Housing Benefit Overpayment-Told 5 Times

Orville

rogerblack wrote: »

And increasingly, banks are using their rights of offset to pay off one account with the funds in another, so this may not have helped at all.

Roger if you re read my other post (18) i think it is i did say in a seperate bank account with a seperate bank. I said that with the offset rules in mind.

But in saying that, if the op had an OD in the same account as the benefits were paid into before the council made overpayments, they surely must have known that they could have stopped the OD at any time. What would the op have done then?.

tom9980

Orville wrote: »

Yes but equally the op could have taken it out each week/month and put it into a different account.

Not rocket science is it?.

Does the OP even have another account? do they indeed even have the credit record or time to go and open one just for this purpose? should the OP have to go and open an account at all when the Council should have done their job properly and stopped the payments when notified in writing, it is that simple.

The OP is at partial fault for having the overdraft in the first place and by not going to the council offices and MAKING them sort it out, it should never have got this far.

Orville

tom9980 wrote: »

Does the OP even have another account? do they indeed even have the credit record or time to go and open one just for this purpose? should the OP have to go and open an account at all when the Council should have done their job properly and stopped the payments when notified in writing, it is that simple.

The OP is at partial fault for having the overdraft in the first place and by not going to the council offices and MAKING them sort it out, it should never have got this far.

I never said the op did have another bank account. I said the op should have opened a separate bank account. I suspect the op had the time to open another bank account, lesser of 2 evils really isn't it, taking an hour or so to open an account or leave it and end up nearly 3k in debt because the OD got stopped. Even if the op has a bad credit record you can still open basic accounts. The op seems intelligent enough to put a post in here asking for help now, so i guess the op is intelligent enough to have put a post in asking what to do while it was happening don't you think?.

Fact is yes as you say the council messed up with the overpayments, but the op is responsible for the money until such a time it is either written off by the council or they ask for it back.

This might weird as it seems work in the op's favour. If the op makes a repayment plan with the council after telling them what happened with the bank etc, the op may be in fact better off as the council (i think) won't charge interest whereas the bank would have for the OD.

t0rt0ise

What a load of useless, unhelpful responses. The only sensible posts are the ones saying to get a copy of your file and go see Citizens Advice. It is patently obvious to anyone with a smidgen of sense that if the council ever decides they have made a mistake, they will either waive the repayment of it or will allow a very fair repayment plan. If they were to go court over it, the court would not allow anything but a repayment plan that the OP could afford. The council will know this and will not allow it to get that far.

Having said all that, if it was me I'd open a new bank account and put any more new money in there and just keep it for retirement!

tequilamockingbird_2

Well,

I would like to say thank you to the few on here who actually came here with some useful info, rather than spout out what WOULD have been beneficial.

I have contacted the council again yesterday and today, again they have advised that I have a closed account, and went through everything over and over again. Today I got a call back stating that they accept I am telling the truth, that they are paying benefit unknowingly (Wow) and that it iS AN ERROR THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO INVESTIGATE.

The gentleman I spoke to was a Manager, and was very apologetic to me, and has advised they will wipe 70% of the claim as official Error, and for the further 30% set up a payment plan, that I can object to, due to evidence for me showing it was their mistake.

I however informed the gentleman that I am more than happy to pay the 30% back and set up a £30 a week payment plan- he seemed pretty worried when he spoke to me and was very apologetic, and said this was a very rare incident- still cant tell me what happened and even questioned how they are going to stop the payment if they dont know where it is coming from!

There seems to be a lot of people on this particular part of the forums who are here, in a way, to make themselves believe they have more self worth and by belitiling others, and as is the case on this thread, passing comment without any actual advise. Granted this is what forums are for,freedom of speech etc, however surely we are all big enough to realsie, unlike some forums MSE is in general for people who may not be in the best place financially and/or in a panic.

If this is the case, somebody with a bit too much time on their hands putting there (worthless, in most cases) two cents in on whether benefits should be allowed, what they think britain is coming to etc, should really be a bit more mature, have a bit of respect for other people, and a bit of self respect.

