Today is my first day of signing on........

[Beach Hut]

Guys I have satisfied the criteria for searching for work I look in industry journals once a week and the Argus so far there has been nothing that would make me and my wife decided that she gave up her two and half days a week and I went back full time believe it or not some jobs advertised at 37 hrs per week pay less than my gets for 20 hours. We will not put our 13 month old son into child care!!

I am not claiming anything I am not entitled to,CONTRIBUTION BASED JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE is designed for those who have contributed to the benefits system but their financial status would not allow them to be eligible for Income based JSA this was deemed unfair by the Euro Courts.

An accountant I use put me on to this advising I could keep my NI contributions up I was made redundant in July and although entitled to as I was receiving extended severance pay and not a salary and P A Y E TO claim contribution based JSA I DID NOT until my severance pay had finished on 30th November.

Yes there are people in Dire Straits and there are people in dire straits who have borrowed money they now can not afford to pay back and bought properties they can not afford to maintain the mortgage on and sadly most of these people knew they could not maintain the repayments on these loans prior to taking them out, I claiming what I consider I am entitled to.

Tim - no-one gives a flying f*** you twat

 

[Clothes Peg]

If anyone fancies PMing be HB&Bs surname and NI number, feel free.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

If anyone fancies PMing be HB&Bs surname and NI number, feel free.

PM sent (three times for some reason)

 

[Clothes Peg]

PM sent (three times for some reason)

Can I just highlight to other people. NEVER disclose private information to strangers on the internet.

 

[Adam Virgo's Shirt]

Yes there are people in Dire Straits and there are people in dire straits who have borrowed money they now can not afford to pay back and bought properties they can not afford to maintain the mortgage on and sadly most of these people knew they could not maintain the repayments on these loans prior to taking them out, I claiming what I consider I am entitled to.

At the risk of putting myself in the lion's den here - I'm going to back up HB&B on this point

12 years or so ago, when i was married, we bought a house after selling our flat with negative equity. The Building society were offering 'negative equity mortgages' which enabled you to borrow 125% of your property price to accomodate the negative equity. We also borrowed 4 x joint salary!!! Fortunately, although times were very tight, we kept up the payments.

4 years ago, we remortgaged this house on a Self Certification mortgage. We were still borrowing above what we were allowed to using the 'multiples' but our IFA asked us to prove what we could afford to pay back per month, and then calculated what mortgage amount that would allow us to borrow

But still, it's a risk. Had either of us lost our jobs, or the property prices crashed, or interest rates skyrocketed, we would have found ourselves in trouble. We sold the house a year later though and made a healthy profit. If we'd still owned it, that equity would have gradually disappeared, and faced with either of us losing our jobs in this current climate we could have been well and truly stuffed! I am also aware of less scrupulous IFA's who allowed their clients to borrow whatever they liked with no thought for whether they could sustain the repayments long term. It happens, and yes, i can imagine there are victims of their own gambles right now.

Re The JSA - if he is entitled to it after contributing to the system for years, and he hasn't lied to the DWP about his 'job seeking activities' then what business is it of any of us? If he was claiming income based, and was on here boasting about his wealth, then I would be angry too. But he isn't. After 6 months, he will be on his own with regards to his NI payments anyway! Personally I don't see it as any different to a wealthy family claiming Child Benefit. That isn't means tested either, and there are lots of families who claim this but don't actually 'need' it!

 

[Clothes Peg]

Re The JSA - if he is entitled to it after contributing to the system for years, and he hasn't lied to the DWP about his 'job seeking activities' then what business is it of any of us? !

It's the extent to which he is truthful about actively seeking work. But, to be fair, loads of them fake it all up, and nobody in the office has the time or inclination to do anything about it.

Did you get to the bottom of whether or not you'd be better on JSA or IS in the end? Also, any news on DLA yet? They can be rather sluggish, but the back payment when they finally decide is quite satisfying!

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Thank you AVS what a level headed young girl you are, if I could reiterate I do confirm to job seeking guidelines , however if I am forced to take a job 'on pain of death' of not receiving benefits if rejected, I would immediately sign off

 

[Adam Virgo's Shirt]

It's the extent to which he is truthful about actively seeking work. But, to be fair, loads of them fake it all up, and nobody in the office has the time or inclination to do anything about it.

Did you get to the bottom of whether or not you'd be better on JSA or IS in the end? Also, any news on DLA yet? They can be rather sluggish, but the back payment when they finally decide is quite satisfying!

Thing is though, it's the Government who set the policy for claiming JSA. The 3 'job seeking activities' required to be entitled, are, imo, quite lacklustre when one job seeking action is to browse the job section. So a claimant could say they had looked in 3 papers, and found nothing sufficient, yet still have satisfied the criteria. I imagine you wouldn't be able to do this forever, and would have to show eventually that you had actually applied for stuff. But the question of whether HB&B is doing 'enough' has been answered by him stating that he does actually buy papers and surf job websites. He is meeting the minimum critieria.

No, never got an answer to the IS question really and still waiting for the DLA to be decided which can take up to 8 weeks apparently. I'm more worried about the HB tbh, as I am running out of money to pay my rent!!! Also still waiting for the JSA offer letter, without which I can't even chase the HB!

