One of the biggest financial experts in the world, Martin Lewis recently issued a warning to anyone who has an annual salary of under £60,000 ($75,000) to do a quick 10-minute check. The UK native and host of the show ‘The Money Making Expert’ went on to advise people that if their salaries are under the $75,000 bracket, they could be entitled to claim some benefits that they probably never knew about. The finance guru also revealed that close to £19 billion ($23.7B), worth of benefits were being unclaimed every year, and has therefore urged the public in Britain to see if they do end up qualifying for any of the credits. Lewis went on to explain that such financial credits could be considered “underclaimed”, and could be received by individuals who earn around $75,000.
Martin Lewis further explained that millions were eligible for such government schemes as Universal Credit, Carer’s Allowance, Council Ṭax Support, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Child Benefit, and Water and Broadband Social tariffs. In his latest newsletter for Money Saving Expert, he mentioned, “We’ve long urged you to check to make sure you get all the benefits you’re entitled to, knowing millions were due a share of billions. And many most in need of help, often having long paid into the system, are missing out.” Later, Lewis spoke about one of the biggest pillars of the benefits calculator, Policy in Practice. The social policy analytics and software company routinely works with the government, council, housing providers, as well community organizations to help the families get loads of benefits that they would be qualifying for, which can, on the other hand, increase the income to prevent debt and homelessness.
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Several Governmental Benefits To Be Received- According to Martin Lewis
For those curious, the benefit and budgeting calculator of the company, which is inherently linked to Gov.uk, helps people find out what support they could be eligible for. Lewis added, “So with permission from Policy in Practice, we’ve taken its data of the numbers missing out on the main benefits, and added our own info on who can claim each of these many under claimed benefits, to see if we can help get you what you’re due.” He was quite vociferous in his claim that most of the common benefits were under claimed by the people in the country.
The financial guru commented that around one million people were missing out on the Universal Credit income, which was a monthly payment that would be helping one with their costs of living. Although it is understood that low-income households have already started claiming benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions, the finance wizard claimed that most individuals with a household income of around £40,000 ($50,000) would be eligible for this scheme- granted that they have children, rent, and childcare costs.
Martin Lewis, for anyone who has followed his journey, has always been a huge supporter of a particular benefit for quite some years now. This would be the Pension Credit which is usually given to those who are both on a low income and who claim a pension from the state. According to him, there are 850,000 pensioners who are more than eligible for payments of around £3,500 ($4,400) every year, but they haven’t been claiming it for some reason.
Martin Lewis’ Idea Has Always Been To Get The Best Out Of Any Given Situation
The expert has urged people who fall in this category to claim this scheme by 19th May in order to receive the cost of living payment of £301 ($375) along with the future cost of living payments. He mentioned, “Pension Credit tops up your income. On average it’s worth £3,500/yr ($4,400), but claim even if you’re only due 50p, as its superpower is to qualify you for extra benefits like council tax reduction and free TV licences.”
Along with his ideas for unclaimed benefits from the government, Martin Lewis is quite well-known for his abhorrence towards debit cards. In his words, “Most consumer overdrafts are now 40%, double a high street credit card, which means debit cards are now anger cars if you’re overdrawn.” According to him, an individual would be better served if they moved from a debit card to a credit card- for in case of any issues, a credit card will take a far shorter time to solve it.
Interestingly, Martin Lewis also has certain strong opinions about air fryers. He believes, “If you were doing a full roast dinner and you were cooking many [jacket potatoes], it’s probably cheaper [putting them in the oven] than putting five or six jacket potatoes in a microwave because each additional object you put in a microwave, you need to keep it on longer because a microwave just heats the individual object.”
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