A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

smileyt_2

PAH I would go and see your MP if I were you - tell them you just can't sort it out yourself and the stress is making you worse. Ask them to get a full written explanation from the tax credit people. If the overpayment is their fault then surely they can't expect you to pay it back all in one go. Well, they can't have what you haven't got!

I have come to the conclusion that my depression is never going to go away fully because it is in fact a perfectly rational response to a world that is completely screwed up (with the honourable exception of the lovely people on this thread).

Having one last cup of tea as I have a blood test in the morning and I have to fast for it :eek:. Have just stuffed myself full of lovely homemade butterbean and mushroom curry. The blood test is just part of one of those routine over-40's MOT things that are being offered at the moment. I must admit I had a shock when I got the letter as I neither look nor feel over 40 but obviously my birth certificate says I have left the years of my youth behind .... I know the nurse will say I have to lose weight. My BMI says I am morbidly obese because the scale can't cope with me being so small.

Welcome to Millie the Miele. Oh sweet heavens, I'm as blinkin' cuckoo as Greyqueen, welcoming a fridge .... :rotfl:

Shegar enjoy the respite. I hope you get some time to do things for yourself as well as catching up on jobs.

I am sitting on the sofa (thanks to having no armchair ... Bruno) but I have a snuggly dog on either side of me and it's rather lovely .....

prepareathome

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

PAH - so sorry you are having problems with the HMRC idiots -

you can open a dispute - here
God knows what they think they are doing, where on earth do they think you will get the money from????

I guess you have used the online WTC calculator to check your numbers?

Thanks have downloaded the form and printer is printing it out and will fill it in tomorrow.......I never win when I fight about things - like when they decided eldest son morphed on the day of his 18th birthday and still at school into my hubby - I still have the 400 plus pieces of paper the council produced, sometimes 4 or 5 a day each one working our our entitlement and not one ever agreeing, I even had a lawyer try and sort it out but even he couldn't get a straight answer and once it went past the year then they will not even consider it, which is what they want to stall.

After hubby went back to work after 8 months off in July 2005 with slipped discs and sciatica, the day after he started work I received a letter from council thanking me for my enquiry ( I had not contacted them) and yes I was indeed to repay all the council tax and housing benefit we received while he was off and would we please pay it in full within 48hrs and please use the payment slip attached - still have that as well. He went back on reduced hours at first because doctor was worried his back would go again if he went full time and we were actually still entitled to both benefits yet they were asking for what we had, had back and again they messed us around for a year so we ended up having to pay every penny back -

I feel I have a sign on my head and when councils etc need to claw back money they say oh there is PAH we gave her some money so many eons ago so lets tell her it was a loan and now we want it back, no doubt if I survive to reach my pension and if I am lucky enough to continue to get ESA until then or if they decide I am no longer entitled to it, the following day will be a letter telling me how I my ESA and IB were only loans and would I pay them back today and if I do reach my pension when I pop off my children will be told my pension was only a loan so please pay it back.

If I had claimed HB and CTB these past few years it would have been easier to manage but the dread of paying them back stopped me doing so and we would be an even worse mess now if so.

I actually keep expecting to get a letter saying you were entitled to x amount HB/CTB for past 7 years but you did not claim it but none the less we would like you to pay it back anyway.

They must have forgotten I received child benefit or I am sure they would have asked for that back. :rotfl:

GreyQueen

Smileyt, I'm about to crawl off to read and recuperate but just wanted to say that Millie sends her lurve............:rotfl:

Sleep tight, catch y'all tomorrow. GQ x

mardatha

BBC 1 ON NOW - "Turn Back Time". Watch it - it looks magic!

Mrs_Chip

PAH - I would do as Smiley suggests and contact your MP.

Write a letter, as brief and as clear as possible outlining your ongoing issues with these people, with examples of the specific failures from the outset. Try to keep to the facts and make sure you have documentary evidence to back up each point.

Explain that attempting to deal with this is bureaucratic mess is having a detrimental effect on your health and that your financial situation is such that you are no longer prepared to be brow-beaten into paying back money that you were entitled to.

Is your MP sympathetic to such situations? If they are ask them to write to the chairman of HMRC - HMRC have to respond to MPs letter and things can suddenly be resolved as if by magic. MPs letters cause no end of problems for departments, as there are specific timelines that have to be followed and woe betide any civil servant who gets the answers wrong!

Raise the dispute but do as much as you can to get others to fight your corner - should not be that way but it is all too easy for govt depts to treat the 'little man' like a piece of dirt, so try to use MPs, press, anyone who can take up your cause.

kidcat

PAH - ((hugs)) I would definitely follow up with a written request for detailed workings, and I would also request the details for making a formal complaint etc.

Have definitely caught DS8 lovely bug so am feeling rotten, slept this afternoon a really deep sleep that I struggled to wake from - which is unusual I usually sleep with one eye open and hear every noise.

Its open day at Uni for DD17 tomorrow so we are off to have a look around. Just hoping I am feeling better by then.

Byatt I am like you and getting ready to speak to council tax people as they are claiming we have been overpaid benefit but according to their figures we are receiving a much higher income than we actually receive. So I need to query it.

fuddle

I'm loving it Mar well worth watching

Byatt

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

PAH - I would do as Smiley suggests and contact your MP.

Write a letter, as brief and as clear as possible outlining your ongoing issues with these people, with examples of the specific failures from the outset. Try to keep to the facts and make sure you have documentary evidence to back up each point.

Explain that attempting to deal with this is bureaucratic mess is having a detrimental effect on your health and that your financial situation is such that you are no longer prepared to be brow-beaten into paying back money that you were entitled to.

Is your MP sympathetic to such situations? If they are ask them to write to the chairman of HMRC - HMRC have to respond to MPs letter and things can suddenly be resolved as if by magic. MPs letters cause no end of problems for departments, as there are specific timelines that have to be followed and woe betide any civil servant who gets the answers wrong!

Raise the dispute but do as much as you can to get others to fight your corner - should not be that way but it is all too easy for govt depts to treat the 'little man' like a piece of dirt, so try to use MPs, press, anyone who can take up your cause.

Totally agree with this, when I was with HMRC, getting an MP letter had us running around like headless chickens! :eek:

Mrs_Chip

Me too Byatt!

smileyt_2

Hmmmm. Normally I have eaten my evening meal, drunk my tea and been happy not to eat again after 8pm-ish. So how come tonight, when I have been ordered to fast, I could eat my own bodyweight in something bad for me and drink gallons of tea??? Harumph!