Universal Credit Savings

carbow32

I have just received my Universal Credit statement and it is saying I told them I have x amount of savings (the figure is under 6k).  I have never told them anything about savings.

Does this mean they have looked at my bank account without my knowledge.

I am a bit freaked out.

poppy123456

Odd, there was another thread here very recently who said the same thing. DWP don't just "look" at your bank accounts without good reason to do so, if they suspect fraud. Are you sure you didn't tell them about savings when you first claimed UC?

Savings of less than £6,000 are ignored anyway.

carbow32

Hi Poppy

I think the question at the time of claim was do you have saving over 5K and I replied no.  I have never said anything about savings to them.

I don't want to message them and open a can of worms because my bank account is messy.

One daughter saves for her car with me (so she doesn't spend the money).  Then she is constantly borrowing from me and paying back.

The other daughter gives me her wages and I give her the money back weekly.

I presume I am doing nothing wrong with doing that.

Am baffled

poppy123456

The lower savings limit is £6,000 so they wouldn’t have asked if you have savings of more then £5,000.

The daughter that gives you her wages, are they paid straight into your bank from her employer? 

carbow32

okay it may of said 6k but I did not have anywhere near that amount and said no .. this way about 3 years ago.

my daughter has her wages paid into her account and sends it over to me and then I pay her back weekly.

also the daughter that saves for her car with me sends me the money weekly and I send back when her DD are due or any car repairs she has

do you think its been flagged up that I might have more income than I have declared with their money going in and they have done a check

I can work out if they amount they are saying is correct. at this moment in time they is 1k less than they are saying

not sure whether to query it with them or not

poppy123456

As you’ve never had more than £6,000 then you have nothing to worry about. 

With your daughters giving you money each month I will advise you to be cautious because if they did a review on you then they may question those transactions. 

carbow32

It's still very strange.  So you think not to contact them?

I am wondering if I should put my daughters wages in a separate bank account so that's all that's showing .. her giving me the money and me giving it back.  I do this because she would spend the lot and then start borrowing from me.

What do you think about the daughter saving her car money with me?  The same with her she would spend it and then start borrowing. I could do the same with her into a separate bank account.  So its plain to see what she has given and me giving it back.

I feel like a slave to the system its horrible.

carbow32

I think I might get them savings accounts in their own names and deal with their money that way.

poppy123456

Right, i had a text message off a friend who also claims UC. They told me they had their statement today and on there it says they have £700ish of savings, which they told them they reported. This person told me that they have more savings than this but less than £6,000. They checked through their journal to see what they told them when they first claimed UC and the figure matches it exactly.

I then checked my daughters UC statement from 24th November. I didn't check it previously because usually she receives the same amount each month because she doesn't work. On her statement it says "you told us you have £0.00 savings. Thinking back to when i claimed for her on her behalf (i'm her appointee) this is exactly what i told them she had because didn't didn't have any savings. Seems like to me that they are putting messages on peoples journal to remind them what the savings limit it because you'll be surprised how many people don't know.

If you check back on your journal to when you first claimed UC you will likely see the exact figure that you reported to them.

In my opinion it would be better if they have their own savings accounts, rather than give the money to you.

With regards to the message on your journal, you don't need to do anything because you have savings of less than £6,000.

carbow32

I've just checked and you are right its what I declared at the time.  I can't remember telling them.  I was in "active psychosis" (the irony).

I guess its just something they are starting to put on people's statement.  There is also a link there which says, click this if its changed.

I am going to get my daughters their own accounts.  I can still help them manage it.

Thank you Poppy so much.  These things send me into high levels of anxiety.

poppy123456

You're welcome, glad i could help. I didn't even think of checking my daughters statement when i seen that thread here the other day. If i had then it would have made sense why that message was on their journal. I probably wouldn't have checked if my friend hadn't messaged me this morning. Yes, there's a link on my daughters saying the same about changes.

carbow32

I think they are probably putting that on everyone's with an added link of tell us if things have changed.  With the hope ppl will do so.

Even though its all fine I've can't control the anxiety that started this morning.  The amount of time I've lost through anxiety because the DWP are doing something or other.

Oh well at least this thread is here now because its going to happen to others as well.