Savings scheme for those on low incomes gives up to £1,200 bonus - MSE News

Former_MSE_Megan_F

A new savings scheme which gives up to a £1,200 bonus to people on low incomes has been launched - but MSE founder Martin Lewis has warned there's a risk it could lead to people mis-prioritising their finances...

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'Savings scheme for those on low incomes gives up to £1,200 bonus'

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VT82

How does the government come up with these daft as a brush convoluted savings schemes? Honestly, back in the day some people thought ISAs were complicated, but they were childs' play compared to this!


I've got a maths degree and work in finance and even I can't be bothered to try to understand the finer points of some of the more recent offerings. And that's even before you consider Martin's warnings about why this new scheme may be detrimental to your wealth vis-a-vis the cost of debts.

Afraid_of_Kittens

VT82 wrote: »

How does the government come up with these daft as a brush convoluted savings schemes? Honestly, back in the day some people thought ISAs were complicated, but they were childs' play compared to this!


I've got a maths degree and work in finance and even I can't be bothered to try to understand the finer points of some of the more recent offerings. And that's even before you consider Martin's warnings about why this new scheme may be detrimental to your wealth vis-a-vis the cost of debts.

Simple Save £50 per month for 2 years - total £1200 and they give you £600.
Sve another £1200 and they give you another £600 in 2 years later.

So save £2400 in 4 years and get a free £1200 bonus.

Captain_Bravo

Am I eligible for Help to Save?

- To get one, you need to be a UK resident:
- I am an EEA national and I have permanent residency in UK, I've applied for a yellow card (self employed) like 10 years ago and I lived and worked in UK since 2008.

- Receive working tax credit or child tax credit.
- In the last years I've worked hard and made over 20k profit every year ... had to pay a lot of taxes, but because I live in Aberdeen and this place is sinking slowly due to oil&gas crisis some of my customers went bankrupt, I lost more than 15.000 pounds on unpaid invoices in the past 2 years and this year I finally asked for some help so few months ago I start receiving child tax credit. (I am 38 y.o. and I have 2 kids)

- Claim universal credit and have an individual/household income from employment of £542.88 or more for the last monthly assessment period.
- I am not in employment, I work as a self employed gardener, cleaner, handyman, have my business well established for almost 10 years now. Can I apply ?

Does anybody know if self-employed qualify for this ?
And I don't understand, is this a product that will be offered by the banks soon ? Where do I apply ?


Yes, I feel sorry for myself sometimes, I spent the last decade working hard and I'm still poor. I end up in the tax credit bracket and now seeing this low-income saving scheme I feel it's a good thing...
I want to become smarter, for my kids, for my family, I start reading personal development books, I read MSE forum, I paid off all my debt and I want to educate myself out of the misery.
Today I also started my first ever ISA, signed up for Vanguard LifeStrategy 100 and deposited my savings of 2000 pounds.
Reading this forum will change my life. Thank you all ! And please Recommend a book that I can read, or give me some tips if you can. Thanks again !

PasturesNew

VT82 wrote: »

How does the government come up with these daft as a brush convoluted savings schemes? Honestly, back in the day some people thought ISAs were complicated, but they were childs' play compared to this!

This.

And this is why many don't save .... because it's "too hard to understand" ... and, even if you start, you fall foul of something or other you didn't understand.

Afraid_of_Kittens

I get a tiny bit of Child Tax Credit and I qualify so have signed up for an account. £50 a month isn't that much to me and I get free money from the Government

Easy to login, create an account and see if you qualify. https://www.gov.uk/get-help-savings-low-income

pearl123

Help to Save - Why not offered to carers? £64.60 per week not low enough?

Captain_Bravo

I have managed to open a 'Help to Save' account today,

Had to provide proof of identity and tax credits, as expected, but all went smooth.
Today was a good day ... I feel like a super saver already

dealer_wins

What a great scheme for benefit fraudsters, nice little extra earner.

Most genuine benefit claimants wont be able to save this amount!

Afraid_of_Kittens

dealer_wins wrote: »

What a great scheme for benefit fraudsters, nice little extra earner.

Most genuine benefit claimants wont be able to save this amount!

So everyone using this scheme is a benefit fraudster?

harz99

And why can pensioners not be included if their income is below a suitable limit?