Money's even tighter thanx to tax credits again!!

carlih1

Hi,

I've just come off the phone to tax creidts wondering why i didn't get the £200 i promised my rent officer (whilst they try and sort out how much housing and council tax benefit i should have been gettting for the last 6 months). Guess what they don't know either, apprently it FELL off the system, but i will get my money this friday, thats ok i said my children don't need feeding this week and my rent doesn't need to be paid either. But there is nothing i can do about it, i now have to wait until someone, at the preston office decides to look at it and decides when i can now have it. Another thing i find extrodinary, the preston team don't have telephones only email so even the enquiry centre cannot contact them.

It just gets better doesn't it.

Carli x

vyvyan_2

You have my total sympathy. I have had more than my share of nightmares and chaos with these. There has been many a time when I wished I had never started with them and I said as much last time I was at the CAB and I got understanding nods from them too. It makes it impossible to budget.

I can't offer any practical advice though.

carlih1

Thanx for the reply, i really do despair at how they can do this. People only get tax credits if they are on low income, if htey are on higher they seem to only get a few pounds a month. I don't know how they can say its fair to be able to withdraw money like that.

ho hum

Carli x

sarah0404

Have you got a tax office near you? My tax credits stopped for no apparent reason a while back. I was able to go into the office and claim them from there. The queues were always huge, it was always far too hot and smelled of wee :eek: But it was worth it rather than having no money at all.

We had to claim them like that for weeks before they finally sorted it out. Well, I say sorted it out but..... For some reason they paid £1000 into my bank account, then £400 the day after. I tried phoning them but could never get through! I went back to the tax office but they said they couldn't help me because I didn't have my OHs national insurance number with me. Useless lot! She did say if it was paid into my account then it was money I was entitled to. I didn't believe her. My partner managed to get through on the phone and was told it was our money. I didn't think that was right so I managed to get through to them on the phone myself. The woman said "Yes it's yours! Spend it!" Still didn't believe them, and tried not to spend the money, but as I was running at a loss every month it soon got swallowed up in my overdraft. Of course then I got a letter months later saying that they'd overpaid me and they wanted it back! I pay it back at about £5 a month. My kids will be about 30 by the time it gets paid back!

Hope they get your money sorted out ASAP!

bommer

If you are trying to contact them on the phone, and have only got a letter with a fax number on try phoning same number but with slightly different end number and you may well get through to another department. I did this and was transfered internally by the nice person in HR that I got through to!!!

Mrs(no)money

You have my sympathy; they are hopeless. I rang them last week to tell them that my son is starting full time work at the end of June - they said they cant put it on 'the system' til about four days before - could i ring back nearer the time. Then it will take about six months to adjust the payments, and another six months for them to reclaim the money through reduced payments .....pathetic. Good luck in getting your claim sorted out.

C_Ronaldo

ive recently changed jobs so i had to phone up and inform them of that and that i work less hours a week, ive got to wait and see how much they will try and claim back from me,

OberonSH

My tax credit situation is currently they want over £5k BACK! I wrote to them and told them that if they can work out how I can live on 5k less every year, when I get the highest award as I take ome less than £100 a week from my business, they could happily have it back.

Their answer? They've upped my award by £10 a week (no letter explaining why etc, presumably because I've jus sent back my form), and they paid my £2k as a back payment! Came in very handy as they managed to lose my claim after my hubby left in January, and so I used it to pay off all my bills.

Tried to get through to he offices when that massive amunt of money came through when they wanted so much back, and no-one was able to explain it to me. They eventually said it must have been a problem with the system, and I could keep the money. I was glad, as it made up for the 10 weeks I was without my tax credits!

My impression? They haven't got a clue what they're doing.

lynzpower

Absoulutely unbelievable the way that tax credits are "administered". I think the idea is fab in principle, but like many computerised things in the UK, fails dismally in the day-to-day running.

Personally, I think this is a perfect issue for MArtin to take up after hes done with CV. Particularly as he was so warmly commended in the early day motion!!

nearlyrich

I got a letter yesterday telling me they paid me too much last year, they didn't but they base our income on my OH still working and getting a company pension which he did for 6 months almost 3 years ago. They also sent an assessment for this year which is very strange as both my children are over 19 and at uni so not eligible anyway. It was so much easier when you got a tax code to reflect having children and whatever the top up benefit was if you were entitled to it.