how do savings affect benefit entitlement?

BEANY2004

i am a newly single parent. i have a mortgage with my soon to be ex but have decided to move into a rental property whilst our house is sold.

My ex has offered me a pay out so he can then buy our property to rent out.

I am self employed working 16 hours per week and claim child tax credit and working tax credit.

what level if capital would affect my current benefits?

I have significant debts to repay out of the settlement and wondered if I can claim housing benefit . What savings could i have and still claim?

The CAB advised me that i have to work at least 30 hours to still claim child/working tax credits. is that right?

HappyMJ

More than £6,000 (edit-will affect housing benefit). You can use any money you get to repay any debt that was taken out to improve, maintain or purchase the property as it's basically your return on your investment (hope you have kept all the receipts). You should be careful not to repay anything else quicker than scheduled but you can refinance them around to save interest. You can work 30 hours+ and still claim tax credits if on a low income.

zagfles

There are no capital rules for tax credits at all (though income received from capital, eg interest, over £300 needs to be declared).

Capital over £6000 will affect housing benefit and you won'tget any if you have over £16,000.

You were told rubbish by the CAB, as a single parent you only need 16 hours for WTC, and you can get CTC regardless of hours (you don't have to work at all for CTC).

BigAunty

What type of debts do you have? Are these loans with regular repayments and a future date to be fully paid off or are they credit card debts or money owed to friends/relatives, for example?

BEANY2004

i have a loan, credit card debts, an overdraft and some debts owed to my parents too

HappyMJ

BEANY2004 wrote: »

i have a loan, credit card debts, an overdraft and some debts owed to my parents too

Was the loan taken out to make an improvement on the house that you are now selling and seeing a return on investment? You can pay the overdraft off without any problems. Paying parents back is difficult and can easily be seen as DofC. Do you have a written agreement of the loan and the repayment terms?

BEANY2004

the loan is a personal one which Iused to buy a car. What is Dofc?

HappyMJ

BEANY2004 wrote: »

the loan is a personal one which Iused to buy a car. What is Dofc?

Deprivation of Capital.. The intentional spending of money to get your balance below £6,000. Easy enough to avoid but very debateable on here. Do you still have the car? If so, you can't pay the loan off quicker than you otherwise would. If you sell the car you can pay the loan off with the proceeds without it being DofC then in a few months you can buy another cheaper one with your savings without having to borrow money to do so.