CTC Nightmare

stargazer59

Up until April this year i was self employed but earning approx £120 a month, and recieving CB CTC and WTC and partial HB.

My income began to drop drastically so i took the decision to give up work for a while and regroup, i made a claim for IS and phoned Tax Credits and gave all information.

I sent my renewal form in July and heard nothing more until i got a letter saying my CTC had stopped on the 18 August, i checked and had last CTC payment 7 August. I phoned that day and was told that my CTC would go back into payment within 2 weeks. Nothing! so phoned after 2 weeks and was told that was wrong andit would take up to 4 weeks, meanwhile im pointing out that im living on only IS and CHB and partial HB so have no money, in fact i ended up with £175 bank charges which meant i could not access those benefits, or pay my rent.

I have phoned numerous times and no joy, then on monday i e mailed my MP, he spoke to them twice on the MP helpline and they said they needed to know if i am on IS or working( DURR!!) and if i called the helpline and let them know they would re start payments in 48 hours. Checked bank today, no payment, e mailed MP again, he contacted them and they now say they need Income details for 2007/2008 which they have already had!!! Also as my Mp pointed out they had not mentioned thid before to either him or me.

Have e mailed him back with what info i have, am awaiting his reply.

Meanwhile i am overdrawn to the limit, more bank charges accrued which they refuse to refund, and landlord is threatening me with notice!

What on earth should i do? I am at my wits end.

alwaysonthego_2

You need to make an appointment to speak to your local tax office and ask them to issue you an emergency payment due to hardship. They may want to see proof so take your benefit awards. Remember to pay your rent before you pay your bank charges and you may want to change your bank account that your benefits are paid into.

stargazer59

alwaysonthego wrote: »

You need to make an appointment to speak to your local tax office and ask them to issue you an emergency payment due to hardship. They may want to see proof so take your benefit awards. Remember to pay your rent before you pay your bank charges and you may want to change your bank account that your benefits are paid into.

Thanks for that!

Since this all happened i asked HB to pay my landlord direct which they have agreed to, but i still have to pay him £94 on top per month, and that is without the arrears i have now got.

I am unable to get to the tax office as it is 6 miles away and i have no money and dont drive, which is why my Mp is dealing with this as an urgent case.

alwaysonthego_2

Ring your mp and ask him to get them make you an emergency payment!

stargazer59

alwaysonthego wrote: »

Ring your mp and ask him to get them make you an emergency payment!

Thank you, i didnt know if they could do that, i have promisedmy landlord most of what they owe me, but it would be nice to eat something other than toast!!!

stargazer59

Just to add to it all i have just been to the doctors with hip pain and she is shocked at how bad it is , thinks its arthritis and im off for an x ray next week!

Happy days!

stargazer59

Quick update guys.
Spoke to helpline on friday and they assured me my payments would go in by today , maybe even before.

They told my MP this too, on friday, as the 4 week timescale is up today.

Checked the bank this am and nothing!

I am losing the will to live here.

Any suggestions from anyone , i would be grateful

coljacks

I had problems with Tax Credits earlier this year. As OH is self employed I arranged for my payments to be weekly. Myself and Oh split up last year, and then got back together on 1st May this year. The day before I phoned up to advise them they then cancelled my award and advised a new one would be issued. Then work dryed up totally, my claim got stuck in the TC system and took 6 weeks and numerous visits to the Tax Office. I was told I would be able to claim an emergency payment- I was refused as there was no award notice on the system. I lived off loans from family for 6 weeks until it was sorted.

I would try to get to the Tax Office as when I went they went through the whole claim with me, corrected what was making it stick- the same thing they were suppost to have done over the phone at TCO. They told me to go back 2 days later. Which I did they then told me they had looked into it got it referred at TCO and to phone the TCO the next day. I did and it had gone into payment and into my bank 3 days later.

IMHO if I didnt go into the Tax Office I think I would still be waiting now. - Also you need an appointment if you phone up they normally give you one the next day.

Hope you get it sorted.

stargazer59

Well it seems as if it can only get worse!

Just spoke to the helpline, my claim is sorted and they are going to pay me £6.89 on wednesday.
Than on thursday i will recieve £51.48 which will be my new payment.
So instead of giving me the nearly £300 they owe me in payments, they are spreading it out over the rest of the year. I asked to speak to a manager who just kept repeating that it would be spread out over the year.

The money they owed me was promised to my landlord because without the CTC i could not pay the rent, so due to their incompetence i have had over £200 in bank charges and twice been unable to withdraw my IS and CHb because of this.My landlord said that withoutme paying him the money owed , he would have to serve me notice, soi lose my home as well!

stargazer59

Any advice here guyson whether ican persuade them to pay me the money they owe mein a lump sum? Or do i have to accept the £6 per week on my CTC award?

I have recieved a letter from my landlord giving me notice unless a lump sum is paid off the arrears asap.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved

emeraldbugle

I would at least write a complaint, it seems as though the bank charges are not your fault,



'As a first step, you should contact the Tax Credits Complaints Manager by:

• calling the Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909
• writing to: Complaints Manager, Tax Credit Office, PO Box 145, Preston, PR1 0SB
• visiting any HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Enquiry Centre

Tell us all you can about your complaint, including:

• what went wrong
• when it happened
• who you dealt with

If you write to us, put 'Complaint' at the top of your letter and include your:

• full name and address
• National Insurance number
• telephone number or email address

We'll look at your concerns and contact you - normally within 15 days. We try to resolve most complaints at this stage. '

I complained when I had probs receiving tax creds and they did make an additional payment for the hassle, stress and in your case cost of bank charges.

They should have paid you what you were owed as a lump sum up to today, then the rest would be split over the year.

My MP was the best person to fight my case.