help with heating and energy costs while on JSA?

duchesspink1

this was a thread asking if there was any help for energy/fuel costs when on a low income/JSA.

I didn't ask how to get something for nothing, wasn't asking how to rob the social fund yadda yadda yadda.

there are a few on this thread that are clearly trying to start something or trying to make out that those on benefits are out to rob left right and centre.

I'm telling you fiver29 and happymj that if i had a choice of eating or not disclosing a credit card with available credit on, then I wouldn't hesitate. There you have it, from the horses mouth.

Why on earth would anyone use a credit card or take out a loan with no way of paying it back?

anyhow, its neither here nor there, I posted my question, got my advice from those with empathy rather than listening to the sarcasm from those that love to despise anyone daring to need a benefit or help and consider it no longer necessary to revisit this thread.

its shocking that people are posting here looking for help and advice and have those holier than thou just waiting for any chance to jump and castigate them.

I wouldn't resort to crime to live, but to me it would also be a crime to use credit where you have no means of repayment. that is real theft. It isn't theft to get a loan from the DWP that you will be paying back with little or no interest and at a rate that is affordable and achievable.

thats all I have to say now. This thread has become something that it didn't need to be. I asked for advice and the advice was helpful.

Thank you to all that have contributed helpfully.

sunnyone

There is no help available for the disabled or for those with children to pay for heating, there is the winter fuel payment for pensioners ONLY available for ANYONE to help pay fuel bills.

I am disabled, as is my husband and we have a child but we wouldnt commit fraud to obtain what we are not entitled to ie. a crisis loan by lying that a credit card is available because its wrong, pure and simple.

Its no ones fault that you dont like the truth which is that there is no help for anyone to pay fuel bills apart from pensioners who get the WFP, you now know its wrong to claim a crisis loan when you have a credit card but you are still prepared to do it and that says much more about you than others that have posted on this thread.

ARM10

This might sound daft, but if you're really desperate you could collect twigs and fallen branches from nearby trees / parks to make a small campfire

Could even boil water and cook with it. if it's just for a few weeks till you start a job then it's no big deal and a bit of fun! :T

HappyMJ

duchesspink1 wrote: »

this was a thread asking if there was any help for energy/fuel costs when on a low income/JSA.

I didn't ask how to get something for nothing, wasn't asking how to rob the social fund yadda yadda yadda.

there are a few on this thread that are clearly trying to start something or trying to make out that those on benefits are out to rob left right and centre.

I'm telling you fiver29 and happymj that if i had a choice of eating or not disclosing a credit card with available credit on, then I wouldn't hesitate. There you have it, from the horses mouth.

Why on earth would anyone use a credit card or take out a loan with no way of paying it back?

anyhow, its neither here nor there, I posted my question, got my advice from those with empathy rather than listening to the sarcasm from those that love to despise anyone daring to need a benefit or help and consider it no longer necessary to revisit this thread.

its shocking that people are posting here looking for help and advice and have those holier than thou just waiting for any chance to jump and castigate them.

I wouldn't resort to crime to live, but to me it would also be a crime to use credit where you have no means of repayment. that is real theft. It isn't theft to get a loan from the DWP that you will be paying back with little or no interest and at a rate that is affordable and achievable.

thats all I have to say now. This thread has become something that it didn't need to be. I asked for advice and the advice was helpful.

Thank you to all that have contributed helpfully.

There is a really easy way of resolving this and that is to speak to your bank and tell them you are on Income Based JSA and you would like a review of your credit limit. They'll knock it down to £200. There sorted you can have your interest free crisis loan equal to 60% of your fortnightly JSA. Maximum loan £81. Is it really worth all that hassle to save 40 pence per week compared to just sticking it on the credit card at 25% interest per year. I bet the phone calls and bus tickets to get this crisis loan will come to more than 40 pence. You want to pay the gas and electric then put it on the credit card and use less.

Lie if you want but they can and will do a credit check on you and if they find you have a credit card that has thousands of unused credit on it you will be prosecuted. The penalty won't be big, probably just £50-it's not the crime of the century, but it'll be larger than the interest that you would have had to pay on the open market.

duchesspink1

sunnyone wrote: »

There is no help available for the disabled or for those with children to pay for heating, there is the winter fuel payment for pensioners ONLY available for ANYONE to help pay fuel bills.

I am disabled, as is my husband and we have a child but we wouldnt commit fraud to obtain what we are not entitled to ie. a crisis loan by lying that a credit card is available because its wrong, pure and simple.

Its no ones fault that you dont like the truth which is that there is no help for anyone to pay fuel bills apart from pensioners who get the WFP, you now know its wrong to claim a crisis loan when you have a credit card but you are still prepared to do it and that says much more about you than others that have posted on this thread.

I believe there is help for heating costs if temps fall below certain levels for those with children and certain disabilities. I'm sorry if i'm wrong on that but its what i've found when looking around for help to the answers I was needing.

its nothing to do with me not liking the truth, I'm being honest and saying that if i had to not disclose that I have available credit to use on a credit card, and I was starving, then i'd not disclose it.

