AIBU to wonder why a pensioner struggling financially would not use housing equity?

[Powerbungalow]

I'm not being unsympathetic

Theres a lady on the news at the moment, saying how times are tough and shes only cooking one meal a week - imagine she's eating cold food.

One thing that stood out though "I own my own house and it costs in maintenance" Depending on where she is, would you not get a life time mortgage or sell and rent? She has a big asset, why not use it to have a better life? I know I would.

She may be holding on to it for inheritance, but she didn't say - if so, then can her family help. It just seems totally crazy

You sound lovely and a good attitude - thing is if you come to where I live, our restaurants and travel agents and car dealers are full of very comfortably off pensioners- due to hugely increased house prices - many early retirees are paying zilch in NI from their mid 50s as not working and often not that much income tax either depending on private pension and savings drawdowns but getting health fully covered etc - it’s big reason I think tax and NI needs to be integrated bifcwexarent paying in separately for health and pensions . There are plenty who are comfortably off through inheritance too, not necessarily because they worked longer or harder than many do today, my MIL no longer with us used the ‘we worked hard card’ an awful lot despite not working at all till kids were adults and then no more than 10 hours a week till ‘retirement’ - contributing next to nothing fiscally over the years , totally her right to do so and rely on her ex husband and my FILs paid efforts, but somewhat cheeky to imply that those younger were not working hard .

Maybe she owns a Ferrari and that accounts for the £50 a week on petrol?

It does't add up- literally.

Saying she can't have a hot meal is nonsense. She could use 3 eggs to make an omelette- cost 75p.

I saw the lady the OP is taking about on tv and wondered similar.

Of course we don't know the size and value of her property but my though was why not mi e into a really small flat and put some money in the bank to eliminate the daily stress that she was clearly feeling?

X

My MIL is one of those. She only worked for 10 years, 5 before she had her family and another 5 when her husband had to give up work because of ill-health.

She gets Pension Credit of £221pw, the rent on her 2- bedroomed council house is paid by housing benefit (no bedroom tax for pensioners!) and she only has to pay 25% of her council tax, after deducting the 25% single occupier discount.

Her pension credit is only about £6pw less than the state pension I get after working for 53 years, and she doesn't have to worry about spending any money on her house because the council come and fix anything that goes wrong.

I have a small occupational pension which means I'm not entitled to any reduction in my council tax (other than the single person discount), which takes almost 50% of that pension, and I have to call in tradesmen every time something needs fixing.

Overall, I reckon she's better off than I am when it comes to day to day stuff, which is why I need to move somewhere cheaper.

I’m glad someone realises what claiming benefits was like 50+ years ago. We uprooted, moved a long way in the UK, from a council flat, to a great job opportunity for my DH. Baby in tow, he was earning reasonably well, we were renting privately, but in a poor area. Not eligible for council housing because we weren’t local.

Having baby no 2, the great job folded, we had no network, and for the first time DH had to claim unemployment benefits. That warranted a visit from an inspector, who looked round our house, which was just about adequately furnished, but in poor repair. Quite humiliating to people who had always worked. DH took what work he could, labouring, van driving, he became self employed in the end, and within a couple of years we bought our first house, the cheapest we could find! And of course I got a job as soon as I could, sharing childcare with him, no free nurseries, and no child benefit til our first DC was about eight, in the late 1970s.

My mum left in 75. Dad was a self employed carpenter , left to look after 3 kids - 7 - 13 yo - and we got no help

Even though he had to stop working, his previous year's earnings barred him from needing support. We had to survive a year before free school dinners kicked in and help with school uniforms

He still had to find the rent and his tax bill - neither was found and the interest over the years made us all homeless with bailiffs knocking morning noon and night

When we were being evicted, the council told me ( single female ) not a mission - get pregnant and we will house you

I did get picked up by a HA for single people and got given a bedsit in a different borough, and because of the change of postcodes , I was left on £7.50 a week dole - my rent was £16

Took me a year to get out of debt, and I did live on freebies from work ( I started work two weeks after I got the bedsit ) pinching loo roll not only to wipe myself but as a substitute for sanitary towels, pinching salt, pepper and sauce sachets, walking 4 miles to and from work, washing in a kettle of hot water

Benefits weren't easy got

This woman is either trolling us or being completely manipulated by the media. A couple of years ago, when she was moaning about the Winter Fuel Payments, she said she was paying £40 a week on her fuel bills yet she only had her heating on at 13 degrees in the day and 5 degrees at night. If that was the case it would have hardly ever come on at all. She said she never put her oven on so she couldn’t eat a hot meal. No one ever asked her about the hob, a slow cooker, an air fryer or microwave. My fuel bills aren’t much more than £40 a week in the Winter and I put the heating on as and when I like, run an EV and cook what I want.

She was moaning in the papers about lockdown and her husband missing seeing her great granddaughter on her birthday as if she was the only one. She did another woe is me article about her husband not being able to see the sea again because of Covid and lockdown, which was tone deaf while people were dying and some kids have never seen the sea in their lifetimes.

She did yet another article about her husband having to contribute towards his care package out of his military pension because apparently that wasn’t fair either. I’m just glad that she’s not my MIL or relative because I’d imagine that’s hard.

There are a few possibilities here.

The first is she on a 'case study list' somewhere so anyone needing someone willing, contacts her. She's happy to talk and may be slightly economical with the truth to create a good story. If she's on a data base of 'elderly OAP who says she is struggling with money' she's ready to be interviewed.

The second is she may be paid a small case study fee. It's not always the case but some media outlets have a small budget.

I've said this before but if she gets some of his pension and the state pension (and any top ups like attendance allowance) she could be relatively comfortable with an income of £20K+.

No it isn’t. That’s what the full state pension is.

Drat, I am normally more savvy. I have spent two days muttering to myself about her stupid choices and why the hell no one has pointed them out to her!

If she has children, she will get pension contributions for the years she was getting child allowance - so that could be up to 18 years depending on the age gap of children.

And if she's short of contributions she'd get pension credit which, ironically , gives the full state pension and more.

What did she do?

I’m not going to sell but I have empathy for people less fortunate than me.

You should try it sometime.

I couldn’t live on it.

What benefits do you think they’re entitled to?

State pension now crosses over with the lowest income tax level.

so if you get state pension you get 12k roughly per year.

Tax free personal allowance is 12.5k

my mum got a letter this year saying they weren’t going to do it this tax year but presumably from next tax year anyone on state pension will be paying income tax.

there has been over two decades of media publicity saying not to do equity release. These days most advice is against it and you’re advised to get professional advice first.

see eg money saving expert.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/equity-release/

A neighbour of my father did equity release only no one in her family (son and daughter), knew about it until after she died and the house was taken by the equity company. There was no money left in it at all for them to inherit.

My feeling is that she did it to give the money to the church she belonged to as her kids never received anything at all during her lifetime and certainly didn't get anything when she died.

Yes but if you get the FULL state pension you’re not eligible for any benefits.

She was married to my father, and when they split she went on benefits

So she brought you up?

But that was her choice. She did what she wanted to when she wanted to do it.

Yes, she may have been manipulated by the church (I don't have time for religion personally) but she may as well have equally left her estate to the church so the same result.

Not really.

She wasnt much of a parent, and now cant understand why her dc dont actually like her

Huh?

i don’t believe this is the case.

if you get pip before you reach state pension age it continues.

You can also get attendance allowance if you are ill or disabled.

Sorry to hear that ❤️

Can these equity release people take your home while you are still alive?? Thought they could only take when you are dead or sell it