Please help, CSA arrears issue

emlou2009

Last year when I was on maternity leave the CSA deemed us too poor to pay any maintenance for DSD. I then returned to work in November, and we informed the CSA of this. Since then they have been dragging their heels with actually calculating what we need to pay. We received a letter on Wednesday to say that as of 11/11/2009, we needed to pay £35pw/£152pcm and that OH needed to send his bank details so they could arrange a direct debit. He did this on Friday (yesterday).

Today, we have had a letter to say that because he hasnt responded to their letter asking for a direct debit mandate they have arranged a deduction of earnings order, to start 28/02/2010, and that they will take over £400 this month, £260 next month, and then it will go down to the usual £152pcm!

How have they got a DOE so soon? Dont they have to go through the courts for these? We simply CANNOT afford to pay over £400 in one hit, if they take this we can pay our rent but wont have enough left for utilities, council tax we wont be able to pay our childminder so that I can work, and god knows how we will eat!

OH has been on hold to them for 45 minutes now to try and get this sorted. We are going to ask if we can spread the arrears payments out over a longer period, paying £210 a month for the next 7 months, as although this will be a huge stretch for us it is slightly more affordable. Has anyone had any similar experiences? What can we expect to happen?

ETA: he only takes home £950pcm as it is, so this £400 is going to leave us with less than £550.

bdt1

If I were you I would complain immediately, put it in writing, don't forget to sned everything recorded delivery and keep copies, and also involve your MP ASAP. Good luck.

They are bullies and just don't care aout 2nd families

chall1964

Hi,

It does seem rather quick and no the agency do not need to go to court to arrange a DEO - what was the date on the letter that you received on the 11/02?

Although your OH takes home £950pcm, is your family also in receipt of Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits?

Did your OH managed to speak to them and try to arrange the arrears be paid off over a longer period?

DX2

The CSA don't have to go to court for a DOE. Did he manage to come to an agreement this morning whilst on the phone?

emlou2009

He did get through on the phone, but only about an hour ago!!

They refused to discuss the amounts over the phone, but said if he set up a direct debit over the phone they would cancel the DOE, so he gave them his bank details. I'm now worried that they will take through the DOE and the direct debit too, as we all know how good their organisational skills are. They said a case worker would call him Monday to discuss it. They did say that by paying direct debit the amount would go down, but would still be in the £300+ mark, which we still cant afford

We do receive tax credits, but these are the childcare element of tax credits. The letter we got on Wednesday this week was dated 06/02/10, and todays letter was dated 12/02/10, so by their own admission in the letter they didnt give enough time to set up a direct debit, as they said they needed it set up within 7 days of the date of the letter - 06/02/10!

CSA_Help

emlou2009 wrote: »

He did get through on the phone, but only about an hour ago!!

They refused to discuss the amounts over the phone, but said if he set up a direct debit over the phone they would cancel the DOE, so he gave them his bank details. I'm now worried that they will take through the DOE and the direct debit too, as we all know how good their organisational skills are. They said a case worker would call him Monday to discuss it. They did say that by paying direct debit the amount would go down, but would still be in the £300+ mark, which we still cant afford

We do receive tax credits, but these are the childcare element of tax credits. The letter we got on Wednesday this week was dated 06/02/10, and todays letter was dated 12/02/10, so by their own admission in the letter they didnt give enough time to set up a direct debit, as they said they needed it set up within 7 days of the date of the letter - 06/02/10!

Cancel the direct debit get their bank account details and use your reference number setup a standing order .
That way you control the money that goes to them as they can change the direct debit and by the time the mouse delivers your letter to tell you of this it's too late .I had paid by standing order for years

emlou2009

Sorry, but I dont really want to do that, for a couple of reasons

Firstly, we are in arrears with this already, and in cancelling the direct debit to get the bank details we would be another month in arrears. Secondly, we know from experience that if you are nice to them and act fairly reasonably, they help more than if you do what they see as you trying to scam them, which I think is what they would see us as doing if we did what you suggested. They are a PITA to deal with, but we've been passed from agent to agent before and have always found that being nice and pleasant to them on the phone has got us further, as with most things in life really. We do intend to switch to standing order once this is sorted, but straight to the PWC, so that we can ensure the CSA doesnt actually get a cut!! We dont mind paying the maintenance as we know its our duty, but we would prefer that every penny went to DSD/PWC rather than lined their pockets.

As I said before, my worry now is that they have set up this DOE and the direct debit as well, and will take double the amount!

CSA_Help

emlou2009 wrote: »

Sorry, but I dont really want to do that, for a couple of reasons

Firstly, we are in arrears with this already, and in cancelling the direct debit to get the bank details we would be another month in arrears. Secondly, we know from experience that if you are nice to them and act fairly reasonably, they help more than if you do what they see as you trying to scam them, which I think is what they would see us as doing if we did what you suggested. They are a PITA to deal with, but we've been passed from agent to agent before and have always found that being nice and pleasant to them on the phone has got us further, as with most things in life really. We do intend to switch to standing order once this is sorted, but straight to the PWC, so that we can ensure the CSA doesnt actually get a cut!! We dont mind paying the maintenance as we know its our duty, but we would prefer that every penny went to DSD/PWC rather than lined their pockets.

As I said before, my worry now is that they have set up this DOE and the direct debit as well, and will take double the amount!

Get other half to check with his payroll on Monday to make sure they have cancelled DEO
I had a rolling standing order that was clearly labelled with ref no etc .I would call them on Monday agree a figure between yourselves and pay it that way .I wouldn't trust them with a DD as they are in control.From my bank to their account took 2 days .

karenx

so you have been working for 4 months and knew you would have to be paying CSA and you didnt think to put money aside to cover payments once you were given a schedule dated from November???

Also if your working you have more than just your partners wage of 950. Also your child tax credits and child benefit

emlou2009

Thank you for your kindness and for fully reading my original post...

As per my original post, we informed them in November that I was working again, its THEM that have dragged their heels, not us. THEY didnt tell us until Wednesday of this week how much they wanted per month. We arent questioning the amount they want from us, just the speed at which they have decided they want to take the arrears from us. With both our wages, tax credits and child benefit, if they took the proposed amount of £400 from OH's wages we would still have less than £1000 in total left over to pay rent (£600), utilities, council tax, let alone food, which isnt doable, having had a gas/electric bill through this week for the last 3 months at over £300 which will need to come from next months wages, then I need to pay my sons childminder £63pw, you do the maths - we simply cannot afford it to all come out at once!

And for what its worth, no, we havent been putting anything away to cover them. Having been off work for 39 weeks on maternity allowance, borrowing money from relatives to get by, we were paying back physical debts of which we actually knew the amounts, rather than keeping the people we owed money to waiting for money just in case the CSA wanted it!

emlou2009

Just to complicate matters, there is actually something else I havent mentioned yet - in the earlier part of the year when I first went on maternity leave and they decided we couldnt afford to pay anything, they were taking their deductions by a DOE back then too. However, they dragged their heels over cancelling it and carried on taking money from OH's wages, to the tune of a total of £800, which they admitted they hadnt passed on to PWC but refused to refund us, so technically, there are no arrears, and they owe us £400 still...