Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Have I messed up with Mum's money?!

11 replies

Lissilou · 04/12/2024 12:39

Hello. Looking for advice and help. In a nutshell, myself and my sibling were left a sum of money by our Nanna. My Mum was left out of this arrangement.
Mum and Dad retired and doing ok on state pension and Dad's small pension. Dad has since died :-(

My sibling and I decided to share the inheritance money with Mum and just put a lump sum into her savings. Without the joint pension and Dad's pension she was running short and having to cut down too much.
I have since realised that she would have been entitled to pension credit but now she has these new savings she does not qualify. I don't want to sound greedy - I don't actually have a pension myself and our house need work etc etc so the money exchanged wasn't money that wasn't needed for other things. Mum is living partly from these savings (ie they top up her state pension). We probably shouldn't have done things the way we did. Is there a legal way of taking the money back, thus allowing her to apply for pension credit and maybe just paying for big things she needs ourselves going forward such as household repairs (she recently needed new roofing costing £4K which she used her savings for where we could have paid). Have we messed up?
For info - Mum is on the 'old' state pension not the new one (which I believe is a bit higher). Thanks in advance

OP posts:
custardpyjamas · 04/12/2024 12:43

You might have been better to pay directly for shopping or bills for your mum and let her claim what she was entitled to, but she may feel better having her own money to live on. I don't know the sums involved and not an expert on benefits.

trockodile · 04/12/2024 12:45

If you can show the money came from your back account, then can some be paid back into the same account as repayment for the “loan”?

SoNiceToComeHomeTo · 04/12/2024 12:51

I'm no expert and this is not advice, just a thought!
You could ask your Mum to pay back the money you gave her. Then put in the claim for Pension Credit. If as part of checking the claim, they query that payment made to you, you could give evidence of your original payment to your Mum and say it was a loan to tide her over the first period of surviving as a widow.
What is the worst that can happen? They might not buy it and might refuse her claim, but you would be no worse off than you are now.

keline · 04/12/2024 14:58

There's isn't a capital limit for pension credit, but savings above £10,000 will affect the amount she can get (higher than the £6,000 limit for working age benefits). If the amount you gave her was just a bit higher than that, it would be acceptable to spend on reasonable costs like the roof, to bring it back below the threshold. How much does she have left?

And yes, you could try arguing that the money was actually a loan. Her bank statements will be scrutinised and I don't know how it would be viewed if you submit letters insisting it was a loan. Yes, it would have been better in hindsight to pay for any help she needs directly. Pension credit is a gateway to other support like council tax support and cheaper utility and mobile bills, so it is quite valuable and worth applying for, if you can get the savings issue sorted.

P00hsticks · 04/12/2024 18:24

The 'new' state pension isn't necessarily higher than the entirety of the 'old' one, which includes additional state pension (SERPS & S2P) as well as the basic.
If you dad also fell under the old scheme then I suspect this would have worked out better for your mum as she would probably have been entitled to inherit some of your dads state pension - it might be worth checking if this happened, although DWP should automatically have updated it after finding out about his death. (Since my dads death my mum gets far more state pension under the old scheme that I can ever achieve under the new)

Orangefantastic · 05/12/2024 00:10

I can’t advise on what you’re asking, however I just wanted to say how lovely it is that you shared the money with your mum. She raised wonderful children and that’s priceless xx

Original poster
Lissilou · 09/12/2024 10:08

trockodile · 04/12/2024 12:45

If you can show the money came from your back account, then can some be paid back into the same account as repayment for the “loan”?

I was hoping that maybe we could. Obs I would want anything we do to be above board. Thanks for your reply x

OP posts:
Original poster
Lissilou · 09/12/2024 10:09

SoNiceToComeHomeTo · 04/12/2024 12:51

I'm no expert and this is not advice, just a thought!
You could ask your Mum to pay back the money you gave her. Then put in the claim for Pension Credit. If as part of checking the claim, they query that payment made to you, you could give evidence of your original payment to your Mum and say it was a loan to tide her over the first period of surviving as a widow.
What is the worst that can happen? They might not buy it and might refuse her claim, but you would be no worse off than you are now.

Hoping we can do something along these lines. Thanks for your reply x

OP posts:
Original poster
Lissilou · 09/12/2024 10:10

keline · 04/12/2024 14:58

There's isn't a capital limit for pension credit, but savings above £10,000 will affect the amount she can get (higher than the £6,000 limit for working age benefits). If the amount you gave her was just a bit higher than that, it would be acceptable to spend on reasonable costs like the roof, to bring it back below the threshold. How much does she have left?

And yes, you could try arguing that the money was actually a loan. Her bank statements will be scrutinised and I don't know how it would be viewed if you submit letters insisting it was a loan. Yes, it would have been better in hindsight to pay for any help she needs directly. Pension credit is a gateway to other support like council tax support and cheaper utility and mobile bills, so it is quite valuable and worth applying for, if you can get the savings issue sorted.

Yes it was a higher amount. I wish we had done things differently! Thanks for your reply x

OP posts:
Original poster
Lissilou · 09/12/2024 10:12

Orangefantastic · 05/12/2024 00:10

I can’t advise on what you’re asking, however I just wanted to say how lovely it is that you shared the money with your mum. She raised wonderful children and that’s priceless xx

Edited

That's so kind, thank you. I'm grateful for all the responses. People have been so helpful x

OP posts:
user1492757084 · 09/12/2024 10:14

Your mother was struggling and you gave her a loan.

That is very logical. Submit that rational and have your mother repay the loan.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page