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Not enough to live on, any help available?
Gavin234
Posts: 92 Forumite
We are a couple with 3 kids. On JSA and rent from a private landlord.
Due to the Ben cap our benefits have been reduced to £500week, our rent is £350, but for some unexpected reason apparently I have to pay back a few thousand pounds in overpaid tax credits.
They are reducing our child tax credits, leaving us with less than £100 week to live on. All our bills and paying off debts take up most of that. There is nothing left for food or clothes. I thought we could still get the 500 nod pay back the overpayment still?..
We have been to the food bank 3 times this year, they say sorry we have used up max allowance, they will not give us any more food until next year.
Where else can we look to for help? I know I'm not the only one struggling, but things are getting very hard. I'm so depressed looking for work, I can tell they won't be interested in my cv because I've got no qualifications.
Due to the Ben cap our benefits have been reduced to £500week, our rent is £350, but for some unexpected reason apparently I have to pay back a few thousand pounds in overpaid tax credits.
They are reducing our child tax credits, leaving us with less than £100 week to live on. All our bills and paying off debts take up most of that. There is nothing left for food or clothes. I thought we could still get the 500 nod pay back the overpayment still?..
We have been to the food bank 3 times this year, they say sorry we have used up max allowance, they will not give us any more food until next year.
Where else can we look to for help? I know I'm not the only one struggling, but things are getting very hard. I'm so depressed looking for work, I can tell they won't be interested in my cv because I've got no qualifications.
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Comments
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You need to prioritise the income you have. Rent and food comes before paying debts.0
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Sell the PS3 and Iphone 5s and that'll help put some food on the table"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money"0
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I can tell they won't be interested in my cv because I've got no qualifications.
Would your partner be able to look for work and you become a stay at home dad to look after the children?
If, as a family, you qualify for Working Tax Credits then you would not be affected by the benefit cap
You could also look to somewhere like Stepchange to help negotiate reduced payments for your debts0 -
Colleges are still enrolling, if you've not even got GCSEs get down there and register on a part time course.0
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How did the overpayment of Tax Credits occur ?0
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Suggest you do a Statement of Affairs on the Debt Free Wannabe forum and get some help there. Sell anything you can - an IPhone 5s is not an essential, especially if you can't buy food. There's lot of help on other threads on how to save money on food too.0
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Get a part time job, contrary to what you may hear on these pages there are quite a few jobs out there for the taking.0
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You're that short of money and you're posting about buying games?0
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I know how hard it can be when you are looking for a job with limited qualifications, however the government are luckily now doing maths and english gcses at local colleges for free
might be worth a look? good luck! "No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in so doing...we can find the way back to our path. And once we've found our path we can move on from our past mistakes toward a brighter future"
Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney Rise from the Ashes0 -
Have you looked on the old style board?Sealed pot challenge #232. Gold stars from Sue-UU - :staradmin :staradmin £75.29 banked
50p saver #40 £20 banked
Virtual sealed pot #178 £80.250
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