A friend recently said that I should be entited to Council Tax reduction based upon my weekly pension income.

My pension which is an occupational pension is £152 per week which ecquates to £3.80 per hour if I was working

a 40 hour week. Far lower than the legal minimum wage.

I realise that my local Council won't give me Council Tax reduction  because I have some savings whcih are over the £6,000

threshold for entitlement.

I do receive a small amount of interest on my savings which is about £20 per month.

I know that my Council Tax would be reduced by more than £20 per month If I had no savings.

Should I keep my savings or spend it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I visited the Church Hall last Thursday and the woman who was asking the strange questions was there. I now realise she isn't a spy at all. She is quite abrupt and askes quite personal questions to people she has never met before.

Despite that, she seems like a nice person.

Therefore I was completely wrong regarding my suspicions.

She has become a volunteer helper with the Alzheimer's group which is good of her.

Thanks to all who replied to my thread.

It wouldn't have been the DWP as the law does not allow them to do this.

 

If they suspected anything was amiss they would have investigated first and then invited the benefit recipient for a either an interview under caution or a compliance interview and just asked outright.

Thanks for your reply. Very helpful and informative.

I will be in the church hall tomorrow to see if the woman who was asking

strange questions turns up again.

Maybe I have been making a mountain out of a mole hill.

If that turns out to be the case, then I'm sorry for raising this thread.

I will report back when I find out the truth.

Thanks for your replies which seem correct and logical to me.

I raised this thread because last Thursday I was in the church hall in [removed]

attending and helping out with the Alzheimer's group as I do regularly.

A woman who nobody had seen before came in and started asking strange questions

to myself and my new lady.

She asked us if we lived together and what sort of relationship we had.

My lady immediately suspected that the woman was a DWP spy to check on female benefit claimaints who have a new man friend.

There are two very jealous women living in [removed] who probably caused the spy to come to the church hall by contacting the DWP.

I am a divorced man who has met a new lovely lady and we get on superbly.

I own my house outright and I live on my private occupational pension.

My new lady lives on benefits and lives in a rented flat.

I understand that I cannot stay with her more than two nights per week in

order not to affect her benefits claims etc.

OK I understand that and have no problem with it.

I have only stayed in her flat for one night in seven months.

However, I've heard that she cannot spend more then two nights per week

with me in my private house without it affecting her benefit entitlements.

Is that correct?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Did you not try renewing with your existing insurer?

 

When you say that you are looking for house insurance, is this statutory third-party insurance et cetera or are you talking about home contents?

 

What are the rules relating to spent convictions? Surely a conviction of this calibre should have gone ages ago and you would be under no duty to disclose it.

I recently discovered that my current insurer has stopped trading and disappeared so I am unable to obtain

a renewal quote from them.

I am only looking for the basic buildings and third party house insurance, not contents insurance.

Do you have the same Insurer for your car Insurance and home Insurance?

 

Did you have an accident at the same time as the drink drive conviction?

 

What is the exact wording of the question your Insurer asked you about "convictions" on your renewal?

My car and house insurance are with different companies. I recently discovered that my current house

insurance is with a company who has stopped trading so it might be void.

I didn't have an accident when I was breath tested.

I failed a random breath test. I wasn't pulled in due to impaired driving.

The house insurance application question asked if I have ever received any criminal convictions.

Try another insurance provider that does not ask about convictions/disclosure

I have applied to several other insurance companies for a house insurance quote

However, they all asked if I have ever been refused insurance in the past.

I answer "yes" due to my recent refusal.

You can guess the rest.

The date of my conviction was 13/10/1987. Over 30 years ago.

The questions for the insurance quote were presented to me on the bank's computer screen

with an assistant entering my replies to each question.

How did your Home Insurers discover the conviction?

This all came about after my bank invited me to their local branch for a house insurance quote.

One question asked "Have you ever had any criminal convictions".

I answered "yes" and then had to give them all the details.

I bought my house in June 2017 and insured it then with no problem.

That was after my conviction.

I now have problems renewing my house insurance because I have been asked about any convictions

despite never being asked in the past.

I failed a random breath test and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.

I therefore assume I am dishonest.

When I was breath tested I had tax, insurance and MOT.

My endorsement code DR10.

I passed my test in August 1974.

My house buildings insurance renewal has been refused due to a motoring conviction.

As far as I know houses don't have wheels or engines and aren't subject to the Road

Traffic Act.

How on earth can motoring convictions apply to houses?

I received an email from Clearscore that explains how to get this problem corrected.

Copied below is the body of the email.

Hi there,

Thanks for contacting ClearScore.

It looks like you have a query about your address or electoral roll information and we’d like to help you get this sorted as soon as possible.

Here’s some information on what you can do to get this fixed. Of course, if you don’t find the answer you’re looking for, please let us know and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Need to change your address?

1. Login to the ‘My Account’ section of your ClearScore account: https://www.clearscore.com/

2. Select ‘Update’ under the 'Current address' field

3. Choose your correct residential address and hit ‘Update’

Now you should see your correct address in ‘My Account’, please note this update won’t show in your credit report until your next monthly report has been created.

If there’s no 'Update' button under your address in the 'My Account' section, that means Equifax has only provided us with one address for you (see below for more info).

Can’t find your address on your report?

You’ll need to make sure that all of your financial accounts and electoral details are registered at the exact address you’re trying to update to.

Once Equifax picks up your credit history at this address it should get added to your report automatically (the process can take up to 6 weeks).

Need a report with your new address right now?

