Universal credit savings and capital ive messed up

sophie2002

WWhen I first claimed uc I didn't have any savings I got paid used my money didn't actually realise up until the other day I was supposed to add my unspent cash as it's capital I didn't know any of this I just knew if I had a savings account to make sure it never reached 6k I've made a massive error I didn't know I don't go on my journal as I had work commitments turned off I just carried on not thinking what would happen I have my review Friday and I know there going to ask wht I didn't declare my savings account this is going to be so bad as if they look back at my spending I know I'm in trouble ive never had 6k in my bank account but I didn't know you had to declare your unspent money I've only just found out even with my lwrca backpay and pip backpay in 2022 it only came to 2500 which again I dint think I needed to declare how wrong am I I've had all the col payments and cwp but I know I'm going to owe thousands to them I don't want to go to prison I'm so scared now I didn't realise any of this that the honest truth I've got bad mental health and ive had horrible stuff happen to me over the years so I just didn't think at all I'm so stupid but I was 19 when I made my claim sept2021 ive never been reviewed this will be the first time I'm so worried I know they will bring it up I'm hearing loads of people have gone through similar thing my mental health isn't the best right now seriously can't sleep feel ill constantly please does anyone know what will happen I'm so worried now after all the posts I put on its worse than I thought any advise or help please 😭😭😭😭

sophie2002

But I was told that unspent benefits get classed as savings so your meant to add these up evey month there was times when I had 700 in my account as i didn't spend all my benefits in that month I didn't know any of this I've not slept with stressing the reason I think it could be a lot is apparently your meant to add all the backpay on col payments it's horrible I've never felt so rubbish in July 2022 i was awarded lwrca backpay on my bank statements my money in my bank was at 2736 this included 2072 + 457 back pay from lwrca and pip , but again i just thought that was all i had got so far and it built up so by oct 2022 i had 4066 inbmy bank apparently i was wrong i should of been adding unspent benefits too I'm so confused I then decided to open a savings account I still didn't realise any of this unspent benefits money has to be declared in Oct 22 I opened my savings account as my balance was at 4600, I put 3600 in to my savings which left on the 31st of Oct 160 in my bank and 3600 in my new savings account but again still not aware I should of been adding unspent benefits in my journal this is why I think I could owe thousands of pounds it wasn't something I was doing I didn't realise I was doing anything wrong so me thinking it was still under 6k looking at my bank balance and new savings account i didnt declare it I know I'm stupid I genuinely didnt know people may think I did but I didn't and it wasn't my intention to lie so whenever I checked my bank account I would make sure I didn't have more than I should I've been checking the last few weeks and I would add what was left in my bank and my savings together to make sure it wasn't 6k and it was never 6k I was doing this ever month thinking I was doing this correct but I wasn't cos I never declared what was left over I didn't know honestly this is why I think I'm going to be in a lot of trouble i dont understand uc at all and ive well and truly messed up I just don't know what to do I don't have all this money that has to be apparently added cos it's unspent I just know I have whatever money is in my main bank account and my savings account that's all ive had all the col cwp pip col but I don't evennknow how all that works I just couldn't spend all my benefits everymonth due to not going out bad mental health ibdidnt have bills or debts I'm 22 now and I've always lived at home I pay board that's it everything else was clothes food etc I'm really scared now as dwp will proper calculate all the money and I will have to pay everything back which again I think it will be really high thousands I don't know what to do now I have my review Friday

sophie2002

No ive never declared my unspent benefits this is why I'm scared now i only ever had money in my main account nothing else u didn't know I had to declare ive only just found this out when I opened my savings by bank account was at 4066 but again I didn't know about unspent benefits so ive never added anything in my journal I never really went on my journal as I had no work searches I just got paid my benefits and spent what I needed so it is the accumulated unspent that I dont understand this is were im going to get the massive overpayment from this I wasn't aware I didn't understand all this im so confused this has upset and scared me now as there going to ask about my new savings account and I know its going to be thousands of unspent since jan 2022 to now I dont know what to do I dont want to go to prison and someone said they will probably suspended my money till they work out how much I owe my mental health is really getting affected I dont know what they lady is going to say its just a review of 4 months bank statements I wish I'd never had this money im really not in a good place right now

