help ?

pupsy

My husband aged 63 was out of work for the first time in his life in Sept 2008 .We applied for pension credit and eventually got it . In late Feb hubs was able to go back to work so I informed the pension office as advised on leaflet provided and told them we no longer needed payments . Nothing happened payments were still being put into or account so in all I rang them 14 times and sent one letter advising them of the situation and requesting they stop payments as we were getting into a mess .Payments continued, so Mon I rang complaints dept who said they would look into it and get back which they did today . We were asked to resend payslips again as they have lost the record of the two previous times they were sent in and to put in writing that we want the payments stopped AGAIN .

I explained how the money has been spent on direct debits etc and we are struggling
to sort ourselves out only to be told they will hand our problem over to the debt team and recovery of the money maybe be taken from my husbands pension ?

Can anyone tell me if this is right as have we never been down this road before and are very worried ,we have never ever been in debt in our lives and resent that we maybe now because of someones incompetence . Thanks for any replies

McKneff

incomepetent yes, i agree.
But, you knew the payments shouldnt have been continuing and therefore they would be required to be paid back.
You actually said in your post that you told the lady on the phone that you did not need them.
You should have put them all into a separate account. So in all fairness they are not 100% to blame.
If you husband is working again you should not have needed them. What would you have done if they hadnt existed at all, what would you have used to pay for your direct debits. Would you have borrowed and got into debt.
If you borrow money now to pay it back you will be in exactly the same situation - in debt.
I'm afraid you dont have any choice but to pay them back. Sorry

cattie

If it were an official error of the type that you could not have reasonably be expected to know that payments should not have continued to be made then there would be a good possibility you wouldn't have to pay back the overpayment.

However, as you state in your post, you knew the money was not due to you & all you can now do it negotiate with the dwp debt department to repay the money.

They will not wish to cause you hardship & will accept reasonable monthly deductions from your current benefit/pension, which can be negotiated with them by phone.