Tax credit overpayment now referred to Equita

Nicky321

A relative of mine received a letter in August 2013 notifying him of an overpayment of £3577.34. He rang Tax credits and because this overpayment had been made to himself and an ex partner, Tax credits said they would recover 50% from each of them. He received a letter saying confirming the payment plan agreed and that this would be recovered in 35 monthly payments of £49.68 starting on 20/09/2013 and a final payment of £49.86 20/08/2016. He received a DD mandate for the amount to be collected from his bank. Today he has received a letter from Equita, saying "Repeated efforts to resolve this matter with you have been made without success. Our client has issued strict instructions to recover the full balance of £3577.34 and are disappointed to note you have not been n touch."

He rang HMRC and they said he needed to contact Equita. He tried to contact Equita but there is no answer.

Where does he stand? obviously he is not disputing the fact that he owes £1788.66, but he has never received any correspondence saying that they had been unable to collect the installments, from either HMRC or his Bank.

What should he do?
TIA

Nicky321

No he has never received any correspondence to say the money hasn't been collected either, eg letter from bank to say returned DD or letter from HMRC to say they had been unable to collect the installment. Also as far as he is aware, he doubts his ex would have made any payments towards her half of the debt.

mountainofdebt

But has any money actually left his bank account?

Also has he kept all correspondence saying that he only owes half of the debt?

Nicky321

He hasn't checked his bank, although I have advised this, also he has the letter and DD mandate stating he is only liable for 50% of the outstanding debt.

Nicky321

blondebubbles wrote: »

that's why a further letter has been issued.

No further letter from HMRC has been issued, the debt has been transferred to Equita.

The letters he has are the "Step 1 Notification of overpayment – TC610" then straight to a "Step 5 Debt Management Telephone Centre (DMTC) will attempt telephone contact (although no telephone contact has been made just a DMTC letter
" with the looks of it.

antonic

From September 2014 ALL first contact the public will have with regards to Tax Credit debts, will be with debt collection agencies like Equita.

HMRC will only deal with the complex cases, so if your having problems now, I`m sure it will get worse after September.

This announcement was made during the recent autumn statement.

paulofessex

When you do contact Equita remember they can only request to have a copy of your incomings and outgoings and not demand it. As l understand it only a court can demand it.

I would suggest if your relative does have to deal with them in relation to ongoing payments it would be best NOT to make a payment via card as this may turn into a re-occurring payment method which your relative may have issues with.
I would suggest they either send a cheque payment monthly or if possible set up a standing order payment of Equita will provide the relevant bank details

Voice_of_the_people

I too have had such a letter from Equita, although our case is complex and we have appealed directly to the HMRC.
I have told Equita that their method of handling the issue has been inept and that I am complaining the the HMRC about their issuing letters with false claims. I am taking a strong line with them.
It appears that they simply bang off the same letter to every person on their books, irrespective of the individual circumstances of the case.
The HMRC have instructed Equita to desist from contacting us about the alleged overpayment until such time as the issue is finally laid to rest; it appears that Equita have decided to ignore such instructions. Nice work if you can get it!

teamonster

Am I missing something here? Can someone explain to me how it is acceptable for a government agency like HMRC - who have, through their own ineptitude, in many cases, overpaid tax credits to many thousands of people - to sell their debts to bully-boy debt collections thugs like Equita? I know banks and mortgage lenders do this as a matter of course - a sort of usury with menace - but why a government agency who's remit is surely to help the population rather than threaten them?

Icequeen99

teamonster wrote: »

Am I missing something here? Can someone explain to me how it is acceptable for a government agency like HMRC - who have, through their own ineptitude, in many cases, overpaid tax credits to many thousands of people - to sell their debts to bully-boy debt collections thugs like Equita? I know banks and mortgage lenders do this as a matter of course - a sort of usury with menace - but why a government agency who's remit is surely to help the population rather than threaten them?

They haven't sold the debts to those companies, they are acting on behalf of HMRC as a recovery agent. It remains HMRC's debt, so not the same as those companies who actually sold the debt on.

IQ