Housing benefit and savings question

gem4

I've just had a letter from the council saying DWP have given them info about savings i have with Lloyds and HBOS. They've asked for details of ALL savings accounts i've had since 1st April 2008 not just with Lloyds and HBOS but ALL of them.

Most of my accounts are dotted all over the place and only have pence and £1's in because of opening them to get cashback, or taking advantage of high interest (when we had some), and then emptied when the offers ended, but if i have to try and get statements for all of them back to 2008 its going to cost me a fortune in administration costs....thats if i can even get them now.

I rang the council this morning and asked what they actually wanted and she said they had info that i'd been paid interest of £254 on a lloyds saver in 2008/9 and £107 on a halifax saver in the same year and they want to get to the bottom of it....whatever that means?

Thats fine. I have located the accounts and printed off the statements. I'm just wondering about the running balances though. Although there is barely any money in now, in 2008 on the statement Lloyds is showing £3800 for one week at its max.
It was opened when they had their 10% regular saver offer on, which reverted to their 'virtually no interest' easy saver once the term was up. That accounts for the £254 interest payment.

The other account they are asking about is more complicated because its not my money :-(
Its money being used by me to oversee my ex husbands caravan, so is being used as a current account even though its a websaver.....but the money in it isnt mine to do with as i wish, its to pay the bills, ground rent, rates, insurance etc relating to his caravan and is funded by friends who hire it from him in the school holidays. Therefore it builds up an amount thru the summer but dwindles again in Autumn when all the bills are paid, until the following year.

How do i explain to them what the money in that account is, and will they be able to write to my ex husband to clarify this information, or will they look at it as if it is my money? It was originally a joint current account in 2008 but when halifax closed that type of account he said it was easier to just open the new one in my name as i did all the admin work anyway.
It never amounts to anything because it costs over £4000 to keep which is why we have to let friends/family have it for holidays in summer. I get a free holiday for doing his paperwork :-)

I have no idea how much savings i'm allowed while claiming housing benefit. I work but only part time and my income is below the level for paying tax on savings.

Can anyone tell me how much i'm allowed in savings without it affecting my housing benefit please? And also will they look at what the balance is now or what it was in 2008......and was there a difference in the amount of savings allowed in 2008?
Thanks

intranicity

They will go back to when you originally claimed HB, and they will dig deeply if you have failed to tell them about accounts on your claims, and to be honest, thats only fair!

Limits are I believe:

If you and your partner have joint capital of more than £16,000 you will not normally be able to get housing benefit entitlement

If you or your partner are aged 60 or over you can have up to £6,000 capital before it affects your benefit entitlement
Income of £1 for every £500 between £6,000 and £16,000 is taken into account when we work out entitlement to benefit

If you and your partner are aged less than 60 you can have up to £6,000 capital before it affects your benefit entitlement
Income of £1 for every £250 between £6,000 and £16,000 is taken into account when we work out entitlement to benefit

Capital includes cash, current accounts, other bank/building society/post office accounts, unit trusts, ISAs, TESSAs, National Savings Certificates, shares, premium bonds and property (other than the home you live in) or land you own.

dseventy

gem4 wrote: »

I have no idea how much savings i'm allowed while claiming housing benefit. I work but only part time and my income is below the level for paying tax on savings.

Its on every claim and guidance form you have ever filled in and signed!

If you have access to the money and the account is in your name, its yours!

Otherwise everyone would say "Thats not my savings guv!".

gem4

dseventy wrote: »

Its on every claim and guidance form you have ever filled in and signed!

If you have access to the money and the account is in your name, its yours!

Otherwise everyone would say "Thats not my savings guv!".

I havent had a renewal form to fill in for over 5yrs so I have no idea what i'm allowed in savings or not. However, I have nothing to hide so they are welcome to dig as deep as they like, what bits of money i have in any account doesnt amount to anywhere near £6000, more's the pity...but does my post warrant your exclamation marks when I am just asking a simple question? It was a genuine request for information.

