redundant - can I pay off loans

camerashy

I've been made redundant, and as I was under two years at the company so no redundancy payment.
We have saved all our working lives (been in continuous work for over 30 years), and have over £16000 built up, but that appears to be an albatross round our necks as most benefits are means tested.

First question is will I get JSA (contributions based). I'm getting different information on the internet- some say because of savings I don't qualify, and others say savings are not taken into consideration with contribution based JSA.

Can I pay off some loans (credit card, car loan) out of savings, or will that be seen as trying to get below the savings limits rather than get rid of debts.

The depressing message I'm getting is don't bother saving it's a liability if you're out of work.

I_luv_cats

If you meet the JSA Contibutions based National Insurance qualifying conditions, then you may get JSA (C) for 6 months where your savings won't make any difference.

If you don't qualify for JSA (C) or you have had your 6 months worth your savings will be taken into account. There is a depreciation of capital clause and a decision maker can take into account a previous amount if you dispose of your capital a certain way and appears you have done that to get benefit.

Oldernotwiser

I_luv_cats wrote: »

If you meet the JSA Contibutions based National Insurance qualifying conditions, then you may get JSA (C) for 6 months where your savings won't make any difference.

If you don't qualify for JSA (C) or you have had your 6 months worth your savings will be taken into account. There is a depreciation of capital clause and a decision maker can take into account a previous amount if you dispose of your capital a certain way and appears you have done that to get benefit.

Your information is accurate and I don't mean to be picky, but you mean deprivation of capital.

camerashy

Thanks for the information.
In the case of paying off debt, I can see that there would be raised eyebrows if I was to pay off a £10000 debt (like a car loan), but if it was amounts like say £700-800 to get rid of a credit card would that also be a problem.

LittleVoice

camerashy wrote: »

The depressing message I'm getting is don't bother saving it's a liability if you're out of work.

The message you are giving is that it is better to pay off credit cards and not take out car loans when you also have savings. Whilst there can be value in saving a cushion of a low number of thousands, the interest rates on cards and loans is going to be higher than what will be received on the savings (unless you get a card offering 0% on spending for a limited period, at which point you pay it off).

JSA is not a huge amount but is helpful for the six months. You should be aiming to get a job again within that period and not have to consider income based JSA.

I_luv_cats

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Your information is accurate and I don't mean to be picky, but you mean deprivation of capital.

You got it - the wonder I couldn't find anything/links on it on the net??