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CSA are forcing me to sell my home within 3 months!

This is very long but you need as much of the story as possible, sorry, I really have cut it short!

I met my partner, after 6 months I moved in with him earlier than I expected as he was in dept, he could of lost his home, I soon found out why.
He was working 6 12 hour shifts a week, having his children while the ex went out and giving her £350 cheque and £550 in cash. I asked what it was for, he aid it was what his ex told him CSA said he had to pay or she would stop him seeing his children. I was livid, he was doing 3 extra shifts a week and losing his home and suffering health wise. I put a stop to it, he then gave her cheques for £350 as this is what CSA told me he should pay per month for his children, he also stopped the over time.
She went mental, stopped him seeing his children, forced her way into my home and attacked him, I threw her out!:) We contacted CSA to pay through them and we got an harassment order, she was not allowed to contact us or us her.
We kept phoning CSA and they kept telling us they were dealing with my partners case.

A year later, my partner phoned me shocked and crying, CSA had deducted £2,000 leaving him with £22. I immediately phoned them, we had no phone call or letter, they gave it back but it took 4 days.

Three months later, the same happened again, they gave us the money back.
These were the only times we heard off CSA about payments. We complained and CSA admitted that all their letters to my partner had been sent to an address 130 miles away where I lived, 6yrs prior to ever meeting my partner and I had moved twice since living there.

Eventually we had our payments in writing, £100 compensation for sending letters to the wrong address.

We were horrified!!!! My partner had to pay back pay for 3yrs, I bitterly complained! CSA told me that it is back dated to when his ex first contacted them and as my partner had done over time and had only given her £350 a month then he owed her. I was furious, surely this is wrong, he was paying her and she was happy, not through CSA and he had given her £900 a month, she denied it! My partner did not have proof!!
We were told my partner now had to pay her £650 per month including back pay we know he already paid.
My partner had no choice but to do over time to make the payments.
During this time we also ended up raising my 2 grandchildren, so these children were taken into account. We also had fraud done on us and had my partner had his entire wages taken.
We plummeted into debt, CSA demanding payments so we had a loan from his dad to pay her until our bank sorted our account.
Our mortgage wasn't paid and at the end of it all, we incurred £10,000 interest.

His ex then went to CSA and told them he was doing over time, she got a quarter of that, he did more over time to make up the quarter, again she informed CSA.

I have watched my partner grow old FAST! I told him we he cannot live like this, he became ill and reduced his over time to 2 shifts only.
We sent wage slips for reassessment, they say we are just .1 below the 5% change so we still have to pay £650 a month, we are now getting into dept.

Our cars needed £3,000 spent in repairs so we had a new car, we traded our old ones, I got £2,000 cash back to pay of some finances so that we could pay for my partners car.

4 days later we have a call from CSA, his ex has informed them we had a new car so he did a credit check and found my partner had £2000 spare it should have been given to his ex, again I was livid, it was my money paid into my partners bank for my car, not his wages.
CSA told me we had to change our way of living as they were now increasing our total payments to £1000 a month, my mortgage payments are £980 so how on earth can we pay that when they agreed us to pay the so called back pay over 4yrs.
He told us the government state it has to be paid off in 2 yrs, we had to change the way we lived, he told us to sell our home and get a smaller property, he was giving us 3 months to sell and he would put the £1000 on hold for 3 months, then they would be deducted from his wages before my partner had them.

Our house has now been on the market for 3 weeks, no interest, we are shattered, stressed and phew!!
Ive complained bitterly, our grandchildren have suffered enough, CSA don't care the children are losing their home yet again.
We are constantly harassed by his ex and feel that CSA are joining in on her bullying.

Can they do this?

Can CSA take payments back to when she first claimed, even though she was getting it direct from my partner and not through CSA for the past 2yrs? Or should they of taken it from when we contacted them as we wanted to pay through them?

Can CSA go back on their word, saying we could pay it over 4yrs now saying with in 2yrs?

We now owe £4000 so if we have been paying for 2yrs already, I don't see £350 a month works out at £9000 for 2yrs back pay!!!!! this is what it was for 2yrs back pay, we have complained but we get no where.

I have also had to go to CSA to get money from my ex, ive never been to CSA as I was happy with the small amount, ive had no choice, but my daughter will not benefit, this money will go to my partners ex.

