HB problems - accused of having more accounts..delays with processing claim sigh....

grumpyoldwoman41

Hi All,

After submitting my HB claim, after a long while I got asked to also submit my bank statements. I did that, supplied 3 months worth of my bank statements from the only bank account I have (Co-op).

Today I got a very interesting email from person dealing with my HB application, pretty much accusing me of having other accounts (I do not)

The reason being that there were 3 transactions on my account transferring money to other accounts. Those were accounts of people I owed money to, not my accounts (!!!)

The HB person now wants me to supply statements for those 3 accounts (none of them is mine) as they claim those are my accounts....

I will try to copy the email I have received here (taking out the details) - can someone make any sense out of this? Why would they assume those are my accounts just because I have transferred some money there?

As I said, those were money I owed to people hence the transfers...

Dear Mrs .....,

Thank you for your e-mail

We last wrote to you on the 07/01/2011. This is a reminder that you have not supplied us with all the information requested.

Further to the information supplied on the 12/01/2011, it appears on the Bank Statements supplied for your Co-operative account ending ******4 that transactions were made to some other accounts which have not been declared on your application, the transactions in question are:

Transfer to account ending **** on the **/12/2010

Transfer to account ending **** on the **/12/010

Transfer to account ending **** on the **/12/2010

Please give reason(s) why these accounts were not declared on your original application form andprovide 2 months recent Bank statements showing full transactions for the accounts indicated.

You should give us this information by 07/02/2011. If you think you will be unable to supply these details in time, you need to let us know about this as soon as possible and explain why you cannot provide the information at the moment and tell us when, if at all, you can provide it.

If we do not receive the information by 07/02/2011, or hear from you to say why you cannot provide it, this may affect how much benefit we pay you. We may decide that you are not entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefit, or that you are entitled to less than we could pay you if you gave us the details we need.

Please remember every document you give us in support of your claim must be an original document. This means we cannot accept photocopies.

Yours Sincerely

I did not "declare" those 3 accounts simply because those are NOT my accounts........

I have replied to the email in a similar way, stating that those are not my accounts, those were money I owed to people so tyransfered back to THEIR accounts....

Why would someone assume those are mine?

Any idea what this really is about?

I imagine they suspect some kind of fraud (not true), asking for statements for accounts that are not mine, stating I did not provide evidence (I did - from MY account, 3 months worth of statements)..

Grrrrrrrrrrr

Tehya

I think they are probably just trying to establish who the accounts belong to though I think it could have been worded better. It may be that the person dealing with your claim doesn't realise that you can do money transfers to another person's bank account not just your own.

I've personally never had this problem even though I used to make regular transfers of money to my son's account (for school items bus fares etc) I did it to teach him how to budget and plus I didn't have to keep running to the bank all the time.

[Deleted User]

you could also ask the co-op bank for written confirmation that you only have the one account perhaps

grumpyoldwoman41

Tehya - thanks for that.

I think what I have problem with is the wording, you are spot on here - the tone of this email looks to me as an accusation and I do not like it at all, upsets me to be honest.

And the line about "reminder.. you did not provide" - I did provide all they have asked me for, on time too....

Sighhh

Thanks for posting

grumpyoldwoman41

Even if Co-op confirms I only have one acount - the 3 accounts I have transfered money to are not Co-Op acounts so they can still think I have acounts with other banks... sigh...

Thanks for posting, stresses me out this email, honestly.

dmg24

It is a standard email, hence why the phrasing is not the best. If you advise them they are not your accounts they should be able to check this. However, they may wish to know the reason for the transfers, to check you are not intentionally depriving yourself of capital.

grumpyoldwoman41

DMG - thanks.

Will see what they reply to my email from yesterday where I stated those are not my accounts.....sigh

grumpyoldwoman41

Can anyone tell me what is normal processing time for HB claim?

There must be some guidelines......

I have applied for mine on the 2nd or 3rd December 2010 - there is STILL no decision and the person dealing with my claim does not even reply to my emails no more.

First it was the "multiple accounts" about which they have contacted me mid January (I submitted my claim on 2nd or 3rd December), once that was cleared - "system down", now still no news at all.

It is like 12 weeks since I have applied and have no decision....

Any idea what the "normal" processing time for those claims is?

Thanks a lot

welshbookworm

i applied for HB on 1/12/10 and am still waiting. My Housing Office recieved information yesterday that my HB claim had ceased because I had stopped claiming Jobseekers!
So by that time scale I would guess 3 to 4 months for a straightforward claim, longer for one with complications.
Good Luck

Nikkisun

It will vary by local authority - I submitted my claim on 4th Feb and got my letter confirming the amounts on 8th Feb.

dseventy

How much were the transfers?

If they are small amounts its easy to resolve, if its larger amounts then they need to check this (due to deprivation rules).

What was in the account before the transfers and what was in after it? How much was the transfers?

D70