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A woman at home checking her options on benefitmoney.co.uk.

The checker on a tablet. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

No credit check

What support could you get?

Written by the benefitmoney.co.uk editorial team · Last reviewed 9 September 2026

A young man at a desk covered in paperwork, head in hands

Most people who arrive here looking for a loan qualify for something cheaper — often something that is never repaid. The problem is that the help is spread across the DWP, your council, your nation’s welfare fund and a handful of charities, each with different rules.

Six questions sorts it. Everything runs in your browser: no name, no address, no National Insurance number, nothing stored when you close the page.

Six questions about your situation. We show the government support, grants and other options that may fit — starting with the ones that cost nothing.

Nothing you enter leaves your browser. We do not store your answers, ask for your name, or run any kind of credit search.

Question 1 of 6

Do you live in the UK and are you 18 or over?

Every option below is only available to UK residents aged 18 or over.

Question 2 of 6

What is the money for?

This matters more than anything else — it decides which options are open to you at all.

Question 3 of 6

Which of these do you get?

Question 4 of 6

How long have you been claiming it?

Several government options need six months of claiming behind you.

Question 5 of 6

Your household, and what you have earned

Earnings over the last six months — wages, not benefits.

Question 6 of 6

Are you still repaying a previous advance?

You can only have one Budgeting Advance at a time.

This is not a credit check and does not affect your credit score.

How this works

The checker is a filter, not a score. It compares your answers against the published rules for each option — the six-month rule, the earnings limits, what a Budgeting Advance may be spent on — and against the criteria of FCA-authorised lenders in our database, each with its firm reference number and the date we last verified it.

It does not decide anything. Only the DWP can decide a Budgeting Advance, only your council can decide local support, and only a lender can decide a loan. What it can do is stop you applying for something you cannot get, and show you the interest-free options before the ones that cost money.

What happens to your answers

Risk warningWhere a commercial option is shown, missing payments could affect your credit rating and make borrowing harder or more expensive in future. For free, impartial help, contact MoneyHelper.

Sources

  1. GOV.UK — Apply for a Universal Credit advance or hardship payment: Get an advance for unexpected costs. Checked 9 September 2026.
  2. GOV.UK — Budgeting Loans: Check if you're eligible. Checked 9 September 2026.
  3. GOV.UK — Find out about money taken off your Universal Credit payment. Checked 9 September 2026.