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Financial help for people on low wages

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Is there anywhere I can get financial help for council tax?

I am on low wages and starting to feel the burn... I'm having to cancel my phone contract and direct debits to charity.

I can't afford my graduation ceremony, I don't know how much loger I can afford rent....

I am looking for a new job, but heard somebody got the sack for going to an interview... I have been promised to go permenant, but sommebody told me she had to wait over 8 months for her wages to go up and I really need it sooner.

I am basically really fucked and my family cannot help because they are in a bad situation too.

I can't afford new clothes and winter is coming... argh!

Is there any financial help I can get? Being on £6.50 per hour in Kingston is a killer.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can you get an overdraft facility or 0% credit card? Not the most ideal solution I know, but if you're confident you'll be earning more soon, and you will be able to pay it back, it might be an option. Most graduate accounts should give you something around a £1.5k interest free overdraft.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can you get an overdraft facility or 0% credit card? Not the most ideal solution I know, but if you're confident you'll be earning more soon, and you will be able to pay it back, it might be an option. Most graduate accounts should give you something around a £1.5k interest free overdraft.

    Oh... I can call my bank and ask for an overdraft?

    I don't really wish to go more in debt. Last year somebody made an error in HR and called me and said after a year of not being a student I have to start paying it back.

    This worries me because if I went to live abroad, or volunteer they may take it from my other non-student account I have with them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This sounds very harsh, but as items such as charity donations and mobile contracts are not essentials, they are not really good barometers of your financial situation.

    Without wanting to derail the thread (although the point may be useful to Namaste) - if you were stupid and signed up to an 18 month mobile phone contract because at the time you had money and predicted you would continue to have money, but now no longer have that money - how do you cancel the contract? I phoned up t-mobile to try to get out when they changed prices but they said that T&C had been changed about two months prior so that changes of prices no longer allowed a fee free cancellation (it was for 0845 numbers i believe) - and basically you have to pay off the whole of the contracts value immediately. Unless you consistently go over it's just not worth cancelling... problem was (I don't know if it's true now) the non contract options are so much worse than the contract option that even MSE says get a contract - which is no good when your financial situation changes.

    Though on the charity thing a dd can be cancelled at any time without penalty at least.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well I can afford the £40 a month, but considering my financial situation it's by no means the most prudent use of my money! When it's just cutting into going out money that's not a problem, but as it is it's cutting into bare essentials like, well, groceries and bills then it's a problem.

    I've got until January so only £120 left at any rate - it works out better for me to keep paying than to have to pay it in the future, especially considering I still use my phone a lot. I don't know whether to drop to PAYG after or to get one of those retentions contracts.

    Anyway, sorry Namaste for the slight derailment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do you qualify for the working tax credit? I think you have to be over 25 or something.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Unless you are disabled or have a child then generally you need to be over 25 and working over 30 hours a week to qualify for Working Tax Credits.

    I'm 24 and have a hidden disability and work 40 hours a week.:confused:

    meh I dunno... I am job hunting big style
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If it counts as a disability for whatever criteria used for the credits and you earn less than i think 15k you can claim from HMRC.
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