Panic-ESA want money back-Advice please

p999j

Good news and bad news.

Good news- This morning I got a letter saying I was going to get SMI. So pleased. They said it would be on a lesser amount, than my full mortgage but I definitely was awarded it!

Bad news- I telephoned JC to ask if it was going to be backdated and they said I wasn't going to get it. I asked for clarification and they said because I wasn't eligible for income related ESA, I wouldn't be getting any help with mortgage. I think i will still be getting a lesser amount of contribution based ESA until January 2014. I asked them to double check and they called back to confirm this was the case. How the hell could so much change is 1 day from when the letter was sent to when I phoned them? They didn't have a decent explanation for that.

What do I do now? After Jan next year, I will be getting no help whatsoever from anyone, other than my organisations Health Insurance/DLA.

I find it so hard to accept that they'll just leave me in this situation.

vassa

p999j wrote: »

Good news and bad news.

Good news- This morning I got a letter saying I was going to get SMI. So pleased. They said it would be on a lesser amount, than my full mortgage but I definitely was awarded it!

Bad news- I telephoned JC to ask if it was going to be backdated and they said I wasn't going to get it. I asked for clarification and they said because I wasn't eligible for income related ESA, I wouldn't be getting any help with mortgage. I think i will still be getting a lesser amount of contribution based ESA until January 2014. I asked them to double check and they called back to confirm this was the case. How the hell could so much change is 1 day from when the letter was sent to when I phoned them? They didn't have a decent explanation for that.

What do I do now? After Jan next year, I will be getting no help whatsoever from anyone, other than my organisations Health Insurance/DLA.

I find it so hard to accept that they'll just leave me in this situation.

Keep paying for unnecessary things and then moan on here about it. Or you could downsize your house, sell the crap you own and don't need, live to your means, proportion your debt payments correctly and stop living on credit.

But you'll probably just keep moaning and blaming someone else. Yes the Govt are a***holes, they will be loving the fact that you're in this situation and will have zero sympathy for you cause 'law is the law' but it's up to you to take control back from them. If you are only going to be getting £X per month from January, then you need to prepare yourself to be living on £X per month like everyone else has to. Why should anyone (including the Govt who i despise) pay your mortgage for you? Would you expect your car paid for in the same situation?

p999j

Thank you Vassa for your constructive and empathetic response. I am warmed by your humanity and compassion.
Given how much I value your opinion, I intend to take all your advice- sell my TV, sit in silence without contact from the outside world via phone or internet, and withdraw from society completely, given that as a disabled person, I have no value to anyone.
I don't usually feed trolls either....

pmlindyloo

p999j wrote: »

Thank you Vassa for your constructive and empathetic response. I am warmed by your humanity and compassion.
Given how much I value your opinion, I intend to take all your advice- sell my TV, sit in silence without contact from the outside world via phone or internet, and withdraw from society completely, given that as a disabled person, I have no value to anyone.
I don't usually feed trolls either....

I don't think your response was entirely called for.

I imagine Vassa, like myself, has looked at your previous posting history and seen your SOA (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4164417

Lots of people have given you their best advice but one look at your SOA shows that your mortgage is huge in comparison with your income and you also have huge debts.

I know you don't want to sell and I know you feel very vulnerable because of your illness but in the end it is not the government treating you badly because you are 'disabled' but because you are living beyond your means.

It seems to me that your insistence on retaining your house is at the expense of having enough money for food and maybe even heating your house.

I hope CAB can come up with some kind of rescue scheme as regards the house but people will lose sympathy for you when you are 'sitting' on capital yet expect the state to support you.

Sorry, don't mean to be harsh but sometimes tough love is called for. You do have a way out of your predicament - others often don't.

jacques_chirac

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I don't think your response was entirely called for.

I imagine Vassa, like myself, has looked at your previous posting history and seen your SOA (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4164417

Lots of people have given you their best advice but one look at your SOA shows that your mortgage is huge in comparison with your income and you also have huge debts.

I know you don't want to sell and I know you feel very vulnerable because of your illness but in the end it is not the government treating you badly because you are 'disabled' but because you are living beyond your means.

It seems to me that your insistence on retaining your house is at the expense of having enough money for food and maybe even heating your house.

I hope CAB can come up with some kind of rescue scheme as regards the house but people will lose sympathy for you when you are 'sitting' on capital yet expect the state to support you.

Sorry, don't mean to be harsh but sometimes tough love is called for. You do have a way out of your predicament - others often don't.

That post is over a year old, what is to say the OP has not made changes since then?

Are you suggesting that vassa telling the OP to get rid of his tv is a rational one?

pmlindyloo

jacques_chirac wrote: »

That post is over a year old, what is to say the OP has not made changes since then?

Are you suggesting that vassa telling the OP to get rid of his tv is a rational one?

The OP has said that she/he still has £30000 of debt and is also £1000 in arrears with her/his mortgage.

And of course I don't condone Vassa saying they should get rid of the TV or the tone of some of their posts.

But I also understand how they end up posting like this.

I am very aware that we give support and suggestions which are ignored by posters and instead produces a 'isn't the government awful? ' scenario.

This can be very frustrating which then leads to posts like Vassa's which are 'over the top' and then you get a reply which is 'over the top'.

Anyway, will stop now and wish the OP good luck. No more benefit 'advice' to be given.

p999j

Thanks. I have no problem accepting good advice, and I don't want to get into a 'poor me' frame of mind. I am constructively distributing my small income as per priorities agreed with CCCS (as they were-now step change i believe)

I know that selling the house would be a resolution, and in a way, the 'get on with it' tone has been helpful. That's all I can do. But I intend to stay in my house, so having made that decision, I will let my spare room and make some income that way.

I will 'cut my cloth' as my mother says!

sandy_smith_2

I know you said it was something you didn't want to do however if your ill health is going to be a long term thing (ie you wont be able to work for a long time) then selling your house to free up the circa £30k equity and finding a 1smaller place to rent for 2/3 of your current mortgage expenditure may well be the sensible route to go down.

Additionally given you don't go out much have you considered selling your car? You could also consider getting a lodger in order to raise some monthly income.

help4help2013

if you cannot find the forms ask the dwp for a SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST via letter they will then send you every bit of information they have on you it usually costs £10 and its with you within a few weeks

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-request-for-personal-information

Parva

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Get rid of the TV licence and TV, they are costs that are unneeded, you could buy books instead and watch stuff on the computer for free.

I would have thought that having a TV (and by default, a license) was a basic right these days and one that even the most cash-starved would want to keep.

But you're right, no TV means sitting in silence because you're just a worthless disabled person.

I take absolute exception to this. Why? Because I am severely disabled and have probably been outdoors 8 times in the whole of this year, mostly for hospital appointments. I'm not a huge lover of daytime TV, god knows I would give anything to get out and about but suggesting that someone should give up paying the TV license and read books instead? Come on.