To think it’s not that unusual for people to have no money in their bank account

[Iftheclouds]

At the end of the month? I know ideally it’s good to have savings but would imagine it’s not that unusual to have any?

@CloudyVanilla

And no a large proportion live month to month. Isn't there a statistic that says most people are two missed (monthly) paydays away from homelessness? Probably an American thing

This article reckons one month: uk.reuters.com/article/britain-homeless-housing-idUKL5N2692VV I can see that if you're in a private rental. Lose your job and you have to apply for housing benefit, the amount of which wouldn't cover the rent of a 2/3 bed place.

I'm currently on sick leave, long term, after being furloughed, then getting cancer, now my sick pay means I have a £500 cap on universal credits, so overall I am down £1000 a month for the forseeable, with the same outgoings. I currently have £3.50 to last 10 days. This will be my life until I recover from my op and they decide on further treatment. It isn't a nice place to be, and I can't imagine its an unusual sitiation to be in.

I've got nothing left in the spending account but the fridge is full and bills are paid. Savings is counted as one of the bills so its put aside first before the spending starts.

Does "no money in their bank account" literally mean no money, or no money in current account but savings tied up in ISAs/savings accounts/NS&I etc etc? Would have thought the latter would be fairly common, have no idea if the former is true but find the thought of it terrifying. I've never personally been in either situation but live a relatively frugal live (relative to my earnings/friends).

Such a refreshing post op instead of the normal" I've got a million in the bank why don't you ?" posts I see so often on mumsnet. Beginning to think I was the only one on mumsnet with a low paid job and no savings. But yes very normal to be in this situation especially with the covid situation and job losses.

It certainly will be in the coming weeks and months.

This thread has made me feel better. IRL, I seem to know no one who is struggling. When the school went back after lockdown, I was amazed how many of the parents had got new cars...

DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult check out your entitlements, you could get PIP on top and it isn't means tested so should not be part of the UC (or it may even give you a premium)

Also there is a scheme called Help to save, not sure if might help anyone here, I'm doing this and gives a bit of savings, for those on benefits such as UC

www.gov.uk/get-help-savings-low-income

From growing up, no money was down to poor choices made by the adults. I can see that now as an adult and learnt from it as didn’t want my children in the same position, I’d rather work two jobs, and have, than no savings to fall back on.

That might have been true for your family growing up but unless you're incredibly naive you'll know it isn't the case for plenty of families now. For a start there aren't extra jobs available for everyone and even if they were not everyone can afford childcare from the money they make from an extra job.

People can get into debt through no fault of their own (an admin error means their benefits are delayed they take ou a loan to eat). Food is expensive, bills are expensive.

My income is low but as I have no housing costs it does cover my bills, food and the odd treat.
I did have a cushion of savings but this year has hit them hard. 3 months unpaid leave to shield, front door broken and unable to be locked £1900 to replace(non standard size so made to measure and the whole unit including side windows Has to be replaced so a lot more than buyin anew door from a diy shed)fridge freezer door broke £450 to replace and get the old one taken away and now the cherry on the top of the shit cake that is 2020 is my boiler just had to be repaired at a cost of £300 which will keep it going hopefully a couple of months but will need to be replaced as it is over 30 years old and temporary fixes will only last so long so a new condenser boiler will empty the coffers. If anything else goes wrong I will be buggered.

I have err 5 pound left I get paid on 28th. Husband gives me my bill money friday. I however do put 408 in a 30 day access account every month x

Until 5 years ago we were always in our overdraft (but did have savings - overdraft was free).

It's taken us since 2002 to get on an even keel financially. We still watch every penny but now we can save up small amounts to pay for planned expenditure (ie DC camps) rather than relying on credit.

We sometimes go into our overdraft but this is now only up to about £300, it's also rare. Our credit card balance is less than £900 and we have some savings.

But as I say above it's been a long journey. No family help (in fact we've had to sub our family). No lottery wins, no lump sums coming our way. Just frugal, pay rises and a massive amount of LUCK. Stopping paying for childcare helped. We still do but a tiny (comparatively) amount. I think we've spent around £70,000 on childcare since 2007.

"I'd honestly say anyone who didn't think it was unusual or who believed that the majority of people had savings was living a very privileged charmed life."

I'm not sure about that as some of the people with nothing left in their accounts at the end of the month actually having savings in separate accounts or own houses. It doesn't necessarily mean they have no other money.

I think for many it’s the norm It was for me for a number of years

Used to be for me now I can get the the end of the month a have a around £50- £100 in my account

It’s such a relief

I think well over 50% of the adult population have no savings.

think mine was £-6.48 and I got a text through to tell me... I do squirrel money away for Christmas and holidays though, so managed to move £100 over from my holiday fund. Hardly any left in that now, but I need to do a shop on Thursday....I have none spare at the moment...

I lived many years living like this mainly, post uni, during my masters and post masters. I'm genuinely greatful I'm not in this position now.

It's not ideal, but why would it be unusual?

Being overdraft is a normal thing for many people.

That said, there can be poor choices somewhere. The time to build some saving is when you are single and carefree, waiting until you have kids (who honestly do cost you a fortune) etc is making it a lot harder, even impossible.
If you are single or at least child-free, you can spend next to nothing for a couple of months to put money aside. No way in hell can you do that when you have a family.

I'm in the minus figures, just in my Overdraft until Friday. Lone parent to toddler with massive nursery fees and low income. It sucks. I hate that my biggest worry is money, and that there's not a whole heap I can do about it until my son is 3.

I'm currently in my overdraft. Most months it was zero or low positive but with the chaos of the last year Ive pretty much been permanently in the overdraft for last couple of months.

Our "cushion" is the rest of our overdraft. Which we are generally in.

I'm trying to get us out of it but it's very difficult - something always seems to break or come up at the wrong time. Or we do something stupid like change the car I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea. Do love our new car. But didn't realistically think about how expensive the process of changing it was going to be. Nor count the increase in fuel + insurance so instead of being a bit more expensive in repayments than the old one, it's quite a chunk out of our income now. Oh well. I will know for next time :)

with stepchange so the debts are there and no chance of getting a credit card either

When our kids were younger we usually went into overdraft at the end of every month. When mortgage rates went up to 15% in the early 90s we were at our wits end. Since they both finished Uni, and we finished paying our mortgage off, we have managed to build some savings up for our retirement. Now we are going into negative interest rates. Typical.

Single parent to 1 DC. Live up north and managed to get on the property ladder at 19 when I was healthy. Now part time worker and disabled. I do have money in the bank more because of my choices as a teen than anything now!