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.

Why are people such arseholes. It’s not a race to the bottom.

You manage on your husbands wages and have savings. But you want extra.

Then you go to work.

This is exactly why the country is in the shit.

16K isn’t enough for a deposit on a house when you’re a single parent either. Not even close!

Paying down debt from savings is allowable under DWP rules, though I am not 100% certain about mortgage payments ( My understanding is that it is permissible as it is debt). Another alternative is both of you to pay the excess savings into your pensions.

1 UC Regs, reg 50(1)
H1796 People are not treated as having capital of which they have deprived themselves if

1. it reduces or pays a debt owed by the person or
2. they purchase goods and services and that expenditure was reasonable in the circumstances of that person’s case

. H1817 Evidence that people no longer have capital can include .....3. receipts which show 3.1 what the capital has been spent on or 3.2 which debts have been paid out of the capital.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1073425/admh1.pdf

How much UC do you think you’ll actually get? I think you’re in for a shock.

Being a SAHM is a luxury that they cannot afford. It’s being realistic, not being an arsehole.

What are you talking about? How is your circumstance relevant?

@Namechanger03 that’s unfair. @SmashedTit makes a good point that people should be careful how things are expressed. The @BzzzzzOff has explained her frustrations and they are fair. Why should someone fritter away 30k over the course of a few years but she has to use her 30k, carefully saved, in place of benefits that those who frittered away get freely.

@SmashedTit is not in the fritter category, but it’s clearly a sensitive area given how critical with generalisations many can be towards those claiming.

Not sure how much UC you would get as they take partners wage into consideration. I'm not sure what the threshold is.

@Namechanger03 There was also no need for the OPs spiteful tone towards those she is referring to as on benefits (the whole thread is about her claiming benefits) . I was not the only one to pick it up so hardly a pity party.

I never mentioned whether the OPs plan was right or wrong, I picked her up on her condescending and resentful tone. Oh please you know full well I was not indicating my illness was OPs fault or problem.

It’s a benefits bashing thread plain to see. Being on benefits does not make you less of a human . People would do well to remember that life can happen to anyone.

OP I don't know what benefits you would get when you own your own home and are able to work (but choose not to). Genuinely, have you mocked up the circumstances and run it through a calculator online? I think you would be shocked to see how very little (if anything) you get.

This is absolutely not true. I work in this sector.

@IsedtoK Thankyou. The majority of people on benefits are not full of glee that they are “getting it all for nothing” . Most of the claimants I have experience of feel shame and demoralised and it’s people’s attitudes which wear you down and then you become sensitive to the continual criticism.

I have no idea whether DWP would consider it deprivation of assets but unless you've got a very good low fixed rate mortgage and a high savings rate it quite often makes sense to pay off a chunk of mortgage to reduce monthly payments.

But I agree with some pp, you do sound judgey about other people whilst (IMO) being a bit reckless yourself having two children and relying on one £24000 wage.

Surprisingly, until the cost of living started to rise dramatically, we were living a fairly decent life on £24k. We live in a cheap part of the country and have a small house. We live frugally. We made sacrifices so that I could be a SAHM. That's my point, it required a lot of planning to do it self-sufficiently! Unfortunately the cost of living crisis could not have been anticipated, so we are now having to dip into the savings. We weren't before.

About £400 per month according to online calculators.

Forgot to add you and your partner would need to make a joint claim. I'm pretty sure his wage would wipe out any entitlement but I don't know what the cut off is.

These threads really make my blood boil you want to do now what theses so called reckless people have done . Use your savings to live like the rest of us have to do .

@BzzzzzOff FWIW, I don’t actually disagree with what you are planning to do. I do think you could have worded it better as your thread appears to fall in to the same category as all of the post budget benefit bashing threads.

@WolvesOfTheCalla 2 toddlers in full time childcare would be approx £2,000 a month. THIS is the luxury most people can’t afford and why lots of people are stuck being SAHP even though they’d love to work. The UK has some of the highest childcare costs in Europe. OP going to work will likely make her worse off than now.

IsedtoK

I dont think It didn’t take long for the punching down threads to start. I’m claiming benefits OP due to a chronic illness not recklessness or lack of hard work. Would you care to swap?

You take my life changing illness and I’ll take your mortgage and £30k of savings. You also have to take my constant worry of when such benefits are going to be snatched away without a moments notice. It is not a way to live was her making a point of OP being careful how things are expressed. It just reads as nasty to me

SmashedTit I'm on LCWRA and PIP due to life long illnesses. Realistically I'll probably never be able to manage with a part time or full time job. I didnt read her comments as benefit bashing. Nor did it read to me as condescending or resentful.

With everything that's going on in the world and everything increasing in price, if I had 30k in the bank I'd be tempted to put it on my mortgage and to start to claim benefits too. We dont know if her mortgage is fixed or what

I thought the government would require you to work OP, they don't just hand out benefits to non working through choice.

TBH I dont really understand the issue- cost of living is biting us all, at least you could look to work. It's two working people who still cant afford the increases surely to feel sorry for.

@BzzzzzOff I would however strongly recommend you seek and advice and really think this through. Deprivation of assets is a real risk and so is the fact that benefits can be removed with no notice. It’s not a secure or pleasant way to live .

How is it deprivation of assets? She isn't giving the money away.

I do get the frustration of saving money and then having to use it on essentials. However, is there a reason you can't get a job? Being a SAHM is quite a luxury if it's by choice.