Crisis Loans are interest free loans issued by the Government to those who are in in financial difficulty and can find no other source of income to prevent a risk to the health and safety of themselves or family.
Anyone can apply for a crisis loan, however they are generally issued to those who are claiming means tested benefits form the Department of Work and pensions as it is accepted that this client group are less likely to be able to secure an alternative source of income in the short term.
The maximum crisis loan that can be awarded to any family unit is £1500.00, this can be made up of a single loan or can be made up of several smaller loans taken out that have yet to be paid back.
Two possible ways to apply for a crisis loan are to send in a paper application, or if you are in an immediate emergency situation that you can apply over the telephone on 0800 0327952 for a same day decision.
Telephone applications generally take 45 minutes and the person that you speak to when making your application will make the final decision as to whether you can be awarded a crisis loan or not.
If you are granted a payment, the decision maker will attempt to arrange for the award to be paid into your bank account within 2 hours of the decision so that you can draw on it the same day.
When granting the loan the decision maker will discuss how the balance will be repaid, this is generally set at 7% of your income with a view to recovering all money owed within 104 weeks from the date of the loan.
If you agree to take the loan out and are on e benefits the repayments will be set up automatically with the benefits section that handle your claim, this can take several weeks but they will notify you when the repayments start with a reposed schedule.
Most Crisis loans are awarded on a daily basis, this means that if you are without income at the time of your call but expect your benefits to be paid in 3 days, that your award will be set to cover those three days and will be limited at a rate of 30% of your usual benefits. You can apply for additional help with your heating and electricity if you are on pre paid meters and have already used your emergency credit to clear the outstanding debt and resume your services.
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