Housing Benefit: Do I have to declare it if my family lent me money?

Macro_3

Angel89 wrote: »

How on earth would the council even know how much money your parents lent to you?? lol

They dont have any way of just ''looking into peoples bank accounts to check if they have any money go in'',
or follow people around all and take photos of them through windows being given cash.



SO dont worry, you will be fine.

And even if somehow the council did find out that you had come into posession of some money you can simply just say that its not ''your money'',
its your parents money that you are looking after&investing on their behalf.

So your income level wont have changed at all.

Oh don't be silly. That's wrong on so many counts. :rotfl:

Blackpool_Saver

Angel89 wrote: »

How on earth would the council even know how much money your parents lent to you?? lol

They dont have any way of just ''looking into peoples bank accounts to check if they have any money go in'',
or follow people around all and take photos of them through windows being given cash.



SO dont worry, you will be fine.

And even if somehow the council did find out that you had come into posession of some money you can simply just say that its not ''your money'',
its your parents money that you are looking after&investing on their behalf.

So your income level wont have changed at all.

The DWP can look in bank accounts and they do follow people and take photos, trust me I know this.

Any money in your accounts is deemed your money for benefit purposes, this post worries me because this is how people get prosecuted for fraud without realising they are doing anything wrong.

Angel89_2

Can they really just look into your bank account because they feel like doing so?? :huh::huh:

Yikes.



I dont trust the government or the banks to have my money though, as it always seems to keep reducing when its in a bank account,
so i keep it all in the 'real offshore' accounts (SB trading accounts) which are tax exempt and dont have anything to do with UK government, so cant just be ''looked into'', as theres no way of anyone even kn owing you have the account.


Im not currently on benefits though, but when i have to go on it i barely even have £16 to my name at the moment,
let alone £16,000,
so that side of things wont be an issue for me.

wintersun_2

LizzieS wrote: »

I can understand that, but for benefit purposes your income must cover your expenses. If you are borrowing from the family loan (especially if it regular payments as opposed to one lump sum) to survive, it can be seen as you are getting an additional income. Also you will be getting an additional income from self-employment - that does need declaring as well as your 10 hour job.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure I once read that for a private loan to be recognised as such, interest has to be charged at a minimum rate (court rate?).

Although your parents are overseas, is it possible for them to be involved in a UK business as a partner? This could solve the capital side, but not the capital you may have to use from the business to pay your bills.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

If I can start trading now, all these problems will be simpler. As you said I can use the loan as part of the investment for the business.

All the problem will occur while I am preparing and setting up things prior to the trading - I will have no income (I cannot even register as self-employed).

wintersun_2

Macro wrote: »

Money received as a lump sum would be treated as capital. Money received as a series of periodical loans may be counted as income by the local authority if the purpose of the loan is for everyday living costs.

Strangely though, if the payments received from your parents were 'voluntary payments' rather than loans (that is, given to you freely by your parents to help you out with no expectation that they will give you anything back in return) they would be wholly disregarded.

One thought, though... if you are working for ten hours a week in employment and also working to set up your business, does that mean you will be working for more than 30 hours per week altogether? If you are, you might be entitled to Working Tax Credit to help top up your income?

Thank you so much!! Your input is really helpful. :T

I have one more question here. I have tried to find out how to register as self-employed. I have been told that I cannot register until I start trading. Also, because I produce modern sculpture (will sell in the art gallery, not on eBay) - which take a long time to produce but if there is no buyer, there will be no trading or income.

As you can imagine, it will be difficult to prove or define how many hours I work per week. Most importantly, it will take a wile before it can be seen as a 'trading business' ....

I have called the self-employed information helpline, but no one could provide me with a clear answer. If I tell them I am a self-employed computer engineer or cleaner, they will know exactly what to advice me. Unfortunately, they don't know how to advice an artist yet pretend to know it all. Therefore it has been very difficult for me to find the right information.

wintersun_2

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

The DWP can look in bank accounts and they do follow people and take photos, trust me I know this.

I know this is true!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Angel89 wrote: »

How on earth would the council even know how much money your parents lent to you?? lol

They dont have any way of just ''looking into peoples bank accounts to check if they have any money go in'',
or follow people around all and take photos of them through windows being given cash.



SO dont worry, you will be fine.

And even if somehow the council did find out that you had come into posession of some money you can simply just say that its not ''your money'',
its your parents money that you are looking after&investing on their behalf.

So your income level wont have changed at all.

for your information any benefits agency including HB AND CTB do look at peoples bank statements they request them then time to time they will randomly check any account to see if theyre hideing anything they should of declaired savings etc, and even if you didnt declair a bank account or savings account they can still find out if you have one because you use your National insurance number to open an account. and if your followed youve been reported and investigated and you will have no means of knowing either, so if you are found in possetion of money the excuse of holding it for my parents or investing it would not be taken into account as it is in your possetion. also if they ask you if you have any savings capitol or INVESTMENTS? AND BY SAYING YOUR INVESTING IT WOULD LAND YOU IN THE [EMAIL="S@@T"]S@@T[/EMAIL] when you were interviewed by the police. noob keep your opinion to yourself.

my opinion would be to go to citizens advice and ask them how to fill in the form regarding this matter. is a loan from the bank a good solution to this problem, i would get some advice from CAB first to be on the safe side.

archie9uk

A bank loan would be treated as capital, so a loan from your parents would be no different. It would be a safer bet to have it paid to you in a lump sum, as regular payments could look like you have another source of income you are not declaring.

You should also ask your local authority about "Discretionary Housing Payments" (DHPs), which are available as a top-up to Housing Benefit if you can demonstrate that you can't afford to pay the difference between your benefit and rent, as well as eat, pay your bills etc. It is by no means guaranteed, though, and is only available for a short time.

rainbowj63

does this mean HB and DWP can look into our bank accounts ? would really like to know the answer to this as have just received a little compensation money and have spent it on debts so little left, am really worried as contribution based JSA ends in september and need to apply for income based jsa does anyone have an answer >
thanks

real1314

DWP, HB etc can get info from Inalnd Revenue about the fact that anyone may have a particular bank account (all acounts are registered for tax), and if that acount has not been declared, DWP etc can ask you to provide details of it, or even apply to get info from banks in some cases - basically if you have not declared the account, you may have been dishonest, so they can take steps to check - there's no way to hide from this.

As regards what I put and what angel89 put about "how would they know" - the point is that if they do find out and see you have money you did not declare, the assumption is that it is your money. You can claim that it's someone else's "I was just looking after it" - but without proof it will not wash - if it's in your account, it's up to YOU to PROVE that it's not yours - this is why I advised the OP to have a written agreement.

edit:- just to say that they do not just trawl through people's personal data though, they only do it if there is good reason to do so.