Its hypothetical though as I'm not applying for a crisis loan and lets remember its a loan, not a freebie.

what pee'd me off is the attitude towards anyone claiming benefits from some of the posters on the thread. I've never claimed benefits before and wasn't aware that there were crisis loans etc etc. I made the comment that i had available credit on a card but wouldn't like to use it as it would get me into debt that i couldn't pay and others jumped to quickly point out that it would be wrong to ask for a crisis loan (not that I was going to ask for one, a fact that has been totally overlooked!) when i had a credit card available.

anyway I was stepping away from the thread as i got the advice that I needed. Not really sure why people are still replying on it?

ARM10 wrote: »

This might sound daft, but if you're really desperate you could collect twigs and fallen branches from nearby trees / parks to make a small campfire

Could even boil water and cook with it. if it's just for a few weeks till you start a job then it's no big deal and a bit of fun! :T

I'm not desperate though, I was only asking for advice on what I was entitled to. I've never claimed to be desperate anywhere. Just so you know.

HappyMJ

It's actually cheaper on the credit card anyway £81 at 3% minimum monthly repayments mean you need to repay £2.43 a month.

A crisis loan has to be paid back in full at 12% of your fortnightly payment so you'll be repaying £16.20 a fortnight.

If you used your credit card first the repayments can reduce to 10% so £13.50 a fortnight

If you have major problems such as fuel arrears and multiple debt repayments the minimum they will take is 5% so £6.75 a fortnight.

duchesspink1

HappyMJ wrote: »

There is a really easy way of resolving this and that is to speak to your bank and tell them you are on Income Based JSA and you would like a review of your credit limit. They'll knock it down to £200. There sorted you can have your interest free crisis loan equal to 60% of your fortnightly JSA. Maximum loan £81. Is it really worth all that hassle to save 40 pence per week compared to just sticking it on the credit card at 25% interest per year. I bet the phone calls and bus tickets to get this crisis loan will come to more than 40 pence. You want to pay the gas and electric then put it on the credit card and use less.

Lie if you want but they can and will do a credit check on you and if they find you have a credit card that has thousands of unused credit on it you will be prosecuted. The penalty won't be big, probably just £50-it's not the crime of the century, but it'll be larger than the interest that you would have had to pay on the open market.

Happy MJ, thank you for your post but i feel you wasted your time working all of that out as i've already stated countless times on this thread that I wouldn't be applying for a crisis or budgeting loan and that I had secured an amount of oil that i could pay for on my card without too much problems.
I'm pleased that you've responded and in a really nice way but I have said over and over that I wasn't intending on going cap in hand for a crisis loan as I realise they are for the truly desperate.

Yes i said that if i did have to go for one, then i'd not disclose that I had a credit card but that was hypothetical and in response to a direct question, I'd already said before that, that I wasn't applying for the loan and would use credit card instead.

thank you for your support though, I do appreciate it.

Fiver29

duchesspink1 wrote: »

this was a thread asking if there was any help for energy/fuel costs when on a low income/JSA.

I didn't ask how to get something for nothing, wasn't asking how to rob the social fund yadda yadda yadda.

there are a few on this thread that are clearly trying to start something or trying to make out that those on benefits are out to rob left right and centre.

I'm telling you fiver29 and happymj that if i had a choice of eating or not disclosing a credit card with available credit on, then I wouldn't hesitate. There you have it, from the horses mouth.

Why on earth would anyone use a credit card or take out a loan with no way of paying it back?

anyhow, its neither here nor there, I posted my question, got my advice from those with empathy rather than listening to the sarcasm from those that love to despise anyone daring to need a benefit or help and consider it no longer necessary to revisit this thread.

its shocking that people are posting here looking for help and advice and have those holier than thou just waiting for any chance to jump and castigate them.

I wouldn't resort to crime to live, but to me it would also be a crime to use credit where you have no means of repayment. that is real theft. It isn't theft to get a loan from the DWP that you will be paying back with little or no interest and at a rate that is affordable and achievable.

thats all I have to say now. This thread has become something that it didn't need to be. I asked for advice and the advice was helpful.

Thank you to all that have contributed helpfully.

What you are suggesting is a crime, no ifs or buts about it. Using a CC until you get back on your feet isn't. Christ I had to use a CC to buy milk the other week because I was penniless, I would never dream of committing fraud though.

duchesspink1

Fiver29 wrote: »

What you are suggesting is a crime, no ifs or buts about it. Using a CC until you get back on your feet isn't. Christ I had to use a CC to buy milk the other week because I was penniless, I would never dream of committing fraud though.

its a crime if you do it, can I be prosecuted for a crime on a hypothetical question?

do you read the threads or just comment on bits you want to see?

so this time i'm def not coming back to the thread. I've reported lady gaga for hounding anyone on benefits as looking through her posts on the site it would appear that all she is good for is jumping and finger pointing.

thank you one more time to those that actually took the time to give decent advice.

Smiling_Ducky

Hi Duchesspink1,
I'm not trying to offend you here or put you off anything just wanted to make a small comment re; heating one room. It's a great idea when you're short of money in the short term but don't do it over a long period of time. Reason being, it can cause damp which may result in your landlord with-holding your deposit.
Other than that, I agree with what the other (nice!) folks have said. Check your tariff (I know you said you were going to do this) etc. Do you have energy saving light bulbs in your house? If not, it may be worth replacing them. Also, I know this may sound daft, but its something I do quite regularly - light some candles. I love the cosy feeling it gives a room and it really does warm the room up (I really aren't trying to be sarcastic here but I know in written word, it may come across that way).
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you finding a job very soon.
x