You might be able to see a report with your correct address by creating another ClearScore account (you’ll need to use a different email address). If you make a new account, let us know. We’ll need to unlock it for you because our security system won’t let you log in to two accounts.

If you can't find your address in our drop-down when you re-register it could be because it’s missing from the Royal Mail database. See our FAQ for what to do: https://clearscore.com/faq/my-address-isnt-on-the-drop-down-menu

Don’t want to create a new account?

We've been working on a new feature which we hope will solve your issue. However, please bear in mind that this can take up to 28 days for us to process.

To do this, we'll need permission to create a new ClearScore account on your behalf.

Before we can do this, you'll need to reply to this email and confirm that you consent to the below points:

1. Our current T&Cs - https://www.clearscore.com/terms

2. Our Privacy Policy - https://www.clearscore.com/privacy-policy

3. An authentication search will be carried out on your credit file. A ClearScore soft search will be added to your report but only you'll be able to see this and it won't affect your score.

4. The new ClearScore account will be automatically 'Opted in' to marketing communications, but you'll be able to manage your preferences in the ‘My Account’ section.

5. Information relating to income, residential status and employment status fields will be filled with generic information. This won't affect your score or report but you'll need to update these details to make sure they're correct. Any offers and eligibility you see on ClearScore won't be accurate or suited to you until you do this. You can update your personal information in the 'My Account' section.

6. Your new ClearScore account will not have any of the previous credit score history collected on your current ClearScore account.

7. With your consent we'll try to fix this, but cannot guarantee that this will work.

If you agree to the above, please reply to this email stating, 'I agree to the terms (1-7) laid out by ClearScore, and I give consent for a new account to be created on my behalf'.

Please can you confirm the following:

- Your current address

- Your previous address (if you've been at your current address for less than 3 years)

- The dates you moved into these addresses, if possible

Querying your electoral roll information?

We have a really helpful FAQ which should help you out with anything relating to your electoral roll details:

https://clearscore.com/faq/my-electoral-roll-information-is-missingincorrect

Hopefully you’ve found the answer to your question already. If not, reply to this email and we’ll have someone get back to you as soon as possible.

ClearScore

Hi dx100uk, yes a brilliant and clever reply.

However, I wonder what their QRA locator is.

My QRA is ....

I regularly check my credit report with Equifax, Noddle and Clearscore.

I moved house over seven months ago and transferred all my bank account details to my new address.

I am on the electoral register at my new address and I removed myself from the register at my old address.

I did this months ago so all should be fine.

However, my Equifax credit report still shows me living at my old address and says I am not on the electoral register at all.

My Noddle credit report shows my old and new address but also says I'm not on the register at either address.

I have written to all three CRA's telling them of my new address.

They replied saying they can't change my address until I am on the electoral register at my new address.

What on earth are these CRA idiots up to?

Given a name and address I can easily and quickly find out if a person is on the register at that address, so why can't the CRA's?

When I moved I changed over my energy, telephone, internet, water, driving licence, amateur radio licence, and council tax accounts to my new address.

However according to the CRA's I don't live at my new address.

I am therefore of the impression that CRA credit reports aren't worth the paper they are written on. Incorrect information is worth less than no information.

Sorry Bazzas but you are completely wrong based upon my own experience with the MOD 20 years ago.

When I applied for a project manager position I didnt know I had a CCJ due to never receiving and court paperwork

before or after the CCJ was issued.

I was offered the position despite this so CCJ's have nothing to do with it.

The MOD didn't consider me to be financially vulnerable or suseptible to blackmail.

Neither did they consider me dishonest for not revealing a CCJ even though I never knew I had one at the time.

When I applied for another job, the MOD bosses asked me to stay due to my excellent work.

I left for a better paid job within the Civil Service and got that despite having an unsatisfied CCJ at the time.

When I discovered I had a CCJ I paid it off immediately in cash.

For both my Civil Service jobs I went through enhanced security vetting and passed with flying colours.

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your post.

I think you are right that the MOD would only be interested in criminal convictions based upon dishonesty

rather than county court action for financial debt.

Hi Andy.

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think you would have to divulge personal financial information such as CCJ's if you applied

for a job as a Project Manager within the MOD?

Project managers within the MOD are in charge of enormous budgets running into millions of pounds.

Hi Andy,

I understand that CCJ's are publically available information.

My credit report lists things like CCJ's and bankruptcy as publically available information.

Therefore any potential employer could use such information and correctly conclude that

you have a poor credit rating.

Thank you Andyorch and ericsbrother for your replies.

I think you have both hit the nail on the head.

My conclusion is that I was daft to worry about my credit score when I have no intention of borrowing

any money.

The CRA's always say it's very important to have a good credit score. However, they never say that the score

doesn't matter if you never want to borrow money.

Some CRA's imply that a poor credit score "might" damage job prospects.

What a dodgy lot they are.

Hi Ford,

My Santander account has no overdraft facility and neither did my now closed Halifax account.

I only have a debit card so I can only spend what I have in the account.

I have never had an overdraft or a bank loan.

However, in the past I've had mortgages which I paid back text book perfectly.

OK thank you for explaining what running credit means.

Still doesn't explain why closing an unused bank account reduces credit score in my opinion.

Thanks DX for your reply.

Good to know that a poor credit score doesn't damage employment propects.

You mentioned "running credit". I'm sorry but I don't understand what running credit means.

Hi DX and thanks for your reply.

I have checked with Clearscore and Noddle and they both have reduced my credit score.

I'm not too worried about it as I'm not seeking any credit

I have heard that a poor credit score can prevent people obtaining employment.

Now if that is true then the credit reference agencies are out of order in my opinion.