Bank interest after redundancy

Ny0ka

Hi, I hope someone can help.

I was made redundant in March this year and because I have a working patner I was un aware I could claim any benefits ie job seekers.

I have this week been awarded the payment but was not allowed the back payment that they offer?! why?

Anyway my main problem is that my bank account has now reached £4000 over drawn. This is my arranged limit but when I went to the bank to explain my situation they refused to stop my interest on the account which is about £60 per month. This is a quarter of my benefits and with 3 kids and a partner loaded to the eyeballs with debt. I am trying everything to get a job but no one will employ me as i'm "over qualified" for most things and my industry is dead in the water at the moment so I am at a total loss. I think it is totally unfair for the bank to be taking so much from me especially as we can hardly even afford food.

I hope there is a way to stop these interest payments and also to appeal to the job center as I see no reason why they wont back pay me.

Thanks for reading

Darryl.

dmg24

JSA is only backdated with good reason, and not knowing that you could claim is not good reason.

Banks only tend to freeze interest when the account has been frozen and you are in debt recovery. You may wish to take specialist advice before going down this route, as it will ruin your credit record for a long time.

It may be worth opening a basic Post Office account for your JSA to be paid into.

Rockporkchop

You can try appealing to the Jobcentre to get your JSA backdated - there is a claim form. You will need documented evidence to show that you met the entitlement conditions throughout the period of backdating, including being available for and actively seeking work. They will only backdate for a maximum of either one or three months though.

Have a look at entitledto.com to see if there is anything else you could be claiming, eg council tax benefit etc.

dmg24

Rockporkchop wrote: »

You can try appealing to the Jobcentre to get your JSA backdated - there is a claim form. You will need documented evidence to show that you met the entitlement conditions throughout the period of backdating, including being available for and actively seeking work. They will only backdate for a maximum of either one or three months though.

Have a look at entitledto.com to see if there is anything else you could be claiming, eg council tax benefit etc.

The backdating period is three months, but you cannot appeal without good cause. The OP does not have good cause.

Rockporkchop

"You may be able to get some Jobseeker's Allowance for a period before you make your claim if you could have claimed earlier and have reasons for claiming late. These have to be particular reasons laid down in law which are accepted by the Jobcentre Plus office, for example, you have language difficulties, or you were given wrong advice which made you think you wouldn’t get any money. Getting benefit for a period before you claim is called ‘backdating’. You will not get any backdated benefit just because you did not know that you could make a claim.
If you do have one of the accepted reasons for backdating your claim, your Jobseeker's Allowance may be backdated by up to a maximum of one or three months depending on the reason you failed to claim earlier. You will have to show that you met the entitlement conditions throughout the period of backdating, including being available for and actively seeking work. You should explain that you are claiming backdated Jobseeker's Allowance, and why, on your claim form."

It costs nothing to appeal, and is worth a shot. They are not as strict as you would think.

Anihilator

So just to clarify despite knowing you couldnt repay it you continued to spend your overdraft then expect the bank to freeze the interest etc on it. yeahhhhhh.

If you had told them in March and not continued to spend they may have been more receptive.

dmg24

Rockporkchop wrote: »

"You may be able to get some Jobseeker's Allowance for a period before you make your claim if you could have claimed earlier and have reasons for claiming late. These have to be particular reasons laid down in law which are accepted by the Jobcentre Plus office, for example, you have language difficulties, or you were given wrong advice which made you think you wouldn’t get any money. Getting benefit for a period before you claim is called ‘backdating’. You will not get any backdated benefit just because you did not know that you could make a claim.
If you do have one of the accepted reasons for backdating your claim, your Jobseeker's Allowance may be backdated by up to a maximum of one or three months depending on the reason you failed to claim earlier. You will have to show that you met the entitlement conditions throughout the period of backdating, including being available for and actively seeking work. You should explain that you are claiming backdated Jobseeker's Allowance, and why, on your claim form."

It costs nothing to appeal, and is worth a shot. They are not as strict as you would think.

I don't think, I know. You have even quoted the reason why the OP will not qualify for backdating!

Rockporkchop

OK but I know that in July my DH successfully got his claim backdated for three months just by proving that he had actively been seeking work during that time.

As I said, it costs nothing to ask.

dmg24

Rockporkchop wrote: »

OK but I know that in July my DH successfully got his claim backdated for three months just by proving that he had actively been seeking work during that time.

As I said, it costs nothing to ask.

Either there was something in addition to your DH's claim that we do not know, or his case was wrongly decided. You have quoted a summary of the rules yourself, there are no exceptions.

Please do not give out incorrect information that is only going to get the OP's hopes dashed.

Poppycat

Trying to get back pay from government is very difficult I have tried myself and it without a very good excuse then I doubt you will ignorance is not an excuse unfortunately

MrsTinks

I'd forget about the back payment - I'd say it's the least of your worries right now...
Debt - get over to the DFW board and post up your statement of affairs - the guys and gals there will be able to help you make ends meet and shave pennies off things you'd never have thought about - not to mention fighting any unfair bank charges etc.
Work - if you keep getting told you're over qualified then the easy answer is to play down your abilities and responcibilities etc. taylor your CV a little, don't lie but omit things from it that might make you over qualified or make them sound less important

best of luck