Child benefit overpayment HELP!!
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Mae85
Posts: 117 Forumite
Hi all!
So on Saturday my partner received a letter from HMRC saying that he owed almost £12,000 in child tax credits overpayment arrears.... naturally this was a shock to both of us we don’t have children- he has 2 kids with his ex wife (currently going through divorce) .
I rang them up and they said it was for 2012,2013,2014 and 2015. They said they had been sending letters to his old marital home since 2012 about this. This came as another surprise to my OH as he knew nothing about this and has never seen a letter.
Turns out his ex wife has been ignoring/hiding the letters (she did this with other letters regarding owed money and between them they owe over 40 grand to 6 different creditors ) she’s greedy when it comes to money and just spends but doesn’t think she has to pay it back so ignores letters etc.
My OH worked a seriously demanding job for 20 years, he used to just give her all of his wages and she was supposed to deal with there finances- look how that’s turned out!
Basically the HMRC have said it’s a joint sent so they owe just over 5 grand each.
Myself and my OH are on a joint ESA claim, he fell seriously ill in 2015 when he left his wife and cane to me and is in the support group of ESA.
We get £348 a fortnight and it’s a struggle. His ex wife demands a lot of extra money on top of the child maintenance he pays each month, plus the normal bills we have that every household have.
The HMRC have said they want paying back which I don’t dispute if this is the case they have been overpayed, and after speaking to them for an hour they said they will be taking £50 a month off us for the next 10 years until it is payed. His ex would have received this letter also but no doubt hers will be ignored as usual.
HMRC have said if it’s not payed the bailiffs can come and take our things or worse- prison. Obviously we don’t want it to come to that- and we don’t have much in our council flat as it was all donated from family and our local church when we got the place as we have no money.
What I want to know is- should we seek advice from CAB about this? I just don’t know how we are going to afford this payment each month as currently our outgoings are more then our income and we are constantly having to lend off family to get by. And also as it’s a joint ESA half of that money is mine- does this account for anything in regards to this or Ian it a case of ‘you’re with him so his and his ex wife’s debt is now your debt too’ ?!
We both struggle with severe depression and he has a history of prescription drug asdixtion which he is still receiving help for etc. I just worry that this will top him over again as it’s been a rough 3 years since he left as his wife as debt after debt has surfaced out of the woodwork which he knew nothing about.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
X
So on Saturday my partner received a letter from HMRC saying that he owed almost £12,000 in child tax credits overpayment arrears.... naturally this was a shock to both of us we don’t have children- he has 2 kids with his ex wife (currently going through divorce) .
I rang them up and they said it was for 2012,2013,2014 and 2015. They said they had been sending letters to his old marital home since 2012 about this. This came as another surprise to my OH as he knew nothing about this and has never seen a letter.
Turns out his ex wife has been ignoring/hiding the letters (she did this with other letters regarding owed money and between them they owe over 40 grand to 6 different creditors ) she’s greedy when it comes to money and just spends but doesn’t think she has to pay it back so ignores letters etc.
My OH worked a seriously demanding job for 20 years, he used to just give her all of his wages and she was supposed to deal with there finances- look how that’s turned out!
Basically the HMRC have said it’s a joint sent so they owe just over 5 grand each.
Myself and my OH are on a joint ESA claim, he fell seriously ill in 2015 when he left his wife and cane to me and is in the support group of ESA.
We get £348 a fortnight and it’s a struggle. His ex wife demands a lot of extra money on top of the child maintenance he pays each month, plus the normal bills we have that every household have.
The HMRC have said they want paying back which I don’t dispute if this is the case they have been overpayed, and after speaking to them for an hour they said they will be taking £50 a month off us for the next 10 years until it is payed. His ex would have received this letter also but no doubt hers will be ignored as usual.
HMRC have said if it’s not payed the bailiffs can come and take our things or worse- prison. Obviously we don’t want it to come to that- and we don’t have much in our council flat as it was all donated from family and our local church when we got the place as we have no money.
What I want to know is- should we seek advice from CAB about this? I just don’t know how we are going to afford this payment each month as currently our outgoings are more then our income and we are constantly having to lend off family to get by. And also as it’s a joint ESA half of that money is mine- does this account for anything in regards to this or Ian it a case of ‘you’re with him so his and his ex wife’s debt is now your debt too’ ?!
