not use a public phone? They are free for 0800 numbers and despite the invention of mobiles there are still plenty of them about.

I needed a Crisis Loan a while back just after the intro of the "phone" crisis loans - I don't know if it was an 0800 number then - I don't recall. The situation was my daughter was in intensive care, I was in a strange city, I had no income as I had just come off maternity leave the month before and was due to start a new job but I couldn't, because my daughter was seriously ill and they decided they were not going to hold the job open for me (nice). I had no money for food. I hadn't eaten in days. My breastmilk was expressed to be fed to my unconcious daughter through a tube. But the milk was not of good quality because I was not well enough nourished and stress was also a huge factor, making the milk that was left, dry up. I needed to get some food into me.

The hospital advised me they couldn't help and told me where to find the Social Security office in the city I was in, only to be told when I got there that they no longer dealt with face to face paper applications. I was given a number to ring and advised there was a phone box across the street. I tell you I got in that phone box, it was snowing that day and I was absolutely freezing. I had no jacket. When my daughter had become ill I didn't have time to grab clothing before she was transferred. I stood there for hours, consistently punching the number in, hoping against hope that every time I dialled someone, anyone would answer. I didn't give up until eventually I got through. I had been in that phone box for four hours. I was exhausted, hungry and cold, and very close to passing out. And I still didn't get a Crisis Loan. The reason I was given was because I wasn't working and not receiving benefits, I had no means to pay it back. I was advised to contact Social Work. I did, via the hospital and Social Work gave me £2.50 meal allowance a day, but even then only after my health visitor got involved on the phone to them. They weren't going to help me either till she got involved. The hospital had to refer me to a GP to get iron supplements, and some other tablets - again I don't recall. I was also given brewers yeast, the most god awful vile vomit inducing thing that has ever passed my lips, to encourage my breast milk to flow. I had approached the hopsital liason before who until my Health Visitor became involved had fobbed me off to the Social Security office, who in turn referred me to Social Work.

At such a desperate time in my life I was, in effect "someone else's problem", passed from one department to the next. At that time, I had no idea about benefits. All I know is the office in the area where the hospital was wouldn't help me as I wasn't "in their area". A very difficult pill to swallow when you are in that situation and have up until then, always worked and no-one will help you.

In a time of a genuine crisis, where the lack of food had made me ill I stood in a phone box in the freezing cold for four hours. I'd have stood there all day, every day if it meant I could access the means to survival, which is exactly the purpose for Crisis Loans. And if all I had to do to make the difference was dial a number consistently, freeze for that time till I did get through, answer some questions all over again tomorrow again to survive, then I would.

My point is that if a person is desperate enough to need a Crisis Loan, calling from a public phone (many of which are readily available indoors in warm shopping centres, supermarkets ect) is the least of their concerns.

alwaysonthego_2

That's terrible AsknAnswer, I hope your DD made a speedy recovery. It must be every mother's nightmare, I am surprised the hospital did not help you!