RANT OVER:beer:

tequilamockingbird_2

t0rt0ise wrote: »

What a load of useless, unhelpful responses. The only sensible posts are the ones saying to get a copy of your file and go see Citizens Advice. It is patently obvious to anyone with a smidgen of sense that if the council ever decides they have made a mistake, they will either waive the repayment of it or will allow a very fair repayment plan. If they were to go court over it, the court would not allow anything but a repayment plan that the OP could afford. The council will know this and will not allow it to get that far.

Having said all that, if it was me I'd open a new bank account and put any more new money in there and just keep it for retirement!

Ha Ha tortoise, I like your thinking.

As you can probably see from my rant above, I think some people on here have a bit too much time on their hands and like to pass judgement on others. The Council have said I only have to pay 30% back, and at £15 a month!- and I can dispute that if I want!! (although i said no, i might just do it to get peoples backs up- JOKE!)

Orville

tequilamockingbird wrote: »

Ha Ha tortoise, I like your thinking.

As you can probably see from my rant above, I think some people on here have a bit too much time on their hands and like to pass judgement on others. The Council have said I only have to pay 30% back, and at £15 a month!- and I can dispute that if I want!! (although i said no, i might just do it to get peoples backs up- JOKE!)

If you say so, personally i reckon you knew exactly what was going on and what could happen. Your not stupid, you could have moved the money to another account to avoid this, but you thought you'd play dumb while at the same time getting your overdraft paid for. Your very lucky the council only want 30% back, but then maybe you already knew this.?

I find it very hard to believe too that it has taken you a year to get this sorted.

But hey what do i know.

BTW it's not passing judgement, it's called stating the obvious.

hjsmum

Orville wrote: »

If you say so, personally i reckon you knew exactly what was going on and what could happen. Your not stupid, you could have moved the money to another account to avoid this, but you thought you'd play dumb while at the same time getting your overdraft paid for. Your very lucky the council only want 30% back, but then maybe you already knew this.?

I find it very hard to believe too that it has taken you a year to get this sorted.

But hey what do i know.

BTW it's not passing judgement, it's called stating the obvious.

Oh my god! Get off your high horse won't you. OP told the council several times, what was he supposed to do? Camp outside the office until they stopped giving him money? Why should he have to run around after them trying to clear up their mistakes? He tried to do the right thing by putting the money aside but it backfired and he has agreed (although by the sounds of it he didn't have to) to pay some of the money back. Honestly get a life!

Orville

hjsmum wrote: »

Oh my god! Get off your high horse won't you. OP told the council several times, what was he supposed to do? Camp outside the office until they stopped giving him money? Why should he have to run around after them trying to clear up their mistakes? He tried to do the right thing by putting the money aside but it backfired and he has agreed (although by the sounds of it he didn't have to) to pay some of the money back. Honestly get a life!

Hey i have a life, i'm just not easily fooled, which it seems you are.

Funny how his OD has now been paid off he has managed to get onto the council to do something isn't it?. It's amazing what one call seems to have achieved a year down the line with the OD now fully paid, that couldn't be achieved over the course of a year while it wasn't. Basically he has a 3k OD paid for by the council for the sum on £900 interest free.;)

hjsmum

Orville wrote: »

Hey i have a life, i'm just not easily fooled, which it seems you are.

Funny how his OD has now been paid off he has managed to get onto the council to do something isn't it?. It's amazing what one call seems to have achieved a year down the line with the OD now fully paid, that couldn't be achieved over the course of a year while it wasn't. Basically he has a 3k OD paid for by the council for the sum on £900 interest free.;)

I just hate how everyone always sees the worst in people, I know there are a lot of people on the take out there but to assume everyone is... I don't know I just can't think like that, it's too depressing.

If that makes me easily fooled then so be it but I'd rather that than be inherently suspicious of every new person I come across!