How can I reduce high social fund repayments?

drbluebox

I was struggling a bit paying them back before at £9 a week but they have increased the amount to £15 a week!!

This will hit me extra hard as I recently had a giro stolen so for last 3 weeks have been eating at a homeless place a few times a week and had to use my most recent giro to pay off bills that had mounted up due to the stolen giro.

So of my fortnightly payment I have to pay £12 towards rent, £10 towards council tax, £10 for utilities(and thats if I dont have heating on very much) so after paying this I would be lucky if I had £5 a week for food, toiletries and jobsearch and I havent yet included phone and internet charges which would mean before buying food I wouldnt have enough to pay bills!!

I hope the thread wont end up a typical "if you are so badly off get a job" response since I would be happy with a minimum wage job with long hours(though wouldnt be good for state of mind!) as I hate doing nothing.

elsien

Have you asked them why the payments have increased, and explained your current difficult circumstances?
That would be my first port of call.

DebtDunker

drbluebox wrote: »

I was struggling a bit paying them back before at £9 a week but they have increased the amount to £15 a week!!

This will hit me extra hard as I recently had a giro stolen so for last 3 weeks have been eating at a homeless place a few times a week and had to use my most recent giro to pay off bills that had mounted up due to the stolen giro.

So of my fortnightly payment I have to pay £12 towards rent, £10 towards council tax, £10 for utilities(and thats if I dont have heating on very much) so after paying this I would be lucky if I had £5 a week for food, toiletries and jobsearch and I havent yet included phone and internet charges which would mean before buying food I wouldnt have enough to pay bills!!

I hope the thread wont end up a typical "if you are so badly off get a job" response since I would be happy with a minimum wage job with long hours(though wouldnt be good for state of mind!) as I hate doing nothing.

Write to them and explain circumstances,also get a bank or post office account account might help.

drbluebox

elsien wrote: »

Have you asked them why the payments have increased, and explained your current difficult circumstances?
That would be my first port of call.

Only that one of my previous social fund payments has finished being paid off and another started and that I could ask for it to be reduced but would be loads of forms and take about 2 weeks by time forms are sent to me, sent back, processed etc and even then its unlikely they will reduce it much

I dont think I actually owe that much, I was told about £150 at start of year, then had £150 in crisis loans but been paying back between £6-£10 a week for months but there was a few gaps sometimes when a older payment had been paid off etc.

But I dont think I heard right when they said I had to fill in forms as last time I asked was beggining of year and they said they could but there was no point as the current loan would of been paid off in 2 weeks and I would of had to phone up again and go through the entire process over the phone.

alex21

Your office should reduce the payment if you make a reasonable offer. You must do this in writing over here, I assume it is the same for the rest of UK.

ninacasino2003

What did you use the social fund loan for?

G51shopaholic

post office account would prevent risk of giro being stolen again. Very sad situation.

Speak to the benefit advisor at the jobcentre - they seem to think people can live on fresh-air!

They've left my sister with £22 a week to live on/heat a house etc.

My sister even got told she was TOO OLD to be employed at one of her local McDonalds!

What hope is there - she's only 43! And worked almost all her life!

drbluebox

ninacasino2003 wrote: »

What did you use the social fund loan for?

At the time there was doubts on my claim so I used my 3 allowances in a period of like 6 weeks but only got about £140(maybe £150 or maybe less total) combined, but I hadnt had one in over 2 years before that(have been working on and off for years)

Oh and I forgot to say I do have a bank account I use but was sent a giro in the post as a one off.

AsknAnswer2

I don't like being harsh but in this instance I am going to be. Your post title is "How can I reduce High Social Fund repayments?". You already know the answer as you have posted it. Though there are not loads of forms - only one. It's one side of an A4 page and all it asks is questions about other debts you have to pay. Some benefit centres will do this with you over the phone. You know how to get it reduced, so go ahead and do it. There is no other way. It's a bit like your Stolen Giro thread all over again. You know the answer to your predicament but are not prepared to do what you need to in order to get the outcome you want.

Okay now I've given you short shrift, I see you mention that you don't think the amount you owe is correct. Again, this involves you putting pen to paper - which you appear to have an aversion to going by this thread and your last one but anyway - if you write in to the Benefit Centre that deals with your Social Fund, stating that you would like a statement of all of your debt including outstanding debt and debt already repaid, they will send this information to you. You can then establish from the information provided whether there is a definitive discrepancy and raise a dispute if appropriate.

Hope this helps.

drbluebox

AsknAnswer2 wrote: »

I don't like being harsh but in this instance I am going to be. Your post title is "How can I reduce High Social Fund repayments?". You already know the answer as you have posted it. Though there are not loads of forms - only one. It's one side of an A4 page and all it asks is questions about other debts you have to pay. Some benefit centres will do this with you over the phone. You know how to get it reduced, so go ahead and do it. There is no other way. It's a bit like your Stolen Giro thread all over again. You know the answer to your predicament but are not prepared to do what you need to in order to get the outcome you want.

Okay now I've given you short shrift, I see you mention that you don't think the amount you owe is correct. Again, this involves you putting pen to paper - which you appear to have an aversion to going by this thread and your last one but anyway - if you write in to the Benefit Centre that deals with your Social Fund, stating that you would like a statement of all of your debt including outstanding debt and debt already repaid, they will send this information to you. You can then establish from the information provided whether there is a definitive discrepancy and raise a dispute if appropriate.

Hope this helps.

Harsh no, but it does annoy me! It seems you misunderstood the point of the other thread where you assumed the problem was that I didnt want to fill in forms which wasnt the problem and I had NO problem filling in forms it was the reason behind it. It does annoy me when people assume I havent done something when I have, or have done something when I havent as it makes me feel like my views dont matter.

I dont doubt the amount I owe it just seems to be ages to get paid off

AfricanViolet

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