Can I use my savings to pay off some of my mortgage, and then claim benefits?

[BzzzzzOff]

Well aware that I'm about to get flamed for this, but I am fed up with being penalised for being responsible with my money.

DH and I have £30k in savings, which was intended to go towards our next house when the DC start school and I go back to work. Currently I am a SAHM with two toddlers, and DH is on a low income (£24k). We just about manage without needing to dip into our savings, but from next year they will start depleting pretty rapidly as our energy fix comes to an end.

I know how lucky we are to have plenty of savings, but I am really upset that if we'd been reckless and bought the bigger house before having children then we could be on benefits now and receiving all this extra help. As it is, we'll probably never be able upsize as our savings will be gone.

So, I think I'm going to stick £25k onto our mortgage, keeping £5k in the bank, and start claiming Universal Credit. Could this be considered deprivation of assets? Frankly don't care if this is "immoral", I am just wondering how careful I need to be in order to protect the savings I worked so hard for.

If you read the whole lot it clearly says rules for UC state that you can clear a debt. The OP is in the clear. The description before that is for legacy benefits.

Yes

It's all very depressing. The government don't have money, it's taxpayers money. There is no magic money tree. It's coming from people like me and many others. I want benefits to be for people who are struggling. Not for people who've got 30k which they keep (by paying off their mortgage) then expect the rest of us to support them. No wonder we're in a mess.

You will become a Benefit Scrounger, taking from genuine claimants by a financial slight of hand, just because you feel aggrieved.
Get a part time job and some dignity.
You have an asset ( home) you are doing better than some.
Greed and envy are unbecoming…

OP will you be able to buy your next (presumably bigger) house on £24,000 and UC? Affordability, with a family of 4, may be an issue.

This, all of this. Are you telling me I'm working my ass off to pay for a homeowner with 30k in savings who doesn't want to go to work? Are you kidding me?

If its not illegal, definitely use the savings to pay off some mortgage and if you have to claim benefits while you have small children then do it. It won't do your little family any good if you are having to work every hour around your husbands work and never seeing him or being together as a family.

People in the UK don't know they're born.

Yep.

That’s exactly it and lots of people agreeing in a ‘well if you’re entitled to it do it’ attitude.

Benefit system needs a complete overhaul to support people genuinely in need more whilst simultaneously stopping this opt out behaviour. Sad thing is someone will always be the wrong side of the threshold and won’t get the help they need. OP doesn’t give a shit though as she’ll be sat in her upgraded house.

This.

And if all the rest of us decide to do the same? So we can look after our own 'little families', be it people who want to spend more time with their children, couples who want to see each other more or any one of the many other reasons that could exist to not want to get a job? Who pays for it all then?

This thread has showed me just what a piss take the benefit system is and I grudge every penny I pay to people like the OP.

Same.

Oh yes, OP getting a part time evening or weekend job and paying her own way for her upgraded house is akin to her and her children living in a workhouse. Of course.

Thanks @Dreamwhisper and @ClaudineClare . I was told by DWP (I was stupid enough to say about using some of my Capital for this, because I wanted to be honest!) that this would be a deprivation of assets. I will definitely look into this again, as I am having to dip into savings every month even though I am sitting in the dark with no heating on and a blanket round me to save money!

Savings I’ve got left would pay off the majority of my mortgage, but I would want to keep some back for emergencies. Lower mortgage payments alone, would definitely ease the pressure, as I really don’t spend any more than £60 - £80 pm on food, cleaning supplies etc.

It's actually quite reasonable to expect that one full time income should just about support a couple and two preschool children for the years before the children start school.

Yes, we do need to.

It is enough in the OPs case. She just wants a bigger house that we all need to essentially fund. Should we just contribute towards a big house fund for every SAHP then?

Hate to break it to you OP but as soon as your children are of school age, UC will expect you to get a job. If you refuse, you lose your UC. They aren't going to pay you to sit at home all day.

Is it, who decided that?

Perhaps for middle class families but in my experience (and background) women have always worked, taken in washing, done cleaning, child care, pin money jobs as my mum used to call it.

Plus in a general comment to a couple of the posts about MPs and businesses that do things within the law financially even if we dont like it and thats ok - well its not ok is it, we say that they are greedy and grabby and immoral. Same as we might say for OP

I actually think its a great idea. OP secures her housing for her and her family and means she is much less likely to claim housing benefit in the future or be repossesssed. Given cost of living increases she is likely to find servicing the mortgage increadingly difficult. Once that £30k is spent on day to day it is gone but if she uses it to secure her accomodation then she is much more secure going forward even if she needs to claim uc for a short while.

I'm not sure if anybody has mentioned this here but with an income of £24k and no housing costs (UC only pay your mortgage if you have no income for 9 months) OP would only be entitled to the standard allowance plus 2 kids. The DP's income would wipe out most of that.

But you don’t. It’s a choice. You can live without one.

Also, who’s “we”? I’ve never wanted a child let alone felt like I needed one. The entitlement that not only you NEED one but the state should pay for you too!

She doesnt need to secure housing, she already has a house?

But she needs to pay for it. The smaller the mortgage the less likely they will have to sell up or be repossessed.
I don’t understand why the £30k didn’t go into the mortgage to start with.