Universal credit and saving for a house deposit

[Musereader]

I am a single parent with one child, i could not cope without tax credits as my rent, council tax and childcare costs are more than my montly wage so i rely on the tc to cover the bills and food.

I do work in national goverment on the lowest rung in a call centre and have been looking through the releases we get and i am horrified to find out that you cannot claim UC if you have more than £16k in savings. Between £16k and £6k in savings does mean a reduction in UC. This is not the case in tc

A house in my area ranges from £150 to 200k so a 10% deposit is £15k minimum.

Basically as soon as i save any amount of money that looks like a reasonable deposit i have to use savings to pay childcare because my UC would reduce.

So aibu to hope that the goverment does do a uturn on UC roll out which may mean that i never have to go on UC and be subject to these silly savings rules

Got to be a wind up.

Maybe the government can pay all of us enough to save £400 a month? I mean you've got people earning just above the threshold, living wage to wage(if they're lucky)

Or 2 working parents like my family who can't even think about sparing £400 a month without a bill/child/person going unpaid/fed/alive.

Op I suggest you do what I considered which was open an account in your child’s name and pay into that. I’m not doing that now before anyone tries to hunt me down but at one point it was my only option.

Thank god for the help to buy scheme as well. If I take this up my mortgage repayments will be less than the rent I currently pay.

Also fwiw because this thread make me so sad is that I’m entitled to about 250 a month tc. I’m a single parent and a professional and I can live on my wage alone. I’ll still be claiming the tc I’m legally entitled to because ffs im entitled to do it and secondly if I don’t it’s not like my income tax will go down!

I don’t think YABU. I bought a house with 100% mortgage back in 2008 and back then my tax credits were included as income in my mortgage application. I live in the SE and now have £120k+ equity. You can own a house and claim tax credits, but you can’t save tax credits to buy a house. Who am I to look down on you and say I can have a house because I was fortunate enough to buy when mortgages were given out like sweets, but you can’t have one.

The explosion in tax credits happened around 2004/5 in the run up to the 2005 General election. The amounts claimable rose significantly and returned Blair ro parliament.
The figures were recommended by the JRF foundation as being the amount needed for a family with two children and one adult working 16hrs to be above the poverty line.
The figure equated to a single person earning 38k top line.
The hazard was that the qualifying hours were too low, and millions of people were better off working 16hrs. It can be evidenced by the hours part time jobs are advertised at, ie 16 hrs, and latterly 24 hrs.

USED TO spend 200 on hobby collection, BEFORE dd. Ex p put paid to that when i got with him

YANBU, but I can't believe you've just discovered that UC has the same capital limits as Income Support/JSA. It was all there in the welfare reform white paper, published in 2011.

Anyway, we are where we are, and you can save £6k on UC without being penalized, plus your child can save £3k in a child savings account. That's 9k to play with. Before the pound collapsed you could have bought a cheap house in France with that. At the moment, I don't know what you should do, but since a sanction is likely at some point, it doesn't hurt to have some savings.

Alternatively, I seem to remember that you would get more under UC if you don't claim the housing element. How about saving for a vehicle and living in that? Not remotely ideal with a child, but possibly better than the rent trap.

Hope no posters are being hypocritical. Tax credits used to count as income for mortgage purposes, and were given to large wage earners, no real savings limit

op have you thought about investing in jewellery etc,something that is yours and does not count and will hopefully keep it's value and maybe increase

My projection for uc iirc is over hundred more a month

op have you thought about investing in jewellery etc,something that is yours and does not count and will hopefully keep it's value and maybe increase

OP, you could invest more in your hobby.

op if seriously set up a savings account in your daughters name and store it in there.

This whole system is designed to keep people poor.

seasidesally My point was that you could and still can own a £200k house and claim TC.
The difference is no others judge renters who claim TC and try to buy.

*now

I inherited about 110k while I was on tax credits and got a mortgage of 35k on an income of 9k pa plus tax credits etc. Nationwide are very good for lone parents.

There will be some transitional protection if you start saving now. What I would be tempted to do, once you have saved the capped amount in your own account is to take a wedge of cash back out each time you go shopping, give it to a trusted parent to save for you. Once you have saved enough they can gift it back to you for your deposit.

I could actually, i do have a book i bought for £40 that is now worth over £500. Problem is finding buyers.

Tbh i think i have a better chance of finding an antique book worth thousands than saving my deposit.

This has to be a joke right! I'm absolutely furious that you are on benefits and have £400 left at the end of the month! It there actually any incentive to work?

But if you are getting £900 In tax credits a month, and saving £400 of it, then the government would be paying for your house deposit. That isn't what tax credits are for!

The thing about using £6000 worth of savings is that it will run out. And then you’re back to where you started only with no savings cushion either.

i do have a book i bought for £40 that is now worth over £500. Problem is finding buyers.

Umm...

Loving all the handwringing here. How dare the poor have anything. Ffs

NewLove does everybody that claims ctc have to live in poverty to make you happy,not all of us do and maybe we budget or are good with money to be able to have a little left over

i dont drive so save on that,many have to drive

stop being so high handed

Op make sure you declare your pension contributions they raise your tax credits

Fuck it - everyone on any kind of benefits with anything left at the end of the month should hand it in

I've never heard of anything as stupid as investing in jewelry when you have savings below £16k.

Please no one invest in jewelry. There are far better vehicles for investing in precious metals which are much more liquid.

Anyway I don't see why you are concerned about this savings limit. Get to £16k first and then it's a problem. Right now you aren't there so it's not a problem.

NewLove does everybody that claims ctc have to live in poverty to make you happy,not all of us do and maybe we budget or are good with money to be able to have a little left over

£400 isn't a 'little left over' - it is an indication that the OP doesn't actually need benefits. It makes my blood boil that I am working 60 hour weeks and cannot save as every penny goes on bills yet someone on benefits has £400 'spare' cash. How is that even possible? (FWIW - I live in a 2 bed terrace so don't exactly have a flash life)