Housing Benefit - they paid late and will not help rectify their mistake!!!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Hi all,

Just wanted a bit of a rant really, to vent a bit of my anger with my Housing Benefit Dept.

Basicaly i have been phoning up for over a week and a half to ask if they would be sending out the housing benefit payments early as clearance of cheques are extended over xmas. All i kept being told was phone back tomorrow and see if they knew. Finally on monday i was told they had been sent out. Ok, now wednesday, still no cheque. Phoned again, told i was mis-informed they would be sent out that day. A bit annoyed and i explained that this left me with not enough time for it to clear for my rent due date. To this she replied that i could go and get it cashed as special circumstances and she put a note on system. Phew...or so i thought. Today cheque arrived (the day it would have been due anyway) and i headed straight to cashing office. Got there and was refused, told they wont do it as i have a bank ac. :mad: I explained the whole situation after asking for the manager, she had the cheek to say ''oh well, there is nothing i can do as you have a bank account''. She even admitted it was their mistake and that the info was on screen but still did not want to help me :mad: :mad: :mad: . She then said she could cancel the cheque and send a new one straight to my landlord. Well duh, that means it will take even longer!!!!

I am just really furious as now i am short for rent money and i recently found out that my landlord is not so financially stable (rumour only though) so she relies on my payment being on time to pay her mortgage. If i hadnt have been advised otherwise on the phone i wouldnt have finished of our xmas food shopping and the last of the prezzies, i mean i would have rather gone short on xmas than go late on a rent payment.

I am now very worried that i am not going to be able to scrape together the last of my rent money in time, and may have to resort to refunding any prezzies that i still have reciepts for (will ahve to just appologise and make up for it but i really dont want to have to do that). im only down by about £100 as i have money that was for general living but its still not enough. We are now officially skint for the next 2 weeks and i will be left worrying all xmas all thanks to that ignorant manager at the council.:mad: :mad: :mad:

dmg24

Does your landlord know that you claim HB? If so, I would just be honest with them and tell them what has happened. It is possible that, if they called the housing dept, they may get a more positive response.

Could I ask why you get paid by cheque rather than straight into your account? x

Paul_Herring

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote:

I am just really furious as now i am short for rent money and i recently found out that my landlord is not so financially stable (rumour only though) so she relies on my payment being on time to pay her mortgage.

You are aware that you can have the cheques sent direct to your landlord. This is how I receive my tenant's HB.

dmg24 wrote:

Could I ask why you get paid by cheque rather than straight into your account?

Probably for the same reason I can't get my tenant's paid direct into my account. This is the council we deal with. "The system's a bit flakey at the moment (and had been for months) and we'd prefer to send cheques," was the excuse last time I tried to get bank transfers set up instead of cheques.
Cheques are a hassle for me, since I work 9-5, and there isn't a convenient bank nearby work.

Anthillmob

the LA i work for much prefers to pay everyone by BACS and will even assist those without bank accounts in opening a basic account with barclays.

its funny how LAs all work differently. no wonder people get the hump/confused.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Hi, i get a cheque because apparently they are only in the proccess of sorting out a new system that pays straight into an account. Knowing my LA though it prob wont be available till next xmas as they are so slow at everything :mad:

Yep my LL knows i get HB, just as i prefer to pay one lump sum a month in rent (as only a portion i get help with) rather than her getting it in drips and drabs (one payment by cheque every 2 weeks and then my payment). I also like to know what is going on too as there have been times in the past when they have forgotton to pay my LL (different LL) so therefre it didnt get chased up as once i didnt even know for 3 weeks.:eek:

It just gets my goat that my cheque was forgotten and everyone else got theirs the standard 3-4 days early. Apparently as i had phone up checking they had put it to be sorted manually and then forgot till i next phoned:mad: A joke if you ask me. She admitted all of this but still refused to help even though she admitted that they have the facility but only use it for people with 'special circumstances' - Well what is this???

I am sure i will be able to scrape by, its just that as it is xmas am skint whereas i never really am at any other time of year and would have some kind of savings to dip into, so worst time for it to happen. It just angers me that some people can be so ignorant!

Thank u all though! :beer:

Paul_Herring

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote: »

Hi, i get a cheque because apparently they are only in the proccess of sorting out a new system that pays straight into an account. Knowing my LA though it prob wont be available till next xmas as they are so slow at everything

Wouldn't be City of Sunderland council would it?

Yep my LL knows i get HB, just as i prefer to pay one lump sum a month in rent (as only a portion i get help with) rather than her getting it in drips and drabs (one payment by cheque every 2 weeks and then my payment).

Maybe not then - they pay me in arrears every 4 weeks. Eventually. (Though to give them some credit I've had this month's 2 weeks before the end of the period to which it belongs)

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

No, it Croydon! They are always very rude in person too! Most of the time ok over the phone although they often continue to have chit chats with the other staff while they are on the phone to me.

Anthillmob

ahhhhhhhhh lovely croydon!!!!!!!!!!

i work for a neighbouring borough. i hate croydon council with a passion.

Horace

My council won't pay by BACS either they insist on sending me a cheque - mind, I'd rather they did that because I have a DD set up to pay my landlord. Plus, I know that when the council pay direct to the landlord then he gets it in dribs and drabs - 45p here, £5 there etc. etc.

I have had two cheques this week (they always pay 2 weeks in arrears) - one cheque backdated to September because they have now decided that they weren't paying me the proper amount towards my rent - first they said £93 per week and they have upped it to £121.15, plus another cheque for the correct amount.

They are totally hopeless and to be honest didn't like it when my chap contacted them on my behalf to talk about my HB - I guess it was the fact that he pointed out to them that he used to be HB Fraud Investigator for a few of the London Boroughs (he works for the Dept of Health these days). Guess that's why they changed their mind on the amount of rent they were paying because he had asked to see the document they use to calculate their payments. Also, I have been invited to apply for hardship allowance.

I'm with Birmingham City Council - they are equally hopeless.

real1314

Ask the LA to change your payments from 4 weekly in arrears to 3 weeks in arrears + 1 week in advance. They can do this, but who knows whether they will or not. Worth a try?

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

yep i'll give this a go once the xmas period is over.... hopefully they will agree but im not counting on it at all. I suppose i have learnt that not everyone is as thoughtful over xmas, we still have some scrooges about!!! I cant wait till i am back at work so that i dont have to deal with them anymore, i am looking for work starting from Jan, i had one offer already but it was shifts and i couldnt find anyone to look after DD at some of the times they were offering, plus OH works horrible shifts so it clashed nearly all of the time. A shame as i really want to get back on my feet, but after being made redundant its not so easy!