crisis loans from april

pmlindyloo

In my experience, in recent, times crisis loans have been applied for when some benefit department has 'messed up' and the claimant has been left with no money at all.

Also, it takes approximately 40 minutes (at least in my area) for a claim to be processed on the telephone and the amounts awarded are strictly controlled and are often for a very small amount.

I certainly do not believe that recently crisis loans have been abused.

I believe that it is a sad reflection on the benefit system that more people are having to claim them.

FBaby

feelthelove wrote: »

that's why the governement are doing it so the poor get poorer its their only agenda and i feel very sorry for those who are going to worse off .

How can you be getting poorer because you might not get a crisis loan you might not have been able to before anyway???

BigAunty

pmlindyloo wrote: »

In my experience, in recent, times crisis loans have been applied for when some benefit department has 'messed up' and the claimant has been left with no money at all.

....

I certainly do not believe that recently crisis loans have been abused.

....

The strict criteria for Crisis Loans are that they are for emergencies and disasters where health and safety is at risk - fire and flood, for example, although I have heard this can cover things like boiler breakdowns.

So when I say 'abused' I mean that the original criteria has widened and they are being given for occasions outside of their remit. You do have to ask yourself why tens of thousands of households claim a Crisis Loan virtually every month that would fit the actual criteria for entitlement - these revolving door claims need to be investigated to understand why the claimants get trapped into them.

Also, apparently around 120 million pounds is paid out each year and many loans don't get repaid (I don't know the stats on non-paid claims, though).

Hopefully under UC, the processing times for claims will be quicker and the amount of times a claim is suspended will be reduced which plunges people into hardship.

FBaby

decent amount to live on or decent budgeting skills? A loan is a loan, will need to be repayed. If they don't have enough in the first place, how are they going to have enough to repay a loan?

missapril75

BigAunty wrote: »

Claims rocketted after interviews were scrapped and then telephone claims were introduced so it is more about the means of applying being made easier than benefit claimants suddenly experiencing an 89% increase in emergencies

I had 30 years in the department, very supportive of those applying for benefits, even to the point of having "run-ins" with colleagues.

But that doesn't mean I couldn't recognise (and, significantly, PROVE) a scam and most of the crisis loan applications for living expenses we received at our office could easily be shown as highly unlikely, downright false or avoidable with a bit of common sense.

It's not just the ease of applying that caused an increase in the number of people having a crisis , word gets around about a soft touch (or otherwise).

When our office closed for refurbishment, our callers had to use another office across town.

Part of the problem with crisis loan abuse is that staff have to put more effort into refusing one. Disproving the story given and making the decision more or less airtight, then arguing why it's not allowed takes more time than you really have - and loans are almost routinely allowed because of that.

People get to know this and applications tend to be made later in the day. when you have less time.

You were mugged/lost money yesterday afternoon? Why weren't you here when we opened instead of coming in 5 minutes before we closed?

Never mind that they were here yesterday claiming to have no money, so where did the money lost/stolen come from? But now you don't have time to argue about that; you want to go home after a long day.

And more applications follow because the likelihood of success increases.

Anyway, back in our own office when it reopened we got control back. We "knew our callers" better than the other office did. We knew which hostels wouldn't throw them out. We knew who to contact to establish the truth or otherwise of the story. We knew what other services were available as alternatives to going further into debt.

The number of applications we were getting had increased during the period the other office were in control.

So we were firm (but not dismissive). "No Mr Jones, you won't lose your accommodation. It's a bail hostel." Or No, John, you must have received your payment, you signed to say so." Or, "no you didn't think exactly double your normal money was just one week's payment and not including Easter when we were closed...look, here's your signature to say you know it was two weeks" and so on and so forth.

Within a month of being firm and not falling for every story, word got around and numbers applying had fallen right back; people stopped having crises.

Own_My_Own

FBaby wrote: »

decent amount to live on or decent budgeting skills? A loan is a loan, will need to be repayed. If they don't have enough in the first place, how are they going to have enough to repay a loan?

Because most (Not all) of them can afford it. They just can't be bothered to save for their 42 inch plasma.

My best-friends ex-sister-in-law went to Magaluf on one about 4 years ago.

Which just makes it hard for the people that really need the money.

brittone05

I have never in my life applied for a crisis loan ( neither when I was a single parent some years ago nor since my husband's health declined )

I recently rang to enquire about a crisi loan as we hadn't expected the cold weather to hit as hard and have used double the normal amount of heating oil, it is now almost empty and my husband has a mdical history of chest problems ( pneumonia and pleuracy ). Their reply when I said it was a crisis as I can't raise the money for 500l of oil to keep us warm and with hot water " sorry Mrs Britton, heating oil running out is not a crisis"!!!

What exactly is a "crisis" needing money for drugs or alcohol? Wanting to go out with your mates on a Friday night? Makes me quite sad that the system will help those who lie but not those in genuine crisis xx

Gregoryea

Some interesting news here. Have had a crisis loan before and iv always been in employment. Was very thankful.

However i know of many people who exploit this system obtaining loans for drink n drugs etc.

Im in favour of food stamps and vouchers etc, so our tax money doesnt get wasted so much.

Nada666

feelthelove wrote: »

have you ever been in need of a crisis loan ? have you ever been in poverty ?

Ninety-nine percent of people in need of a crisis loan would not qualify for one in the first place. Ninety-five percent wouldn't even receive a budgeting loan. Crisis loans are just given to the usual suspects who know how to play the system.

lukieboy96

Can i just ask, is this what is happening with the 'social fund?' I have received this recently as my cooker broke. They take some out of my benefit each week.