Big Amount Paid Into My Account. Why??

wrightstar

Imagine my suprise yesterday when I went to check my balance at an ATM.
£150 in credit, Ive never been in credit.
I printed off a statement and it showed 2 large payments. 1 from WORK AND CHILD TC and 1 from WORK AND CHILD TC.
I havent had a letter explaining wjy though!!

I called them last week to do my tax credits renewal over the phone and gave them the details of how much i earned last year and so far this year. Also gave them info on how much benefits i recieved from my company (company car and petrol).
I am now on income support as couldnt find a job since i left in may.
Could they have realised they under paid me all that time?
Has this happened to anyone else?
I dont want to touch the money until I know why its there.
What if its a mistake and they end up making me pay it back.

alwaysonthego_2

They may have underpaid you and when you renewed your claim it showed you was owed money.

skeeterwckt

Give them a ring, they are open until 8, i would imagine its just that you were underpaid for last year though, same thing has happened to us this year.

SuziQ

I was given an extra lump sum a few weeks ago. Now they have said it was an error,and have reduced my monthly amount for the rest of the year:mad: I chose to pay some money off a credit card with it,which I now regret.
This is going to be really difficult as I also lose CB and CTC for my daughter when she goes to Uni in September-I hope they don't do me any more 'favours'!

wrightstar

i hope it isnt a mistake. its a few thousand and i couldnt afford to pay it back in a year if i spent it this year.
it

wrightstar

i hope it isnt a mistake. its a few thousand and i couldnt afford to pay it back in a year if i spent it this year.
it aid of my over draft and left me with some in credit.
fingers crossed its all mine!!

mummytofour

Wow! I have had almost £500 in extra payments in the last few weeks as I gave dh end of year details in. Still waiting for it to bite me on the bum!

real1314

Ok, here's what I'd suggest. Phone them up and ask them to confirm that the payment is correct and what your future payment will be. Ensure that they have your up to date details and income and that it's all correct. Get the name of the person you spoke to and note the time and date.

Then send HMRC a letter confirming this action, and stating that on the basis of the information you have been given, you assume that the payment is correct and you will be allowing them 28 days to notfiy you of any problem or error in the payments.

After 28 days, do what you want with it.

If they come back afterwards and say they were wrong, complain to your MP and ask for financial compensation as you have changed your financial arrangements on the basis of the information you were given by HMRC and that you expect them to maintain the payments you were given assurance would be paid.

In some cases Givt depts have to compensate people of they have mis-advised and this results in difficulty for the person. This doesn't come from the same funding as TaxCredits/Benefits.

nb This is just how I'd deal with it, no guarantees, but it will certainly give you a strong case (it also works along the line of estoppel)

sara1880

WTC credit works a year in areas god knows why, so what i think they have done is looked at your last years earnings and reassessed it, i'm guessing that you earned less than what they actually thought, this can be down to loads of reason, like you starting work mid way through the year, or the years earnings you gave them last year were higher then your actual take home pay. Due to the fact you are not working at the moment and are no longer entitled to WTC they cannot use your last years figures to work out this years entitlment so the difference has been given to you in a lump sum.

Did any of that make sense? i had this happen to me two years ago, i was given a Massive lump sum of just short of 3k, i was scared to death to spend it and got them to check it four times before i touched it.

Just ring them and ask them, because if it is a mistake they WILL notice it and you will have to pay it all back which is never fun.

Good luck with it

papoosue

I had the same experience last week and was scared it was wrong, but I phoned them up and they were very helpful and everything was correct - this time our earnings were less than the year before and so I'm guessing they owed us for that.

Hope you get sorted out.

lil_me

Check with them. We've had many on the forum receive payments which then reduced the payments for the rest of the year etc. What I will always say is never spend it until you know why it's there, that you are entitled to it and it won't effect the income you are expecting.