Help with debt in Scotland

G8311374

Hello

i live in Scotland and have about £22k of debt. Basically four years ago I had a breakdown and went mad on my credit cards even to the point where I wasn’t buying things but just donating to just giving. 

I start university this autumn and will have tuition fees to pay direct to the university every month and whilst I will be getting a student maintenance loan I will not be able to claim my ESA because of this. 

I was medically discharged from the RAF following injuries in Iraq and for this I get a monthly service attributable pension, guaranteed income payment and war pension based on my being on the old AFPS 75 scheme. Normally for governmental financial applications like ESA, Housing Benefit tax etc these aren’t regarded as income because they are a result of my injuries causing medical retirement. Is this the same for debts?

 I spoke to trustdeedscotland who said this was the case and they said I should seek a MAP via stepchange or citizens advice. I spoke to citizens advice and they didn’t know the answer to this so I’m hoping you can provide an answer and maybe even a link to legislation or something so I can back it up.

Thanks

Jude57

StepChange have specialist advisors for Scottish clients so I'd recommend you speak to them but in my experience, creditors tend to want every penny of income taken into account, whatever the source of that income. The key thing for you though, is that your income from your service pension is intended to support your needs as a result of your injuries so expenditure should ideally match income. That's to say if you have £100 pension etc income, your expenditure for, say, travel, healthcare (counselling, physiotherapy, diet etc), and other support would be £100. A good debt adviser can talk you through all this. They can also ensure you are claiming all benefits you are entitled to, for example PIP which, as you may know, isn't means tested. Once all that is covered, they can help find the right way forward for you with your debts.
Finally, you'll already know about the Royal British Legion and SSAFA, so hopefully you're getting some support from them, but if you're not then I recommend contacting them. They can help with so many things, and most importantly, their staff are generally ex service themselves, so they 'get it'.
Apologies for the long post, hopefully it's helpful, good luck with everything.

G8311374

Thanks Jude, when I’ve previously spoke to debt counsellor they were not at all supportive of me spending money on extra health needs, home help, dog walker etc hopefully stepchange will help.