We both struggle with severe depression and he has a history of prescription drug asdixtion which he is still receiving help for etc. I just worry that this will top him over again as it’s been a rough 3 years since he left as his wife as debt after debt has surfaced out of the woodwork which he knew nothing about.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
X
0
Comments
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It may help to read their procedures relating to recovery - https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/#Direct%20Recovery
Have you provided them with your income and expenditure as yet?0 -
Yes I did. They wouldn!!!8217;t take into account the expenditures regarding the kids like the half towards school trips and other bits like that we have to pay each month so it looked like we had more surplus then we do.
He isn!!!8217;t disputing he won!!!8217;t pay it he!!!8217;s always payed his way with debt etc but he didn!!!8217;t realise the extent of his debt until he left his wife and all this came to the surface- not to mention the 44 grand they both owe to creditors .... bankruptcy had been mentioned but it!!!8217;s a scary thought!0 -
You do need to get expert financial advice given the amount of debt involved. You won't get that here, just opinion.0
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We are going to CAB Wednesday !!!55357;!!!56396;0
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You need to stop paying "extras" and pay just the statutory child maintainence until this is cleared up. If his ex starts tell her she's not getting a button until the £6K is cleared, talk to the school re. school trips as they often have hardship funds and should be able to give you advice about alternative funding. The fact is the family can't afford extras so no extras should be forthcoming.0
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Thanks for that- I keep saying this but she is a very hard and awkward women to deal with. Keep threatening taking him to CSA etc. Based on our income he pays £30 a month CMA plus the extras. I know it isn!!!8217;t much but it!!!8217;s what the gov website has said we should pay based on our income. She took him to court over seeing the kids and we have to have them every Wednesday (which we have to pay £15 a week in travel expenses just to get them here) plus every other weekend (more travel expenses to get them
Home as she refuses to pick them
Up) plus a week at Easter and xmas and 2 weeks in the summer (last summer she made us have them
The full 6 weeks plus we had to pay her money) it!!!8217;s a real struggle in a one bed flat as the council wouldn!!!8217;t give him a 2 bed cps he don!!!8217;t have the kids full time. We manage cps we have to but it!!!8217;s really had a knock on effect on his mental health and well-being and he!!!8217;s already a sick man. I have mental health issues to but I feel I have to bottle it up to be the strong one but lately I just cry.
Anyway.... gonna go to CAB and see what they say x0 -
Have the HMRC sent your partner a breakdown of the overpayment? if they haven't then you need to get this for CAB to check that the overpayment is correct.
Before you go to CAB try to do a breakdown of your expenditure. This will make it easier for an advisor to check if you are overpaying on utility bills and suggest ways to budget more effectively. There are also trigger figures that they can use for each area of expenditure so that you are not struggling.
As regards the debt, in whose name are the credit cards/loans? Has your partner got details of each debt? Again CAB (or Stepchange/free debt advice company can advise on debts but they will need to see the details - particularly who is liable.
Is your partner divorced? What was the outcome of any financial settlements? CAB will need this information too so they can determine who is responsible for what.
In order to try and find some more income I am wondering whether you have applied for PIP for your partner? For you?
If you were successful with your claim(s) then Carer's Allowance may also be possible.
Obviously CAB won't be able to deal with all of this at one 'go' so you may need multiple visits. Does your CAB have an appointment system? Do they have a Money and Benefits specialist?
Perhaps you could pop over to the DebtFree Wannabe forum when you have all the information about the debts or call one of the free debt advice agencies?
You could certainly look into PIP yourself and come back for help with that.
Unless you have a large CAB with specialists then you are best to try and get them to sort out the tax credit overpayment and try other avenues for the rest.
Come back if you need any other help and good luck!
Sorry, just reread your post about currently going through divorce. Is the financial side re Debts being sorted as part of this?0 -
My partner is currently going through divorce- he was granted free court remission and as we are doing it ourselves the divorce itself will be free.
The house they used to live in which she now does with kids is council so no worries about that money wise.
The debts are in both names. His IVA failed when he couldn!!!8217;t keep up the payments when put onto ESA. I wrote to all creditors as advices by national debt line asking if they would be willing to write off the debts- only 1 company agreed to this, 4 haven!!!8217;t replied at all and the other one we are in constant contact with.
I know in law he!!!8217;s liable as it!!!8217;s a joint debt, it!!!8217;s just so frustrating that he didn!!!8217;t have a clue about any of these extra credit cards etc as he left her in charge of the finances whilst he worked 7 days a week in a very demanding job.
Just hope CAB can help x0 -
Btw we haven!!!8217;t applied for pip... last time we did they said he wasn!!!8217;t eligible due to the fact it!!!8217;s mental health and not physical- which it is physical too so maybe we will try again x0
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Fingers crossed re: CAB.
A very useful guide to PIP from Citizens Advice.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/0
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