DWP sudden request for payment

drwho2011

It could be a case of identity theft sometime in the past using your NI number.

Best bet is give them a call.

ikati5

My OH had one of these last week for £159, he hasn't claimed any benefits of any kind since he was a carer for his mother who passed away in 1999. He has written to them asking for more details.

AliceBanned

drwho2011 wrote: »

It could be a case of identity theft sometime in the past using your NI number.

Best bet is give them a call.

It's all I need at the mo. Thanks for response. Identity theft is a possiblity.

:mad:. Phoned them this morning - they said it's from overpayment of income support TEN YEARS AGO! Will have to see what they come up with - I may have claimed bens briefly during that time, obviously I don't have records myself for that long so it's going to be difficult. I was just starting to get on top of things.

If they do prove I owe it, it was their error at the time and surely they can't demand it very quickly? I wouldn't mind eg £5 a week but I'm trying to pay off debts then buy a flat so why should I give all that money to them immediately? The original letter said pay by 25th Jan!!:(

AliceBanned

ikati5 wrote: »

My OH had one of these last week for £159, he hasn't claimed any benefits of any kind since he was a carer for his mother who passed away in 1999. He has written to them asking for more details.

Thanks. They told me on phone this morning that they can reclaim from up to 25 YEARS AGO!! :mad:

JS477

AliceBanned wrote: »

Thanks. They told me on phone this morning that they can reclaim from up to 25 YEARS AGO!! :mad:

Rather than take anything someone at the DWP tells you as fact I'd be very much inclined to get independent advice from e.g. the CAB.

Also as someone has advised I too would strongly advise you to get the DWP to send you an accurate breakdown of how the they arrived at this figure.

AliceBanned

JS477 wrote: »

Rather than take anything someone at the DWP tells you as fact I'd be very much inclined to get independent advice from e.g. the CAB.

Also as someone has advised I too would strongly advise you to get the DWP to send you an accurate breakdown of how the they arrived at this figure.

Thanks for the advice. Will do. I can't really defend myself unless I can get bank statements from the time. They said £70 was a crisis loan, which I vaguely remember having but I've only ever had them twice in my life and paid both off! You have to pay them off, so how they can say this I don't know. As for the income support overpayment well they do make errors so they could have done this and now asking for it back. However it could be that I was not on income support at the time, and it's all nonsense. I will need to somehow get all the info I need to make sure I'm 100% sure it's right. As someone said, could be identity theft so I'm not just paying it until there is evidence. Thanks, will get help from CAB. they are going to look in the "archives" and get back to me.

drwho2011

AliceBanned wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Will do. I can't really defend myself unless I can get bank statements from the time. They said £70 was a crisis loan, which I vaguely remember having but I've only ever had them twice in my life and paid both off! You have to pay them off, so how they can say this I don't know. As for the income support overpayment well they do make errors so they could have done this and now asking for it back. However it could be that I was not on income support at the time, and it's all nonsense. I will need to somehow get all the info I need to make sure I'm 100% sure it's right. As someone said, could be identity theft so I'm not just paying it until there is evidence. Thanks, will get help from CAB. they are going to look in the "archives" and get back to me.

They were correct that they can reclaim overpayments of benefits over 10 years ago as the debt is owed to the Government .

Best bet is to request a copy of your file from the DWP. From the information they provide it should be easier for you to dispute the debt.

The amount of information staff will have on the phone will be minimal due to the age of the claim so its best to do this in writing as you should get all the facts in one go and then will have a better idea how to proceed.

Were you working at the time they said you were claiming Income Support?

AliceBanned

Thanks drwho. I have already requested more info by phone but will chase up next week if I haven't heard anything. they gave me until 21 jan to pay which is ridiculous even if I do owe it - three weeks' notice for a debt that big.

I was possibly not working at the time so it could be correct, but I have no idea whether i was overpaid. AT the time I was in and out of temporary jobs and not in permanent employment until 3 or 4 years after that. Can't believe they have contacted me so much later. They said some of it is for a crisis loan which I vaguely remember having, but sure I paid it back in small instalments so somehow I'll have to get banks statements from that long ago! Going to be tricky.:(