Anyone have any benefit advice?

Manda_Panda

Hi All,

I live with my husband who is unemployed and on JSA. I work full time and earn £200 per week. With our current outgoings (we have maxed a credit card at £8200, paying a minimum of £160 per month for that) and we are struggling to pay all the bills and get food etc on the table. I've looked into any help that we may be eligible for and it seems that there is nothing. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this in case I've missed anything?
I discovered that if my husband were working instead of me we would be getting £150 per month working tax credit (he is over 25 and I am under) which seems unfair.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Manda

mynameistallulah

Do you rent? You may be entitled to a small amount of LHA. You can check this by entering your figures in a benefits calculator.

With WTC any JSA payment would be taken into account when calculating your entitlement, I doubt you would be much better off.

93123

Would it be possible to half the payments on your credit card and double the time you pay it off? I can't think of anything else, other than you picking up a weekend job if possible?

skintmacflint

Your credit card bill is your last priority bill. Rent mortgage, utility, food , travel to work etc etc all come first.

If you go over onto the debt free board you'll be able to get some advice on how to lower that payment and the interest rate at least in the short term.

Under the lending code banks have a legal responsibility to act fairly and reasonably with customers who hit a hard time due to circumstances like unemployment etc . They might not be happy about it, but stand your ground and they will have to co-operate.