I'm not quite 60 and i'm single, so i take it that i am allowed £6000 then?
Point taken about the account with my name on it. I hadnt taken that one into account because its not my money, but there again, everything is above board if they wish to check.

Oldernotwiser

The level at which savings affect HB used to be £3,000 and I'm not sure when it went up to £6,000 (I'm sure somebody here will know). So it may be that you were over the savings limit in the past, even if you aren't now. In that case, you would be looking at repaying an overpayment at best and facing an investigation at worst.

allen35

It may be a concern to the LA and HMRC that you are using your account to manage your ex husbands business activities with regards to the rental of his/your caravan.

Does he declare this to the tax man ?

It may be best that you ask him to open an account and let you manage it that way to avoid any misunderstandings.

pandaspot

Yeah I agree with Allen you should ask your ex to open up an account of his own.

You will have to ask your ex to put in writing that this money is his. The onus is on you to supply the information needed the la will not contact your ex on your behalf

gem4

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The level at which savings affect HB used to be £3,000 and I'm not sure when it went up to £6,000 (I'm sure somebody here will know). So it may be that you were over the savings limit in the past, even if you aren't now.

Thanks for all your comments. Does anyone know when it changed?
I've never been able to afford to save so have never taken much notice of the limits.

I genuinely did not think that keeping a caravan would be seen as saving. My ex wont open an account in his own name for it because he's registered blind and he wanted to get rid of it a couple of years ago and i didnt want him to, so he said he wasnt going to make any more payments for it because he couldnt afford to. We have been divorced for 21 yrs so I dont know anything about his finances and he would never discuss that with me when we were together, never mind now.
I've just been in touch with him to see if he will explain the situation to them and he said no....its my problem cos he'd wanted to sell it.

Now I'm really scared because I dont know whats going to happen. I've never been in any sort of trouble, I'm just an ordinary person trying to make ends meet and now this is all stressing me so much.
I havent intentionally done anything wrong...but without him to back me up I have to suffer the consequences alone. If I have to pay back benefit I cant argue with that although it will be difficult as i only earn £430 mth, the thing that upsets me the most is that he's left me to deal with it.

I've never been investigated for anything before and i have to admit the thought terrifies me. I've been single since 1988 and my housing benefit claim goes back to that time. What will they do? I dont know how to deal with this. I'd be grateful for any advice.

allen35

I can see the predicament you're in, i suppose all i can suggest is stop paying payments from now into your account, i'm not sure if LA would class a caravan as capital and whether they would class it as your own or is ex sole owner, others will know that, just be up front and honest.

The bank statements will prove what comes in also goes out and what they are for and i take it the bills for ground rent etc are in ex's name.

I wish you well

gem4

allen35 wrote: »

I can see the predicament you're in, i suppose all i can suggest is stop paying payments from now into your account, i'm not sure if LA would class a caravan as capital and whether they would class it as your own or is ex sole owner, others will know that, just be up front and honest.

The bank statements will prove what comes in also goes out and what they are for and i take it the bills for ground rent etc are in ex's name.

I wish you well

Thanks. I guess i've just been very naive and now i'm stuck where i dont want to be. I feel very sick at how stupid i've inadvertently been.
The caravan and bills etc are addressed jointly since I pay them all and the site wouldnt even deal with me at all unless my name was on the ownership. Its just the bank account which has been in my own name solely since the joint account came to an outdated end with the bank. I have all the statements etc and I would never be anything other than upfront and honest. I've already emailed them to ask about the situation.
I'm very grateful for your help and suggestions. Thank you.

nannytone_2

i'm confused now.
you say it isnt your caravan and that the account is in your name but the money in the account is your ex's

then you say he wanted to get rid of the caravan and you didnt want to.
then you say he couldnt afford to pay for it.

so who is paying for it and who's money is being put into the 'caravan' account?