What do you do when you have no boiler, can't afford one and you have bad credit?

[yushsisi]

In typical fashion my boiler broke. I need a new one. It's been condemned and I can't use it. My husband (ex) severely destroyed my credit and I can't be accepted for any of the pay monthly plans. I've tried literally every website. A new one is at least £1800. I don't even have 18 pence. What am I supposed to do? I have a child in the house. I've recently left my job due to sight issues and I'm on universal credit and PIP but I only bring in maybe 1200 a month if that. I'm stressing and I don't know what to do

Contact your local council and see if they do a crisis loan or a welfare grant. Explain the whole situation. I take it you own your house?

I do own my property.

whereabouts are you in the country I am involved in a local charity that may be able to help depending where you are

God how crap and stressful, I'm sorry you're dealing with this. Does the boiler just control hot water or heating too. Is there such a thing as an emergency loan while in benefits,there used to be many moons ago? In the meantime boil the kettle and have a bucket in the bath/ shower and use a jug to wash yourself.

I’d probably try citizens advise. There will be a local branch near you and they might be able to help or at the very least point you in the right direction. Equally there might be a scheme through the local council. So that’s another avenue to try.
Failing that I’d speak to the bank about a long term loan ?

I'm based in west Yorkshire. I have applied for but not yet received a decision on council tax support so unfortunately any welfare grants or otherwise from my local council I won't be able to get. All I've done is cry.

Since you own your house and have a child I presume you have a mortgage? Can you ask about extending it?

I can't get any credit. My ex took out loans and all sorts in my name, defaulted them and proceeded to vanish into thin air. The bank wouldnt lend me anything. I'm still slowly paying all this off

Could you increase your mortgage though? What’s your loan to value? If you meet all mortgage payments your existing mortgage provider may be a bit more lenient if you’ve got decent equity.

I've only lived here 6 years. I can check but I'm not too sure if there's any enquity in the house

Talk to your DWP Job Coach. My son, who was on PIP and UC as a wheelchair user, was referred by DWP to a lady from the county council who went through his finances with him. £300 towards his electric bill was useful. 😀 You can get second hand boilers on eBay if you have a friendly plumber available.

I’m so sorry you’re in this position.

The council will have some system of crisis loan/grant. It’s March so if you are lucky they will have held back some money for the end of the year that they now need to spend urgently. If not then there is a new fund starting in April called the Crisis and Resilience Fund. Basically you need to contact them as a first stop.

Good luck

I’d be surprised if you don’t have equity in your house, though your lender would likely require a credit check to borrow against it.

Mortgage holiday to save up for new boiler?

We had no boiler for 3m over Christmas and made do with kettle baths once a week and lots of layers and electric oil heaters.

I took the mortgage holiday early last year as ex husband emptied the bank account and vanished..I don't think they'll do it again. I would definitely fail a credit check

Hi OP,
I've been in a similar situation and managed to use the government's scheme for a free boiler. This was in 2017. I've just looked and this is the current scheme - https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme which you can check eligibility for. Good luck. I've been where you are and know how tough it is when you simply can not get credit. I lived for 2 years with no boiler in a house in negative equity so couldn't sell, nor could I get credit due to various defaults.

you’ve had good advice about contacting citizens advice and the council - please do those today if you haven’t already. You can also try contacting your gas provider and explaining - they may be able to help.

Is this any use to you op.
You will need to wait till image is approved

Actually OP, Google eco4 as well, that's the government scheme for a boiler rather than heat pump

You need to take this up with the lenders as fraud on your accounts. Get them to prove who authorised the loans and where the money was paid to (because those accounts obviously won't have been in your name, otherwise you'd have noticed the money coming in). Get records, exhaust their complaints procedures, go to the Financial Ombudsman if you need to. Separately, and immediately, also report the fraud to the police. You need to get this undone so that you're not indebted for money you've never borrowed and your credit rating isn't trashed.

You may qualify for your local councils warm home scheme especially if receiving benefits like UC which are means tested. It depends on your EHC rating too but they can fully fund installation of insulation, solar panels and a heat pump.

In a similar situation a few years ago I had a google for local charities etc and got 2 free (!) plug in oil radiators to tide me over. Best of luck

I assume it's a combo boiler so you don't have an immersion heater as well?

It is a combi boiler. Can I use the washer or is that connected to the boiler?

Your washing machine should be cold fill, the days of an automatic being hooked up to the hot water have long gone. I was just asking in case you didn't have a combi as then you can still use the immersion heater.