I thought that CSA was for partners and ex's and should not cause poverty with the new family, surely this is against human rights???
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Comments

  • shaven-monkey
    shaven-monkey Posts: 651 Forumite
    edited 13 June 2010 at 5:50AM
    He was working 6 12 hour shifts a week, having his children while the ex went out and giving her £350 cheque and £550 in cash. I asked what it was for, he aid it was what his ex told him CSA said he had to pay or she would stop him seeing his children.
    The cash payments are ... unusual to the point of premeditated. Assuming they happened at all.
    CSA told me we had to change our way of living as they were now increasing our total payments to £1000 a month, my mortgage payments are £980 so how on earth can we pay that when they agreed us to pay the so called back pay over 4yrs.
    He told us the government state it has to be paid off in 2 yrs, we had to change the way we lived, he told us to sell our home and get a smaller property, he was giving us 3 months to sell and he would put the £1000 on hold for 3 months, then they would be deducted from his wages before my partner had them.
    Ask for that in writing with exact, itemised justification for the increase. Consult a solicitor. Consult another solicitor to be sure.

    Any reason why he didn't challenge the custody?
    Any reason why you shouldn't challenge it now?

    You are not liable for his CSA payments. Do not put money in his account, ever.
    Have him request that his employers pay him 50% of his wages in cash, probably illegal but as long as he pays the taxes, the Government don't give a damn. The cash goes into an account in your name for paying the mortgage and other living expenses.

    Are you married?
    If not, he signs all his assets over to you for £1. You charge him rent for living in your home, rental for the vehicle he drives to work and various other itemised expenses to the sum of his wages.
    He declares bankruptcy.
    The ex can piddle into the wind.

    This is probably neither legal nor moral but what the heck. I should say that I wouldn't take my advice, but you can if you like.

    An alternative (equally dodgy and probably impractical may even be illegal): negotiate with his employer to have him change from employee to self employed contractor status (with an increased pay per hour to compensate for their reduced national insurance contributions, potential sick pay etc and other expenses), form a limited company (costs between £15 and £100 depending how you do it) have his employers contract the company for services which he provides. The company itself has 1 share held by you, he and yourself are both named directors.
    The company pays a dividend every month to the shareholder (you) and a wage to him of £350.
    The company owns the car, any clothing he requires for work, his lunchbox and so on. Any credit check run on him will show him receiving £350 per month... The CSA rep who is trying to make you "change your lifestyle" can suck that and see.

    I have had too much coffee and there are many more qualified and sensible folk who will provide real advice when the sun is in the sky.

    Best of luck either way.
    "Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves." - Norm Franz
  • withabix
    withabix Posts: 9,508 Forumite
    Contact your MP.
    British Ex-pat in British Columbia!
  • shell_542
    shell_542 Posts: 1,333 Forumite
    And NACSA.

    But to answer your question, unfortunately yes, the CSA can backdate payments to when they first tried to contact your partner (although he might have some leway here, will explain further) and if his ex denies she received any money from him (which sadly happens) then he will be forced to pay it again. Hidsight is a wonderful thing, but never ever pay er money direct without a clear record of evidence.

    Your partner needs to get a copy of his files the CSA hold under the data protection law. With te help of NACSA he can see if the CSA have followed their procedures correctly (sending information to an incorrect address is something which may go in your partner's favour). They can only take 40% max from his net wages, so if this £1000 a month is more than that, they cannot legally take it.

    Help from NACSA is what you need. There is a fee to join but in the long run it would be cheaper than solicitor fees.

    The CSA are not interested in how the non resident's family manage to live or if in fact they can at all.
    August GC 10th - 10th : £200 / £70.61
    NSD : 2/8
  • kelloggs36
    kelloggs36 Posts: 7,712 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    How much does your partner take home every month? the CSA can only take a MAXIMUM of 40% of his net income, so if this works out at less than £1k per month then so be it. If he is paying this rate, it is highly unlikely that the courts will enforce any higher payments so I really wouldn't worry about it! If the arrears are 'only' £4k then that means that the monthly extra he should be paying is only £166. Why was he ever paying the £550 on top of £350 per month? it seems excessive to me.
  • Hannah_10
    Hannah_10 Posts: 1,774 Forumite
    Two things I noticed.

