hi what is classed as income when on bennafits

lee-d

hello,please can someone tell me what is classed as income in benefits im applying with my bank for a credit card,just to improve my credit score,

is council tax and housing benefit ?

thank you

lee-d

what i ment was are they classed as a income?

so would my 50 pound a week housing benefit be part of my income on a credit card?

richard9991

lee-d wrote: »

what i ment was are they classed as a income?

so would my 50 pound a week housing benefit be part of my income on a credit card?

no housing benefit is for a specific purpose so is council tax .

Anthorn

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit cannot be income because they are more of a discount than income but they have the effect of reducing outgoing funds: i.e. the total rent would be written after Housing Benefit is applied and not before.

I think it's probably true to say that banks treat all incoming funds including benefits as income although they do tend to separate actual wages or salary income separately from benefits income on application forms.

But the scenario is rewritten in the case of Universal Credit!

HappyMJ

I would include housing and council tax benefits as income. If you earnt enough in a job to not be entitled to them it would only just marginally be more than the total of the benefits anyway. To stop getting £50 of housing benefit you need to be earning an extra £77 a week. If you did that for a short period and then applied for your credit card you could put your actual earnings down instead.

nannytone_2

i doubt very much that you'll be givenn a credit card if your only income is benefits.

paying your utility bills on time will boost your credit rating.

missapril75

lee-d wrote: »

so would my 50 pound a week housing benefit be part of my income on a credit card?

richard9991 wrote: »

no housing benefit is for a specific purpose so is council tax .

@richard So when applying for a credit would you put your salary in full or would you "lower" it, adjusting it for that part that of your income that is for the specific purpose of rent?

Credit card applications ask for monthly rent/mortgage payment, so yes, HB is part of gross income.

Whether it succeeds with qualifying is another matter, but your income is everything you have and your rent charge indicates how much money you have left after paying it. The same as for anyone.

If you were a local authority tenant with a gross rent of £80 a week and you got £50 towards it, meaning you only had to pay £30, then you could say it wasn't income as you don't actually have the money, but then you'd be saying your rent was only £30.

I don't suppose it makes much difference if you include the £50 and quote full rent or not include the £50 but then quote the rent balance.

Either option leaves you with the same sum post rent and that's the income available to make card payments.

HappyMJ

nannytone wrote: »

i doubt very much that you'll be givenn a credit card if your only income is benefits.

paying your utility bills on time will boost your credit rating.

The utilities don't appear on my credit report...and yes it's easy enough getting a credit card on benefits if OP put's down all income such as any cheques or bank credits that come from the council to cover the rent.

The limit may only be £250 but it'll still be granted if OP's got a good credit record.

missapril75

nannytone wrote: »

i doubt very much that you'll be givenn a credit card if your only income is benefits.

Depending on where OP lives £50 HB could be quite a bit less than full rent, so he may well have wages.

He could have a decent wage and live where LAs happily allow £115 or more and £50 HB wouldn't be unusual.

nannytone_2

if utilities dont count, how come my credit score is good? ( it was checked when i was considering taking a loan which i decided against) i have never had credit cards, loans or bought things on HP

AMG762

Some utility providers do report payment history to the credit reference agency's.

For example British Gas have been known to report to Experian