CSA taken payment in error. Now overdrawn with impending bank charges.

CSAworkerx

Ok, phone us, When you speak to a caseworker ask firstly can they see payments have been taken, if they can, ask them to explain why these were taken, you will be eligble for a refund if we've made a genuine mistake, but you are asking people here why and unless im looking at your case i cannot give you the right answers.

ambc

CSAworkerx wrote: »

Ok, phone us, When you speak to a caseworker ask firstly can they see payments have been taken, if they can, ask them to explain why these were taken, you will be eligble for a refund if we've made a genuine mistake, but you are asking people here why and unless im looking at your case i cannot give you the right answers.

That's great, thanks. I'll be phoning first thing tomorrow morning.

I'm not really asking why the mistake has been made. Rather I'm just mainly giving some background info so I can get some advice on how to approach the CSA about it in the most effective way, as my experience with them so far hasn't been brilliant. )

And, as I said, it's the bank/CRF thing that's worrying me most!

ambc

Also, I've been digging out the letters and emails, so now have some actual dates.

Both myself and my ex wife called the CSA on the 7th November 2013 to close our cases and we both stipulated that no payments should be taken at all, including any arrears.

My calculation then arrived and was dated 8th November 2013.

In the payment table, the first payment which was due on 2nd December included an amount for arrears which were built up in the period 15th October to 25th November.

Shortly afterwards, as a result of the phone call on the 7th, I received a letter dated 11th November 2013 that stated my liability for child maintenance ended on 5th November 2013, and that "regular payments of child maintenance no longer need to be made".

This suggested that any 'arrears' period (if any) should therefore actually only have been between 15th October and 5th November, which is a LOT shorter than the original arrears period of 15th October to 25th November.

However, the payment taken unexpectedly on the 2nd December was for the original period of the arrears, PLUS a full month's payment on top of those arrears, despite my liability ending on the 5th November.

Surely, a mistake has been made here, and that the payment should not have been taken?

Either way, I guess I'll find out how this will be dealt with tomorrow.

Thanks again.

CSAworkerx

Very strange, the letters you have are as follows, 8th nov is your MC letter, a system issued one when we finished an assessment after its been checked.

the 11th November letter is the closure letter, again system issued once we close a case.

All-tho thinking about it, 8th nov letter has a sceduele on it, its actually a task 9 letter, meaning we would have needed you on the phone to run it, Were not allowed to simply run a direct debit without you on the phone, even if you sent the mandate back, we have to have you on the phone agreeing to the scheduled before we can finish your case, if you did not have this phonecall its defiantly an error, and the payments taken in error.

when you speak to us tomorrow, you NEED to mention the fact you were never contacted during the task 9 stage, this wont mean anything to you per say, but any caseworker will know that you cannot run a direct debit without your consent, What might have happend, and ive actually seen it in the past, is we attempted 3 phonecalls, the standard on any sceduele call, and afterwards ran it not realizing its a direct debit ( instead of a DEO ), not that common, but i have personally seen it.

ambc

Hi - thanks for that. I'll mention that when I call.

Bit of an update - my ex wife has agreed to refund me the payment directly tomorrow as she has since received it, so I don't need a refund from the CSA now which I guess will save everyone quite a lot of hassle.

I'm still going to call them first thing tomorrow though, as I could do with some kind of acknowledgement (ideally as a letter) that there has been an error, whether it was a direct debit not being cancelled or something else.

This will help me reason with the bank, and hopefully I can get the charges waived and no negative entry on my CRF.

You're right though, I definitely didn't agree to the Direct Debit, as that calculation letter from the 8th Nov that showed how much I was supposed to pay was dated AFTER the phone call that actually closed the case.

So yes, to me it also seems a little strange (and all a bit complicated!).

Appreciate you helping out.

CSAworkerx

Glad shes agreeing to it, Its only right. As for a letter, Ive never seen one apologizing, but personally feel you deserve this, and maybe even compensation.