eligibility checker and dependents

musycman

I have a child who does not live with me but I pay child maintenance, would he still be classed as a dependent. I'm guessing he would but I wanted to be certain before I filled in the eligibility checker. Advice on this would be much appreciated.

george9071

As your child doesn’t live with you, they don’t depend on you for everyday things so I would guess no, but not too sure. 

Paully28

I would say yes, as you pay towards them, and hence are dependant upon you for the money to pay for their living.  The dependants question, as far as I am aware, is to ascertain how much income you have, minus money for things you pay out, to make sure the CC company are not giving you an unrealistic limit. 

Ergates

They depend on you for financial support, so yes, they are a dependant.

Sandtree

Read the question asked, if its dependants as you pay for them, if its dependants that live with you then no as they dont.

musycman

Thank you but the question in the 0% money transfer credit card eligibility checker does not specify where a dependant may live. The question in the eligibility checker on the moneysavingexpert website is worded as follows: How many people depend on you financially? this may be child(ren), partner or parent(s).

My child does not depend on me totally but I obviously contribute to his financial needs. So I'm still uncertain if I leave blank or put 1 for one financially dependant child. My concern is that if I put one financially dependant when I should have left it blank, I will be reducing my chance of eligibility.

I'm grateful for all your quick responses but there does seem to be some differences of opinion, no one seems certain of the answer. I don't know if Martin Lewis reads these forums or someone who designed the eligibility checker, if so maybe they could clarify the question for my circumstances.

Sandtree

We have answered fairly unanimously

If the question specifies "dependants that live with you" then the answer is no, if its simply "dependants" then the answer is yes.

If you are talking about the MSE eligibility checker then it hardly matters as its a group of marketers best guess of the answer anyway and the only real results are found using a soft search option on the lenders own website.

musycman

Yes as stated it is the eligibility checker on MSE website. I must admit I'm a little confused by your answer, surely if a child lives with you they would be a dependant, so you would answer yes. My question was about my child that does not live with me but I still contribute with weekly child maintenance payments. Anyway thank you for you answers, like you say it may not be that important for the MSE eligibilty checker so I will probably tick the yes box for one dependant.