CSA Arrears

trinnybin

Hi there
I am due to finish paying maintenance payments in Sept but still have £19,500 worth of arrears to pay off! I have always paid maintenance but as i underpaid for years my arrears mounted up.

I have been paying £50 a month off my arrears for over 10 years now as well as the usual payments.

I have been informed that i have to pay it off within 2yrs & on this amount it is not possible.

Am i right in thinking that the arrears payment will be calulated on the basis that the CSA can only take 40% of my wages after the mortgauge payment has been deducted from my take home pay?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

borders_dude

trinnybin wrote: »

Hi there
I am due to finish paying maintenance payments in Sept but still have £19,500 worth of arrears to pay off! I have always paid maintenance but as i underpaid for years my arrears mounted up.

I have been paying £50 a month off my arrears for over 10 years now as well as the usual payments.

I have been informed that i have to pay it off within 2yrs & on this amount it is not possible.

Am i right in thinking that the arrears payment will be calulated on the basis that the CSA can only take 40% of my wages after the mortgauge payment has been deducted from my take home pay?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Why were you under paying? Was it your fault or was it due to agency maladministration?

The reason I ask is that I was in high arrears with the CSA but this was due to agency maladministration and because of this they allowed me longer to pay it off and the amount I had to pay each time was a lot lower than it would have been had it not been caused by agency delay.

borders_dude

And isnt the two year timescale only a internal agency target?

markeymark

arrears have to legally be negotiated, however if they put you on a DEO its 40% max of your net wage they can take, are you on CS1 or CS2 as CS1 allows for housing costs where CS2 doesnt

have you had a full account breakdown to make sure arrears are correct

Loopy_Girl

And in answer to your question...

it's 40% of your wage that can be taken via a DEO

This is your wage as in the bottom line of your payslip. Whilst you are on CS1 and housing costs are included to work out your normal maintenance, it doesn't apply when arrears are due.


So it would be 40% of your wage and you would get the remaining 60% to pay your mortgage and bills etc

trinnybin

To be entirely honest when they said i owed this amount i just accepted it as i had underpayed for several years. I was assessed on wages plus lots of overtime & did not inform them when my overtime stopped! my fault i know but virtually impossible to track back payments etc.

I am not sure what CS1 or CS2 means, would you mind explaining?, My payments at present are paid by DEO.

kelloggs36

How old is your case? As Loopy said if you only have arrears to pay, it doesn't matter which case you are on anyway, as they will deduct up to 40% of your net pay BEFORE you pay any bills etc. Unfortunately, as you say, it is too late to get the arrears changed as you failed to notify them of a change in circumstances; in which case the CSA will want to collect as quickly as possible.

trinnybin

Oh dear, it's about 17yr. Would my wives wages be taken into account?

bdt1

Your current wife's income would only have been taken into consideration in the protected element of any assessment if your ex have applied for a departure on grounds that your wife could contribute to housing. If this has not happened in past then immaterial now, they will want their money in 2 years 'an internal steer not law'. But as you employed, you are in a difficult situation as DEO can be made, maybe try and negotiate with them (put request in writing) or involve your MP. They have access to Parliamentary hotline, and some MP's are better than others. Write to complaints dept stating that you prepared to pay arrears just want to compromise an affordable rate for you, if you do not get a satisfactory final response from CSA complaints then take your case to the Independent Case Examiner.

PlayingHardball

I'm just wondering if the OP has ever looked into the arrears closely to ensure that the figure is correct? I admire that he has no qualms about paying, but for that sort of amount, I would think it would be a good idea to get the data protection file and go through with a fine tooth comb. CSA mistakes can and do happen.

The reason I say this is from personal experience. Even though my ex didn't inform the CSA of relevant changes to circumstances at various times, I did. However, unknown to me, the CSA didn't take any of these changes of circs information into account at the time (several years ago). After my complaint of completely another matter via the CSA Appeals process, these errors were discovered and have resulted in two things: 1) a reduction of payments given to my ex during the period in question, and 2) an increase in his maintenance payments during the periods in question. So for me, 1 and 2 almost cancelled each other out, but not quite and still leaves the ex with some arrears.

I just think it would be very worthwhile getting hold of the data protection files and sending them to NACSA to review, or someone who knows child support law and can ensure the arrear figure is correct. NACSA would be my personal choice and it would also be very reasonable. Please don't think I'm advocating getting out of paying these arrears, but I just think it would be wise to make sure that you are paying the right amount.

trinnybin

Hi
just an update, i've been to the CSA but i actually knew more than him (thanks to you guys) however he did contact the CSA only to be infrmed to call back in September & that they want the money paid back withn 2yrs. They even suggested borrowing from friends, using a credit card a loan - this is £19,500!!! as well a paying them an agreed amount!
Having discussed this with OH we consider that if on contacting the we offer to pay £400 per month for 2 yrs then at the end of the 2yrs take out a loan for the remainder. If this is not acceptable to them we understand that they could enforce a DEO which would only give them marginally more per month. Am i right in thing that if they issue a DEO then the outstanding amount would have to be paid at the end of the 2yrs?
I'm also considering contacting ot local MP as the CSA was was more than useless.