Declaring Premium Bonds

Owain_Moneysaver

rvj87 wrote: »

So it's safest not to have any savings?

It's very dangerous not having any savings.

If you don't have an emergency fund you can find yourself going into debt when an unexpected expense crops up.

rvj87

Hi,
Apologies for taking such a long time to get back to you. Things have not been going well recently. I am still terrified of the idea of ringing the DWP and asking if I can have premium bonds. I think there's a very good chance that even if I have nothing they'll still go through my records and will probably withhold my esa while they're looking. Of course if they do decide to stop my esa while they look that means I won't get any housing benefit and will have to fight to not go homeless and to be honest the way things have been recently I think the stress would be the final straw.

rvj87

p.s. after reading various stories about esa being stopped for the most trivial things I see even less reason to give myself cause to speak to the DWP about anything even remotely related to money. I remember the struggle I went through to make sure I didn't lose my esa when they sent my questionnaire to the wrong address; I had to chase them up for months and months and the stress and strain nearly led me to take my own life. I had to fight so hard to make sure I didn't lose my payments. If I lose my ESA this time I will be forced to take universal credit.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

seven-day-weekend

Where is the money that you said you withdrew?

bspm1

Not sure if you are taking any notice of the many replies on this subject which have told you, many many times that savings below £6000 will have NO impact on your Income related benefits.

I think you should stop torturing yourself unnecessarily.

marliepanda

rvj87 wrote: »

Hi,
Apologies for taking such a long time to get back to you. Things have not been going well recently. I am still terrified of the idea of ringing the DWP and asking if I can have premium bonds. I think there's a very good chance that even if I have nothing they'll still go through my records and will probably withhold my esa while they're looking. Of course if they do decide to stop my esa while they look that means I won't get any housing benefit and will have to fight to not go homeless and to be honest the way things have been recently I think the stress would be the final straw.

There is very little point posting for help if you are going to ignore every last thing people have said to you.

You can have savings up to £6k without it impacting means tested benefits

It doesnt matter if the 6k is cash, premium bonds, savings account, current account, ISA it all counts in exactly the same way.

Between 6k and 16k it will reduce your benefit and you can use your savings to 'top up' what you do not get in benefits.

If you only have the money you mentioned in your opening post, which adds up to £4600, that wont affect anything. Fretting, calling up, moving money around is more likely to flag up to them as something 'odd' and make them check your accounts than just saying 'Hi, I have £4600 in various accounts and premium bonds.'

pmduk

Don't forget that although you may hear horror stories, they are only the tip of the iceberg and most people in your circumstances have no issues whatsoever with holding that level of savings (£4600). Just ensure you answer any questions about savings honestly and completely and you should be fine

macman

So you now have a large amount of cash presumably hidden somewhere in the house, which is neither invested in PB's, giving you a (small) chance of a win, or invested in a bank account which could be paying you 5% (Nationwide Flexdirect). Instead it's subject to the risk of fire/flood/theft, depreciating annually, and you've failed to declare it.
How exactly is that benefiting your financial position or reducing your anxiety?