Budgeting Loan help

inca1000

About 13 months ago I applied for a budgeting loan of £750 which was successful, paying it back at £9.97 per week.

As we were desperate for new clothes and bedding etc, we decided to apply again and the jobcentre agreed to another loan totalling £500. As we have already paid off roughly this amount.Thus making what we owe back upto £812. The total we can ever get is £812.

But they have now said we must pay back £40 per week instead of £9.97 we were paying.

We will find this a bit tight so wrote to tell them this, they sent a budget sheet which showed our finances, but they have written back saying there is nothing they can do and we have to pay the loan back at £40 per week.

This means we will pay back the total in about 20 weeks - whereas in their literature they send with the loan application they state if you are finding the payments difficult the loan can be extended to be paid back upto 104 weeks.

What can we do to escalate this, paying £40 per week is a big difference to the £9.97 we were paying and we have borrowed roughly the same amount!!


No explanations have been given, just a standard letter saying your payments will not be changing.

Any ideas?

pcombo

You only pay back 1 loan at a time so the £9.97 will stand untill the £750 loan is cleared. Then they will start taking back money for the second but 40 a week seems abit to high.

To try get the amount reduced you need to send a letter to social fund explaining you wish to lower the repayments.

bestpud

I presume they set it at a proportion of your income, so you must be receiving considerable help?

What benefits do you receive? Or, what percentage of your benefits is £40 a week?

Looking on the bright side, you clearly have problems budgeting, so maybe this is your chance to make a fresh start? Pay it off and then learn to manage without credit, as you won't receive anything like those terms in the working world.

And if you are never likely to work, it is even more important to manage your finances, as benefits do change.

Oldernotwiser

I thought you weren't allowed to take out further credit whilst bankrupt?

inca1000

This site is for help and advice, I mistakenly thought I would receive it. You have no idea of our personal circumstances or why I had to declare bankruptcy or that I 'work' 24 hours a day caring for my disabled husband.

By making judgemental comments that other people who come to this site for advice may read only deters people from trying to access the help they could receive. You must have a lot of time on your hands and I feel quite sorry for you.

bestpud

inca1000 wrote: »

This site is for help and advice, I mistakenly thought I would receive it. You have no idea of our personal circumstances or why I had to declare bankruptcy or that I 'work' 24 hours a day caring for my disabled husband.

By making judgemental comments that other people who come to this site for advice may read only deters people from trying to access the help they could receive. You must have a lot of time on your hands and I feel quite sorry for you.

It doesn't really matter what caused your bankruptcy tbh - what matters now is you stop relying on credit and expecting to pay nothing or very little back.

If you've been assessed as having the money to repay £40 a week then that's how it is.

Have you checked out the oldstyle board for budgeting advice?

shegirl

As far as I was aware,having had family apply and having some knowledge of the benefits system,the standard payment for a budgetting loan went up last year or before to weekly payments of 25 to clear them quicker,whereas before the amount you paid back was dependent on how much you borrowed.

What were the repayment terms you agreed to?I'm not sure why they've put it up to 40 unless it's that for couples who claim benefits together??

As the others have said though,you NEED to stop relying on loans and any other form of credit.You've already gone bankrupt and now you are having one budgeting loan after another and not liking the repayments.You need to learn to manage your money and stop applying because you never going to help yourself and will just keep going round and round in vicious circles.It's not right and it's not good!Especially when you're expecting to borrow 500 for clothing and bedding and while on benefits.I think you need to realise your means and priorities

Oldernotwiser

I must admit, I was struck by how much bedding and clothes I could buy for £500, just for two people!

bestpud

Looking at old posts, I think the loan may be to cover legal fees if they apply to have their house signed back to them...

They obviously applied for more than that and, as you say, that's ridiculously high for clothes and bedding.

Even if the medical needs mean they have excessive bedding costs, that is why they receive DLA.

NASA_2

And people are criticising the government for trying to get rid of social fund payments.

Not really surprising when you see what the amounts given out for even basic products.

dave030445

We applied for a budgeting loan of £350 and we told we have to pay £37 per week that means we have to pay it back in 9 weeks thats far to much. We have also read that you can get upto 104 weeks to pay it back. So where they get 9 weeks from I dont know.