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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Housing Benefit+Bank Statments

32 replies

sugared · 27/01/2011 02:18

Just put in a housing benefit form to the local council as my partner walked and i am struggling to pay bills and along with a copy of EVERYTHING i.e 5 payslips, 3 forms of i.d copy of child benefit award, dla for dd award, dd birth cert my birth cert & dd child mainantence award along with a breakdown of my income & exspenditure they are now asking for copies of bank statments x3 although they have my account details and photocopy of bank card.

I had to have a 30 mins appointment to do so....what a waste of resources!

I have advised them that these will be print outs as i opt-ed for paperless billing and they require to see them in full!?
They can have copies of the bank statements But i will 'paint' over balance amounts-not that i have any savings, i just don't see why i need to show the balance...AIBU?

OP posts:
madhattershouse · 27/01/2011 02:20

You have to show the balance to prove you have less savings than the specified for benefits! If you have too much in the bank they will refuse help...they require proof you have no savings!

ButterPieify · 27/01/2011 02:21

It is to check you don't have savings.

Original poster
sugared · 27/01/2011 02:27

How much would be deemed as savings?

OP posts:
Original poster
sugared · 27/01/2011 02:29

I have around £100 for car repairs in bank that i am 'saving ' for cars mot?

OP posts:
SuckerForPunishment · 27/01/2011 02:33

anything you send in, send recorded..seriously you would be surprised at how much paperwork gets "lost".

any phonecalls you make, always get a name and note time and date, if you are given the wrong information you can request a recording.

it sounds extreme but dont underestimate how much rubbish they can throw at you...from experience!

welshdeb · 27/01/2011 07:29

They need to know if you have savings . They have to have verifiable proof. It's in the regulations. They aren't asking because they like to pry. They see hundreds of peoples details every day and wont care about yours.
Don't obliterate the balance. They will only ask for the info again and it will only serve to delay your claim. It may also suggest (incorrectly) that you have something to hide and your claim may get passed to a compliance officer for further checking or home visits. The bottom line is do you want your benefit claim processed and paid as soon as possible, if you do send in all your info. Sorry to be so blunt but that's the way it works..

FabbyChic · 27/01/2011 07:40

Savings is above £8,000.00

deepheat · 27/01/2011 07:51

Savings, as people said. Also a further check against fraud. Strongly suggest that rather than posting in the docs, you take them in to your nearest customer service point who will be able to photocopy them and provide you with a receipt. I sign off and send a few HB apps every day (for other people, obviously, otherwise that would be very naughty) and would estimate that there are issues with the return of docs at least 25% of the time. Its an appalling service.

EricNorthmansMistress · 27/01/2011 08:04

Take the printouts to your branch and get them to stamp them. Paper statements cost £5 per page with my bank so it would hardly be worth bothering to claim HB if I had to pay for them! But they accepted stamped printouts. Why would you blanl out the balance? You are slightly missing the point...they are only looking to see if you have a) lots of money and b) further income that you haven't declared.

Remember that child benefit is disregarded as income, as it tax credits which are received towards nursery bills. You need to provide them with the nursery receipts though in order for themto disregard it. Make sure they have!

Niceguy2 · 27/01/2011 08:12

Why on earth would you blank out the balance????

The checks are not because they are trying to be nosy for its own sake. YOU are applying for housing benefit and they are quite reasonably making checks to ensure you meet the rules.

Blanking out the balance and making a fuss will just make them think you have something to hide.

If you don't like the checks, don't apply. Simples.

Glitterknickaz · 27/01/2011 08:28

it's a pain in the you know what.... it's the only reason I can't go paperless with my account

LaWeaselMys · 27/01/2011 09:32

I don't know about you, but when I applied I would've given them copies of anything they bloody asked for to know I was getting help with the rent.

They have to know if you have savings, otherwise you could be claiming fraudulently.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 27/01/2011 09:54

Hmm - the whole point in seeing the bank statements is to make sure you qualify, that you haven't got a wad of cash sat in the bank, and that you're not getting payments from anywhere else that you haven't told them about.

IME all they do is run their finger down the "payments in" column, have a quick check at anything that isn't a regular payment, look at the balance to make sure you've not got £20k sat in there and that's it.

FWIW when I first applied for IS and HB I had literally just had a payment put into my account for £2200. It was inheritance money from my Granddad.

They saw the amount, asked what it was, I explained, it was below the savings threshold for either HB or IS. They told me to have fun spending it and that was it.

GoldenGreen · 27/01/2011 09:59

you need to remember, and I say this in the nicest possible wsy, thst you are just a number to them at this point. They seriously don't care what you spend your money on. They just need to get the calculation right or the council is penalised if they pay too much and have to revise it later.

Please help yourself by taking in what they ask for.

Original poster
sugared · 27/01/2011 14:19

Thanks for all the replies, I dont have huge savings at all i just wasn't too keen on having my bank statments laying around for all & sundry to see, does anyone know what happens to all the 'copies' that are provided? Are they shredded?

OP posts:
bentneckwine1 · 27/01/2011 14:32

The copies that are taken will be stamped as 'certified' and held with all the paperwork relating to your claim.

They will be stored remotely until you close down your claim...then after a very specifif timeframe will be destroyed.

HTH

Iwantscallops · 27/01/2011 14:37

It will only delay your claim for HB. They don't care what you have spent your money on, whether you are overdrawn, etc, but what they will care about, and will need to know is balances, savings, etc.

If you want to claim, you will need to provide what they require. Your not the only one who needs to do this.

MarioandLuigi · 27/01/2011 14:37

If you blank out the balance it will look like you have soemthing to hide and it will take even longer for your claim to be processed.

Jellykat · 27/01/2011 14:46

Well you don't have thousands in the bank,why blank out the balance?
Also Why send copies of the statements? If you forward the originals, they'll send them back to you.

Original poster
sugared · 27/01/2011 15:12

I dont have originals, Am paper-free the statments are emailed.

I am aware that hundreds of people have to do this everyday but i was told they wanted these as proof of a bank acc NOT that they wanted to rule out any savings/undeclared income which has now been pointed out that is why i was tempted to blank out the balance, It just seems endless,hads a call this morning, the child benefit award letter has been rejected as it is not dated within the last year, i then spent 25mins on the phone to request a updated one only to be told that theres a 6 week delay, Yet when i do provide bank statments the fact that they will cleary see that child benefit is paid into the acc isn't good enough...wtf!

OP posts:
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 27/01/2011 15:28

having child benefit paid into your account isn't proof that you're claiming CB for your children. You can have CB paid into any account you want - so I could have my best friends CB paid into my account if she gave CB my bank details.

Jellykat · 27/01/2011 16:28

I've just had similar with the Council tax benefit form-there's nothing like a good scream!! GGggggrrrr.

TheVisitor · 27/01/2011 16:31

They accept my child benefit on my bank statement here.

IAmTheCookieMonster · 27/01/2011 16:34

If you have paperless billing you can print it out at the office in front of them so they know you haven't changed anything.

They accepted child benefit and tax credit proof on the bank statement.

CubaCat · 27/01/2011 17:11

When I applied for HB last spring, I had to give them so many documents I lost count. I even had to give them a statement from my savings account which had literally 1p in it! It's to ensure you're not hoarding thousands in any of your accounts. However, I didn't send any of the documents in the post, instead I took them to their offices and they photocopied them all, told me there and then that they were all accepted and gave me a receipt to specify which docs they'd received. In total it took 7 weeks for my HB claim to be processed because they kept asking for other documents, but I just took them down to the offices ASAP after they requested them. I'd just give them what they need if I were you. Why hinder yourself?