 

[Clothes Peg]

No, never got an answer to the IS question really and still waiting for the DLA to be decided which can take up to 8 weeks apparently. I'm more worried about the HB tbh, as I am running out of money to pay my rent!!! Also still waiting for the JSA offer letter, without which I can't even chase the HB!

Sticky situation. Might be worth thinking about social fund help, like a crisis loan to get you through.

It's such a pain that you need one entitlement to set off the others in a sort of domino effect. I assume you're still paying for prescriptions at the moment? That's something you won't have to worry about soon. Last time I went to see the consultant, I ended up paying over £20 at the hospital pharmacy and hardly got any meds for my money.

 

[Adam Virgo's Shirt]

Sticky situation. Might be worth thinking about social fund help, like a crisis loan to get you through.

It's such a pain that you need one entitlement to set off the others in a sort of domino effect. I assume you're still paying for prescriptions at the moment? That's something you won't have to worry about soon. Last time I went to see the consultant, I ended up paying over £20 at the hospital pharmacy and hardly got any meds for my money.

Yes. Need the blasted JSA letter for that too!

I refuse to ever get hospital prescriptions as they are only allowed to give you 2 weeks supply at once. If you wait a week or so until the Consultant has written his letter to your GP (which they do after every hospital consult to advise them on any findings/meds amendments) you can get a bigger prescription from the GP.

I am also entitled to the free national bus pass (as a medically disqual driver) which will help but the GP stll has the certificate of eligibility they need to sign so can't sort that out either! Haha!

I won't be entitled to a Crisis Loan as I still have a few hundred £ left but it isn't quite enough to pay January's rent! So providing I am entitled to HB, and providing they give me the money by 31/12, I technically am not in crisis. Yet!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

and GG as much as I like and admire you please don't tell me you haven't advised some self employed self certificated that they can pretty much borrow whatever they declare as earnings So when someone buys a £150,000 property and gets in shit its ok because its now worth a £200,000 so he self certs again gets some accountant to issue a declaration of earnings (for £150)
and uses the £50,000 to pay mortgage he can't already afford but then the property dives to £130000 ans still he can't afford the mortgage or re mortgage
but now he cannot borrow again and this is where the shit hits the fan people lose jobs have massive liabilities and expect the government to bail them out its called GREED!!!

Actually no I haven not. As a responsible mortgage advisor I would make sure any mortgage I recommended was AFFORDABLE to the client.

You could get 8 x income on self cert but that was clear as water that it was not affordable. Income multiples are also a smoke scrren. Its not so much the income multiple as the interest rate payable. 15 years ago it was 3 x income but interest rates were over 10%, 5 x income at interest rates of 5% actually works out less a month so look at the bigger picture. Also there is the small matter of the FSA and mortgage regulation and although what you said it ture of some cowboy brokers hopefully they would have been driven out of the market or more liklely left by now as its tough nigh on impossible to make ameaningful living as a mortgage broker nowadays. I have turned down mortgages as I thought it was not affordable. Perhaps thats why I never made as much money doing this as other brokers I have known but I do like to be able to sleep at night.

 

[looney]

HB&B just remember,

If they are giving you money and/or paying your NI stamps then that makes you their bitch. And the DWP are lousy pimps.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

...

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Buy to lets are not regulate Tim. Also a lot of lenders base the lending on the rental income and not the personal income so nothing " wrong " was necessarily done. Up until a year ago 85% buy to lets and even 90% were common, those properties will not be 100% mortgages or even in negative equity. There is also a squeeze on rental incomes as there so many proeprtyies folloding on the market which cant sell forcing down rental incomes. Its harsh bankruptcy would force her out of her occupation and the same thing would apply to me.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

HB&B just remember,

If they are giving you money and/or paying your NI stamps then that makes you their bitch. And the DWP are lousy pimps.

But I won't be dancing for them nor wearing any specific outfits especially not the one they wanted my to try on Friday.................bloody pervs

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

A sign of the times we live in is that ' Debt Management ' is now the UK's fastest growing industry. Debt management companies are sprouting up like mushrooms and estate agents did 10 years ago. A lot of mortgage brokers are moving from mortgage broking to debt management. The debt management company look after all the credit card and loan debts and contact all the companies offering a much reduced monthly payment. They normally take around 20% of the agreed monthly amount you pay to do this.

Lets sat they have 1000 people paying £ 500 a month thats 1000 x £ 100 =
£ 100 000 a month, £ 1 200 000 a year income for them.

You can do this yourself or through National debtline or the CAB for free but its more hassle. In the order of things she should go for

1. Debt Management Plan
2. IVA
3. Bankruptcy - the final straw

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

...... Its harsh bankruptcy would force her out of her occupation and the same thing would apply to me.

Can you not set your business up in such a way as to avoid personal bankruptcy if it fails (ie Ltd Company)? Same question applies to HB&B's friend.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

No you cannot carry on as a mortgage broker with a bankruptcy either personal or company.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Can you not set your business up in such a way as to avoid personal bankruptcy if it fails (ie Ltd Company)? Same question applies to HB&B's friend.

Not if you are employed by a large financial organisation!! the person in question my wife knows from aerobics (or whatever they do PILATES or something)

 

[Don Quixote]

I don't understand the idea that people are entitiled to benefits... why is anyone allowed to take free money? The government should have people working for them and also looking for another job; not sitting on their arse all day, contributing to the economic mess.