Housing benefit savings

FRESTER

Hi

I have £6100 in a savings account and my current account is £300 overdrawn.

Is the overdrawn amount offset against the savings amount to make the total money in my accounts £5800 for housing benefit purposes ?
Or do I need to report I have gone over the 6k threshold so they can make £1 reduction to my benefit.
It's also worth mentioning that my savings will only be over 6k for two days because our cooker has died and I will be using money from the savings to replace it.

Hope that makes sense

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Overdrafts aren't taken into account so £6,100 it taken into account. I wouldn't bother declaring it for just 2 days as you are paying for a cooker and it's going to take you under £6,000.

pmlindyloo

FRESTER wrote: »

Hi

I have £6100 in a savings account and my current account is £300 overdrawn.

Is the overdrawn amount offset against the savings amount to make the total money in my accounts £5800 for housing benefit purposes ?
Or do I need to report I have gone over the 6k threshold so they can make £1 reduction to my benefit.
It's also worth mentioning that my savings will only be over 6k for two days because our cooker has died and I will be using money from the savings to replace it.

Hope that makes sense

I do not believe that bank accounts would be offset in this way. The sensible thing to do is to transfer some money from the savings account to your current account.

The amount of interest being charged on the overdraft is likely to be more than than the amount of interest gained on the savings account.

If you don't do this then having the extra in the savings account for 2 days is unlikely to make a difference. Just keep the receipt for the cooker in case they query the expenditure.

FRESTER

Thanks guys.
Just paid for the cooker so will take your advise and not bother to declare it and keep the receipt handy just in case I ever get asked what I done with the money.

:beer:

somethingcorporate

Obvious question but why wouldn't you clear your OD? Presumably it would be costing you far more than your savings earn you.

Al1x

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Obvious question but why wouldn't you clear your OD? Presumably it would be costing you far more than your savings earn you.

Exactly what I was thinking.. seems a little odd.

rogerblack

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Overdrafts aren't taken into account so £6,100 it taken into account. I wouldn't bother declaring it for just 2 days as you are paying for a cooker and it's going to take you under £6,000.

Overdrafts are not usually taken into account - but must be if they are with the same bank as the credit, and the bank has the right to withdraw the overdraft and 'offset' at any time, drawing the funds from the in-credit account.
If it does not (read your terms and conditions) - then even if it's with the same bank - the above is correct.

FRESTER

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Obvious question but why wouldn't you clear your OD? Presumably it would be costing you far more than your savings earn you.

The overdraft is interest and charge free for 12 months due to a deal when changing banks.
It will be cleared when I get paid next week anyway so didn't see the point in transferring money to clear it.

NYM

This is probably a very stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyhow

Why is the current account overdraft discounted when presumably a credit balance wouldn't be ?