dwp debt

MrsSpoon

Hi there,

I have been reading through all the posts and I'm still a little confused! On Saturday, I received a letter from DWP stating I owed £34! I called them yesterday and they told me it was from a Crisis Loan from 1999! I said that was ridiculous, that surely I must've paid it when I came off benefits otherwise, why would take 14 years to contact me, I did after all, live in the same address until 2010! Nobody could explain why, just the Social Fund was coming to an end, so they were 'collecting' money owed. I mentioned the Limitation Act and was told it didn't apply to anything from 'the social'. So do I have to pay it or don't I???

fermi

They are telling you porkie pies. It is covered by the Limitation Act 1980.

But that just means they should not be able to take you to court for it. Doesn't mena that they can't deduct it from any future benefits etc.

So in the light of that it's up to you whether you pay it or not.

MrsSpoon

Thank you. I shall put that in writing to them.

fatbelly

Also mention the info in post #15 which the CAB still has on their internal advice system, Advisernet

Oblivious

I have a similar situation.. I've an Overpayment from DWP dating back to 2002-3. I left UK in 2004 and returned back in 2010. I had to claim JSA upon my return to UK and it is then the DWP wrote to me saying I owed them money. However, I was only in receipt of JSA so they took it from that. I then became a student, and no longer claimer for a while. Once this happened I would get letters from DCA's acting on behalf of DWP demanding full payment.. which of course I don't have! I have now finished all my studying..passed my exams... and have just started working.. Guess who wrote to me! Yep you guessed right, DCA asking for DWP money in full.. now getting the solicitors letter saying I will get CCJ and a Attachment Earnings Order... they have threatened this before (last year infact, which made me go back to the Jobcentre so that they could pay themselves - ironic isn't it). I have been searching for advice everywhere on how to deal with this all, I don't deal with DCA's as they are liars, bully boys and don't deserve a penny of my money. I got my overpayment from Income Support back in 2002/3 due to being unemployed and marriage break up. I was told to claim Lone Parent.. which meant my ex had to give details to CSA .. that in turn meant Income Support paid me money for me to pay mortgage so that me and my daughter would not be homeless.. However, I am not work shy, and the government process at the time took so long.. I found temp work, and as result ended up with the overpayment. The work was not consistent and so we have the overpayment. Which I was only informed of in 2010 when I claimed JSA.. Since then I have been a student, and unemployed.. I have not consistently claimed JSA and when I didn't I get the letters from DCA's and their solicitors.. with all kinds of threats of CCJ's, bailiffs, and Attachment Earnings Orders.. I am now working.. and I am now getting these letters AGAIN! I am on a low wage, and living with my parents (both pensioners) I pay them for my keep.. and don't have much over.. so paying a DCA in full is out of the question. I have no assets, but do not want the DCA's hassling my parents.. by phoning them on their private phone, or turning up at their address when I am working. I have been told that DWP's overpayments are not SB (Statue Barred) and they will take money when you next claim any government benefit.. I have also heard that Attachment Earning Orders are possible.. Can you please advise.. as I think I need to send a letter to the DCA and their solicitor.. and can I pay back this money to the DWP directly on weekly/monthly basis from what I can afford.. say 100 per month?

fatbelly

There's lots of useful info on this thread. If you want to make arrangements to repay, then I think the dwp will want you to do this through their collector. Hopefully 100 per month gets this out of the way in a reasonable time.

If you don't then at some point if the dwp get their act together and you are working they will apply for a DEA, which sounds like they are still ironing out problems on. My earlier link links up with a protected site but if you google 'Direct Earnings Attachments: Who knew?' it gets around this somehow! I notice from the one comment there that the dwp are now trialling these but being particularly unhelpful to employers and lack of information means that these overpayments will in practice be overpaid in return.

It is also disappointing that they or their agents are still misrepresenting the law in relation to statute barred debt, are ignoring OFT guidance, and also threatening a ccj when one is not needed to do a Direct Earnings Attachment.

busterkeye

Cant you tell them you dont know where the payments went to (bills, rent/mortgage, clothing ) and when you find out where it went youll gladly pay it back?

I say this because 20 years ago I had a crisis load for £120ish and I was paying it off by deduction from my dole money, a couple of months went by and I got a job I told the dole centre and set up a DD and pay £20 a week to pay it off, I only owed about £60 . a few months later i noticed that i was still paying the DD so i stopped the payments and went in to the dole centre to get my money back and after months of meetings and a very long story cut short I was told that they dont know what department it went to so they cant pay me back until they find out where it went pmsl im still waiting for the phone call lol

i know this is of no help but it makes me laugh when companies/government are quick to take back but not to pay