Universal credit help

[StrangerThings1992]

My grandad has kindly offered to lend me £5000 for me to buy a car to make it easier for me to get to and from work.
I get a UC top up and Ive read that they can get funny about things like this.

Would this be an issue? Does anyone know?

How would they know unless you told them? You're allowed £6000 savings while getting UC so £5000 falls under that amount

Why doesn't he physically pay for the car you choose and then repay him as it's a loan rather than him give you the money?

That's not correct. You can have up to £16,000 in savings but anything over the first £6,000 is treated as if it generates an income so for every £250 over the £6,000 they deduct £4.35. i know because I had over £6,000 a few years ago and UC was reduced accordingly. They know because they monitor your accounts.

Below is from Universal Credit.

You'd be better off with him paying for the car and a written agreement to repay that loan figure. So it never hits your bank account, and you have evidence you're paying back a loan should anyone ever need to know where your money is going (they almost certainly won't but for example if you then inherited 10K, and wanted to pay your relative back a lump sum, without that paperwork it may appear as if you're just gifting lump sums!).

Don’t take the money from him. He can just buy the car himself and then give it to you.

I've seen that they've been asking for bank statements from people. I'm just worried they'll see it as 'deprivation of capital' and reduce my money, I don't earn a great ammount and I rely on the top up to pay the extra bills.

Thanks all, I'll ask him if he'd do that instead of giving me a cheque for the money. (He doesn't do online banking)

I've posted how they work it out above. The information Brenda gave you above was not correct. As long as the savings and your top up are below £6.000 it won't be counted, for every £250 above £6,000 they will deduct £4.35 from you. It's really not a massive thing to worry about but if you are worried just get him to buy it for you.

Thank you.
Should I let them know that I'll be receiving this money via my journal or do I not need to bother?

@TheTartfulLodger I'm not Brenda.
Brenda is from across the road.