Benefit investigation

Nelski

THERE IS TOO MUCH WINE????????????
Seriously I am sure this is going to be fine. Nobody makes you worry this you do to yourself by thinking of all the worst possible scenarios and believing they are going to happen. Make a decision over the next glass of wine that you will postpone worrying until after you know the facts - make a note in your diary of the time you can start worrying again and then enjoy the wine!

Amie_007

Ooops, sorry, didn't see your reply there.

Could you possibily look into getting your Housing Benefit claim back dated, to the same time when you claimed Income Support?

If you are able to show that you have paid your rent by living on credit cards and loans, you may be able to get your claim backdated, which could be put towards paying of your debts? It's only an idea, don;t know if it will work

cc74

ahh bless ya all!!!! the wine has now run out..... (only cheap stuff from tesco's....Hollywood £2.98 a bottle, highly recommended!!ha ha). Thank you Amie 007. I have applied for HB and they have said about getting it back dated. But it has been my fault ended up in this situation. I honestly thought by buying somewhere in a cheaper (and yukkier) part of the country then everything would be easier as money would be such a struggle. ONE OF MY HUGE PROBLEMS IS BEING UNREALISTIC! After struggling all year, I finally admitted it to HB officer and they are so helpful. But only time will tell if i get HB!!! At the moment I am robbing peter to pay paul, and i hate it.

Just feel so low about it all. thank god the wine has run out, or i'd become a mess. Anyway i really look forward to saturday's as that's my working morning. Makes me feel not so bad about getting money off the state..... sorry for waffling....

Curry_Queen

Hang on a minute ... did you say you're paying a mortgage? ... if so you won't be entitled to HB as that's only payable on rented properties. This is going to get far more complicated then and all depends on when you took out your mortgage as to when and if you can get any help with the interest only ... you will still have to pay off the capital/endowment yourself.

Unfortunately, I've been through all this and had my own house repossessed (which has also contributed to my ill health the last few years) so you have my every sympathy for what you're going through.

Forget about it tonight and enjoy your glass of wine ... then post back with more details of your situation tomorrow and we'll see what help or advice we can give you.

Take care

Curry_Queen

Just another thought ... did you claim Council Tax benefit when you first claimed IS? If you're getting the full rate of IS then you will qualify for full CT payments and even if you have to pay some of it you need to make sure you are getting the 25% discount as a single occupant.

Amie_007

Curry Queen - you beat me to it!

cc74

hi, if only i had more wine i would enjoy it.... it's tea now!
I have a £70 grand moreage that ex's ma put down a big deposit for. She wants it back in the long run and knows I'm good for it......
Anyway mortage repayments are just under £400 a month. And I do, as i said, steal from peter to give to paul. I have so many credit cards and recently did a £6k loan to pay off all my family that I'd borrowed off. I am a hard worker and this situation sucks. I love my part time job and love feeling part of the work force.
(also my family don't know the situation, they lend me money think ing it's for kids etc, but i know they would worry silly about me living far away and struggling)

I don't want to loose the house or i will be even more stuck. Now since that letter all i think is they will take my house. Or find some bit of the VERY completicated form that I've filled out wrongly and take everything from me........
I am so sorry to Curry Queen, can i ask how it got so bad that they took your house, (sorry to be so personal, I just need things explained clearly....i'm not thick just like to understand...xxx)

Curry_Queen

From what you've said it sounds like they may be coming to see you to find out why you've claimed for HB when you have a mortgage. They may suspect attempted fraud but the likely scenario will be that they will help you make sure you claim the right benefits and may well be able to advise you further re the mortgage.

My own situation was not dissimilar to yours, as in being a single parent of three, and when we separated I decided to go back to full-time work to support the kids and pay the mortgage on the house, with some help from my ex. However, without going into too many details I ended up off sick for several months and subsequently ran into financial difficulties and struggled to make the mortgage payments. It became apparent that I wasn't going to be returning to work for some time due to illness so I was pressured into resigning and forced to claim IS, but because my mortgage had started after a particular deadline (I forget when it was now ... some time in '97/8 I think) I didn't qualify for immediate help with the interest payments and would have had to wait 39 weeks.

I'd only missed 3 payments and in arrears to the tune of £1000 when the threatening letters and eviction notices started arriving. Because I'd left work they weren't interested in negotiating any payment arrangements with me, and because I was now on IS I couldn't accept any financial help from my ex or they would take it off my benefit, so I was in a no win situation and they repossessed my home and sold it at auction for a rock bottom price. And to top it off, they claim I still owe them over £15K for the shortfall but no way will they ever get a penny from me :mad: and they haven't contacted me since.

I really hope you manage to get something sorted out before it gets to that stage and I'm sure everyone will help out where they can

Curry_Queen

BTW, I've just opened a bottle of wine so I'll share if you like

MyUserNamesTaken

Woooooo there!

Firstly, as others have pointed out, you can't claim HB on a property you're paying the mortgage on.

Secondly, HB don't talk to IS. HB is a local council dept, whereas DWP is a Government Agency. They aren't organised enough to actually talk to each other! HB ask you to provide proof of IS when claiming HB, not the DWP. My reckoning is that this isn't about your claim for HB. Had it been, it would have been from the HB's fraud division, not the DWP.

Thirdly; seeing as you are paying a mortgage and have been claiming IS for quite some time, you should now be able to qualify for help with your mortgage from the DWP (not HB dept.) You need to look into this. There is a set period of time in which you need to pay the mortgage on your own whilst claiming before they will help you, though.

You mentioned that you work on Saturdays. Have you told the DWP about this? Normally, the DWP fraud dept. doesn't get involved unless something flags up on their system (for example, me saying my partner had started work when they didn't have a partner listed as living with me), or if someone's reported you (albeit for false rubbish!) Either way, they have to take a look.
From what you've said, you've done nothing wrong, so you're in the clear. As I said earlier, they probably just want to clarify a few things about your claim. If they had anything on you, you'd be dragged down to their offices for a formal interview under caution faster than you can say "help!". Give them a call to ease your mind. They will tell you over the phone what it's concerning.