sophie2002

I will try explain without getting confused

I have 1 bank account were I get my benefits paid in, ive looked back from jan 2022 and on the 31st of every month it will show me the balance i have left so one month it may be 700 left the next month 500 it started building up when I got my lwrca backpay 2072 and my pip backpay 457 then there were the col payments in Oct 2022 I had 4066 in my bank account I then opened a savings account at this point I didn't think i was over 6k i put 3600 in my savings then at the end of October I had 160 in my bank account if that makes sense my problem is ive never added unspent income together ever month is i didn't even raalise I had to this is my downfall u was just underage impression that if my new savings account ended up with 6k I then needed to declare this in my journal so what im saying is I never added my unspent benefits at all im so stupid but I honestly didn't even know about any of this until the last 2 weeks stressed out so bad I know looking at my last 4 months bank statements they are going to ask why my savings weren't declared I honestly didn't think I had to unless it went over 6k ,its the unspent undeclared money that I didn't put in my journal that im now really worried about that's why I think it could be thousands I've heard of people not declaring savings at all im not hiding anything I just didn't realise so sorry for the long post I just want to curl up in a ball and cry im so scared about friday now x

sophie2002

For example in jan 2022 I had 257 left in my bank on the 31st then in feb I had 700 left in my bank on the 31st should I be adding these up every month or not I dont understand any of this its really worried me now people were just telling me to see what I had left on the end of my ap then that's the total for the month then the next month it starts a fresh but other people have said this isn't correct at all x

sophie2002

So basically if I was adding what I had at the end of the assessment period the 250 on the 31st then the nxt month 700 on the 31st would that start building up to 950 in my journal and so on, my heads hurting or ir it basically 250 end of sept then the next month I had 700 so I don't add these together sorry not the best at maths and understanding this just been asleep for last few hours proper drained x

sophie2002

So my ap is 1st to 31st on the 7th I get paid 727 uc so on the 31st of January i had 146 left in my bank and i have 3k in savings account for that ap so i add them together and that my total for that ap so 3146 then Feb 31st I have 250 left and 3100 in savings I add them together and that my total for mo ap in February am I getting this correct now xx

sophie2002

Ah I only have 1 bank account what i get my benefits in and obviously a savings account the only thing I think I have done wrong is not declare what was left in my bank account at the end of my ap which again I didn't know I needed to so when I have my review Friday when my ap ends at the end of may on the 31st my last day I just declare what's in my bank balance and add my savings account to make the total amount for that ap am I getting this correct

I know I may get in trouble for not doing this from the start but I honestly didnt know I'm so stupid xx

sophie2002

Does the journal have an option to do this so I would put what I had left unspent in my savings and I report my actual savings account separately as long as the 2 amounts don't come to over 6k for that month it's OK am I getting this right xx

sophie2002

It's just been so stressful I have suffered bad depression intrusive thoughts for years I'm only 22 and it's been so draining since I had my review message it's just too much so has your friend been through the same does she understand it all I don't have a clue at all I just don't want to get done for not knowing I fully didn't understand I had no work commitments so no work coach I'm not very good at maths so it was stressing me out with this unspent benefits I can seebonbmy bank statements what I have left now as I downloaded them all so it's basically whatever is left on the 31st of that month I put it inbmy journal then if there's another part for adding savings I add that which would give a total for that ap then you start a fresh ever month I think I'm understanding now I've asked people and they've basically said the same it's just these groups on Facebook I was in tears other day telling me I'm going to go to prison getting done for fraud there were so nasty I had a breakdown why are people like this when all you want is advise x