    1. If he's only earning 0.1% (as I understood it) below the threshold for lower payments tell him to ask his boss to give him a couple of pence an hour pay cut to bring it under.

    2. If he's been paying with cheques and she cashed them then his bank statements prove it.
    I refuse to be afraid of the big bad wolf, spiders, or debt collection agencies; one of them's not real and the other two are powerless without my fear.
    (Ok, one of them is powerless, spiders can be nasty.)


    As of the last count I have cleared
    [STRIKE]23.16%[/STRIKE] 22.49% of my debt. :(
  • Fergie76
    Fergie76 Posts: 2,293 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hire a hitman, a lot cheaper.

    (for the avoidance of doubt, it was not a serious suggestion :D)
  • Myown
    Myown Posts: 67 Forumite
    My partner did pay his ex cash and cheque.

    My partner will do any thing for his children

    my partner was bullied by this woman and yes, it does go on unfortunately.

    My partner was not married to her, thank goodness, this means that he has no paternal right as they were born before the law changed, we have gone down that avenue already.

    My partner cannot go self employed he has worked for them for 21yrs and they would not do it any way.

    CSA did contact my partner when his ex first left, hee filled out forms and gave in wage slips. His ex then told CSA that she did not want them involved and that she was happy for him to pay direct to heer. She then 'stung' him by telling heim he had to pay £900 he was nieve to say the least.
    2 and years later, I came on the sceene and see what she is doing, she contacted CSA but after 2 weeks told them again she does not want them involved.
    A further 2 weeks later we got an harrassment order and we went to CSA to say we wanted them to act for us and make payment through them.
    This is when CSA messsed up for another year, but back dated her said none payment for 3yrs this sureley is illegal? she collected the payments and did not want CSA involved.

    Because my partner beleived his ex and could not meet her demands he did over time to pay, so yes, he gave her the proper amount in a cheque, but gave cash for the rest, she was only entiteled to £200 extra per month.
    It really does feel like a CSA scam!


    I cant see putting our home in my name will help, even if we did this, we would still have to pay the £1000 so we would still have to sell our home.

    They are taking 40% but say it the back pay is not included and they want £4000 to be paid in 2yrs.These are called Legalised loan sharks!

    I phoned CSA regarding my case and told them of my partners, im alloud to talk to them on my partners behalfe, he could not beleive what I was saying so he looked at my partners case, he was very shocked to read on his screen exactly what I told him, sure enough 'we are giving Mr X three months leway in which to sell his home, after which payments will be deducted from his wages for thee amount of £1000 per month.
    He told me to put a complaint in writing which I have now done for the 3rd time, never had a response so I will see what happens this t

    I have looked at NACSA but have not got any money spare.

    I did not know we could get a copy of files, I will enquire.

    Thank you for your advice
  • Myown
    Myown Posts: 67 Forumite
    kelloggs36 wrote: »
    How much does your partner take home every month? the CSA can only take a MAXIMUM of 40% of his net income, so if this works out at less than £1k per month then so be it. If he is paying this rate, it is highly unlikely that the courts will enforce any higher payments so I really wouldn't worry about it! If the arrears are 'only' £4k then that means that the monthly extra he should be paying is only £166. Why was he ever paying the £550 on top of £350 per month? it seems excessive to me.

    He was paying the extra in cash as he believed her when she told him that was what CSA said he had to pay her, she told him she wanted the extra in cash so she could go food shopping pffft! too late but he has now seen the light!
    The crafty so n so (being polite) then gave cheque amounts she received only to CSA, very devious person indeed. So while he did all the over time he could to pay or the threat was there to stop him seeing his children, CSA decided he had not paid a quarter of his over time as he had no proof, so greedy so n so is being paid again.
  • kelloggs36
    kelloggs36 Posts: 7,712 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Why on Earth did he not contact the CSA to check the figures??? I know it is no consolation, but he was extremely naieve to believe what she said without making his own checks -that way he could have ensured that they had his correct address and prevent the other situation from arising. Was she on benefits? if so, then she has successfully committed benefit fraud as she was not in a position to make a private agreement, nor accept any money from him.
  • romanempire
    romanempire Posts: 194 Forumite
    Myown wrote: »
    I have looked at NACSA but have not got any money spare.

    NACSA will cost a lot less then selling your home.

    The same applies to getting your partners file (and yours).

    P
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