free money from family/working tax credit

tatts_2

CheekyLittleMonkey wrote:

Just a word from the wise - I have just finished a 1yr contract working for HMRC/Inland Revenue at their HQ in Telford. I would strongly pursue any claims that you have, however long it takes because most of their systems (i.e GGIS (Government Gateway Interface) and ERIC (External Routing Interface) which both deal with SA, NTCS, TC's etc, are all to pot, have loads of known errors which are STILL in the process of being fixed. SO please do pursue and fight all claims because in the end you should get back what you are owed. But do escalate it higher, ask to speak to a Manager or a Supervisor and be strong on the telephone, keep records of all calls. I know it is a hassle but next time I have a problem with the Inland Revenue I will fight tooth and nail knowing of the shambles that they are in!!!

Thanks for the positive encouragement Its much needed at times, need the reminder as to why were spending our evenings filling in forms, making calls, writting letters, the sleepless nights, the stress etc etc over the last 18 months...you get the picture! lol
The whole system is a mess, and every time we contact them, they tell us a different story as to why theres mistakes on our account ( there actually shouldnt be any, seeming as our local tax office helped fill any applications and updates in!!!)

As for applying for shampoo.well, its doesnt lose you sleep and cost you £2000 after youve washed your hair with it! :rotfl: lol

If youve got all that money and apply for the £10 a week, then you can afford to put it away in an ISA and repay back at the end of the year ( or after 2 years ... depending on how long your tax office takes to notice their mistake!.as they did with mine!) .sadly, people who claim tax credits usually NEED the money as part of their income to live on, what do you do when the tax office say 'yes your credits are correct'.. so spend the money, then they send a demand a year later saying youve been overpaid after youve spent the money!
(As it always seems to be with everyones claims!)

Its a valid point what your saying about sticking it in an ISA mind, I agree, but to be honest, if I was earning that kind of money, I wouldnt touch the credits with a barge pole! Its not as simple as just 'paying it back'..the tax office make a complete mess of it all, and have made so many false quotes with ours that I dont trust them at all, theyve changed the figures 5 times now! (and claim weve only paid back £102, when weve paid back over £700!)
Hence our 'getting legal' battle with them now.

sorry, didnt mean to ramble, bitterness to get off my chest and all that!!!! rofl
:mad: :doh: :silenced:

Anyone that does claim, good luck to you,get yourself an accountant though!! lol :rolleyes:

should also mention, tax office claimed they had paid us £1000 in WTC, which they havent, they have already taken £700 out of wages over the last 6 months, theyve admitted they made a mistake and they actually underpaid US £1.32, but when we appealed against them taking the money ( deductions) our appeal was turned down, and we was told we couldnt take it any further.........(what a lie that is!) now they say weve only paid back £102, and we will still have to pay the money!

My point being..........if you claim, get the award, stick it in ISA, and then they do like they did to us, you could actually end up OUT of pocket and not earning any interest! (i.e were £700 out of pocket so far, and fighting to get our case sorted out, meanwhile, were struggling finiacially and there sitting on our interest aswell as our money!

funnyguy

As I said you will hear the odd horror story now this thread is started but people like Labrodoodle who has a 3 year old and isnt claiming,if you ring the help line tonight on 0845 300 3900 she will be getting over £40 per month more thans shes getting now probably stating by March,and you probably will get it backdated 3 months as well. Go on do it its your money,you wont get it by keeping quiet

Sam_Spends_Too_Much

After many many months of letters - including one from my MP, telephone calls and nagging, I received TWO refunds from Tax Credit. I can't remember the exact circumstances now, think the shock of getting it back wiped it from my memory!! Both times it was because I had paid back too much from an overpayment in different years. To start with, I argued that I didn't know that my tax code was incorrect and their figures were wrong, they said it was down to me and I should know the difference. I said I disagreed with this as I wasn't Tax trained. Then I got a letter saying they had made a mistake but - basically - tough luck - repayment stands :mad: Then a few months later I got another saying it was their mistake and as such they were giving it back :T

As I said though, stick at it, it took AGES for me to get the money back, I also got £25 to cover costs of phone calls/letters and £75 compensation because of the upset The woman I finally got from the complaints section gave me her direct number to call her on so that when I had amendments to make on my claim I could call her directly. This was the cause of many of the mistakes, the morons on the end of the phone press the wrong buttons and things go belly up. One time my claim was cancelled and closed because they said I had called them and told them I had separated from my husband and as such was no longer eligible!!!! Obviously I hadn't called them with that information but never did find out how they came to the conclusion that I had.

Don't give up hassling them, I'm living proof that you can get your money back!!!!!

tatts_2

thanks for that sam, its very encouraging! They'll owe me a fortune in postage costs and phone calls!!! lol
I shall stick with it, Im a stubborn mare like that! lol (its KNOWING there in the wrong that drives me on, if I had any doubts about it, I would of given in ages ago!)

same thing was said to me and hubby last week..apparently we had got divorced, then back together again and that was why our claim was in a mess!
then it was that we had told them about a change in circumstances and we were no longer entitled to credits, its a different story each time we ring ( can be a matter of an hour between phone calls and it'll be something totally different!) Theyve even hung up on me twice when Ive questioned there source of information & asked them to check against there computers as to when the info was given and when our records show when we last spoke, they dont add up so they put the phone down! ( guy admitted that they had done that coz they didnt know what to say to me!!!)
Its all laughable....when your not banging your head against a wall! lol

as for the odd horror story???? ........errrrrmmmmmmm only got to speak to claimants, watch the news, watchdog, or read the papers to realise its not the ODD horror story!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=70872 see this link for examples! :eek:

No one seems to escape the wrath of their mistakes!
Bring back family credit instead of tax credits.......wasnt perfect, but a heck of a lot easier than this lot!

Does anyone else find it strange that they 'overpay' every one by almost £1000?
If they were a company they'd of been shut down by trading standards ages ago... Im shocked at what they get away with!