AHHHHHHH tax credits overpaid!!!!

stopthespends

hi

had the pack back for the tax credits and they say i have been overpaid by £955 last year.....i earnt £3,000 more this year than last.

my credits have been reduced to £58 per month... this wont even cover my nursery fees for 2 weeks...what can i do?

im a single parent...38hrs per week nurse....

thanks

CIS

Theres not alot you can do , other than ask for the payments to be reduced under the hardship rules.

dawnydee73

Double check the figures, I had my payments stopped early this year and all because they had put my childcare costs at £9 per week instead of £90

lucym

CIS wrote:

Theres not alot you can do , other than ask for the payments to be reduced under the hardship rules.

So where does the £2,500 disregard come in to play…or does the fact that it was £3000 (i.e. more than £2,500) make the difference?

CIS

THe #2500 disregard comes in to play when comparing the income between the two tax years , would be 04/05 and 05/06.

You should have built up a minimum overpayment of (#3000-#2500)*0.37 = #185, but if its #955 then something else must have helped with the overpayment, did you change any income details during the year ?

skint-78

Louley,
I appologise now because what I am going to say will not help you in terms of your immediate need to finance your child care.
However in terms of sorting out the over payment, I would strongly advise you to phone and query the over payment as well as requesting a form to complete to complain/enquire.
Last year I was advised that I had been overpaid, (which came at a time when I needed the money more than ever), I think it was about £500. I was sent an invoice and given 28 days or something to pay it. I phoned and stated that I would not be paying any overpayments back, either in full or by monthy installments, until it had been investigated and checked. I also asked for a complaint form so I could make sure that they had my concern logged in writing.
Strangely I never heard back from them until about 3 months later (by which time I had written to enquire again and phoned a number of times to check the progress) when I was casually told over the phone that actually I had not been overpaid as they had stated. I HAD BEEN UNDERPAID!!
It was only by about £80, but none the less, I could have sent them the £500 in the first place, and you can bet they wouldn't have chased me to refund it and give me the extra they owed me!

Now my policy with tax credits is never to take them on their word, always question and always phone with any changes in circumstances and log who I spoke to and about what.

I wonder if you could state that you do not wish to have your payments reduced until they have looked into it further, as you have reason to believe that you have not been over paid, and it is a mistake?

Good luck.

elaine373

I agree with the above person. I received a letter today saying thta i had been paid 1,600 too much. Yet none of my circumstances had changed. I rang immediately to find out why thye thought i had been overpaid and it seems they are missing one of my children!! I checked my bank account and have been paid 40 pound less than i am normally paid! seems i have caught this in the early stages....they are going to re-send my award letter so hopefully thats that sorted. How on earth do they make these mistakes??

fatblokexl

elaine373 wrote:

I agree with the above person. I received a letter today saying thta i had been paid 1,600 too much. Yet none of my circumstances had changed. I rang immediately to find out why thye thought i had been overpaid and it seems they are missing one of my children!! I checked my bank account and have been paid 40 pound less than i am normally paid! seems i have caught this in the early stages....they are going to re-send my award letter so hopefully thats that sorted. How on earth do they make these mistakes??

it is not the advisors fault thats for sure...most likely a computer error. the advisors will only go into your claim on your say so and should only change details at your request. so if you have not contacted them in relation to child details before this error was fixed then a comp error will be the cause.


you may argue that "the computer will only do what its told" and yes this is true for 99.9% of the time but if you have a faulty software or glitches in the software then this is outwith the advisors liability.

not all problems with Tax credit claims are the advisors fault.

mumof3girls

LOSING A CHILD IS NOT TOO BAD!! I called to inform them I was now working more hours and guess what they did! changed my hours, but took off all of my husbands. they had him down as working for the right company and working 48hrs a week but earning £0.00 . Did not realise till £££££ went in the bank and giros for £££ came through the door and cards for free prescriptions and then a letter a few days later saying they were going to be putting ££ into his wage packet. The best thing of all was the giros came with no information what so ever, just said person and amount. was told I could send the money back or keep the money and they would take it out of my rewards. Then they said if it was going to cause me financial hardship they would carry on paying me even if I kept the money ??????
Then when I called to change the details they could only change 2 details in an 24hr period.
all in all a lot of stress on my part and money on phone calls all for thier c**k up.

elaine373

fatblokexl wrote:

it is not the advisors fault thats for sure...most likely a computer error. the advisors will only go into your claim on your say so and should only change details at your request. so if you have not contacted them in relation to child details before this error was fixed then a comp error will be the cause.


you may argue that "the computer will only do what its told" and yes this is true for 99.9% of the time but if you have a faulty software or glitches in the software then this is outwith the advisors liability.

not all problems with Tax credit claims are the advisors fault.

I have now checked my 3 lettersthat came today regarding my details of 2004 to 2005 and 2005-2006 and 2006 -2007, and it seems they are definitely saying she didnt qualify until feb 28th 2006.Her details are missing on their letters for 22 months. she has never been away from home since her birth in 1998. They have actually paid me the correct money but are wrong with their details as to when she qualified.Thus they havent overpaid me. Surely software doesnt get dates wrong? I can understand them `losing a child` but where on earth have they got this fictional date from? i know my mistake may be minor compared to some but for me its a worry until its sorted. And i was wrong about them claiming 1,600 overpayment, they are actually claiming back 3,100.1,600 for 2004 to 2005 and 1,500 for 2005 to 2006, i can see where the mistake is and hope they sort it promptly.I am not anti tax credits but just dont need this hassle. Also should i have asked for an appeal letter/form? they said they would send me out another amended letter. Is that enough? Any advice gratefully received.

elaine373

mumof3girls wrote:

LOSING A CHILD IS NOT TOO BAD!! I called to inform them I was now working more hours and guess what they did! changed my hours, but took off all of my husbands. they had him down as working for the right company and working 48hrs a week but earning £0.00 . Did not realise till £££££ went in the bank and giros for £££ came through the door and cards for free prescriptions and then a letter a few days later saying they were going to be putting ££ into his wage packet. The best thing of all was the giros came with no information what so ever, just said person and amount. was told I could send the money back or keep the money and they would take it out of my rewards. Then they said if it was going to cause me financial hardship they would carry on paying me even if I kept the money ??????
Then when I called to change the details they could only change 2 details in an 24hr period.
all in all a lot of stress on my part and money on phone calls all for thier c**k up.

It is when they are trying to claim back 3,100 from your money for a child that they have paid for and then said wasnt qualifying. They have reduced my money and have left me with a real worry ( like many other people have had) until its sorted. I am grateful for tax credits but dont appreciate unecessary worries like this. Your story does sound incredible and i hope it all gets sorted out for you.