Salary Overpayment Repayment

ClareH1963

Hi Dec 2008 my former employer overpaid me by approximately £115. As I was unemployed, I could not pay it back in full and reached an agreement to repay £1/month until the debt was cleared. Now they are demanding immediate repayment of the balance (approx £48) or they will charge me interest back to 2008 if I continue with the current repayments. I have never been late or defaulted on payments. I have tried communicating with them as I am still unable to clear this in one payment. My son and I would have to go without food for a week if I were to repay. Their response was:
The prior arrangement you had made with XXXX County Council is no longer acceptable within the terms of repayment of Local Government Shared Services. LGSS do not allow customers to repay a debt of £115.26 over nearly 10 years.
Please make arrangements to clear the balance in full and I will send you a receipt to confirm this account is clear.
If you are unable to pay this balance then this debt will be referred to LGSS's representatives for further recovery action.
Can they do this as it was never mentioned that this could be a possibility when the repayment agreement was made and I have always paid on time.
Thanks

fed_up_and_stressed

Have you contacted them to see if you can come to a mutually acceptable payment arrangement? Offer to do an income /outgoings assessment with them to show why you are unable to increase your offer.

ClareH1963

Hi Thanks for the reply. I have tried to discuss a mutually acceptable repayment plan, but they are insisting on the whole balance or they will go to court and charge interest. I just don't think that this is reasonable as the original agreement was quite clear and I have not deviated from it.

tomtontom

You can see their point, £1 a month is a ridiculously low amount.

Is there a reason why you have not worked for five years - are you or your son disabled? Could you make a higher repayment, for instance £10 a week? What income do you have?

ClareH1963

I have worked and am working now, but have no disposable income - I just manage to make ends meet every month!

tomtontom

ClareH1963 wrote: »

I have worked and am working now, but have no disposable income - I just manage to make ends meet every month!

If you post a statement of affairs on the Debtfree Wannabe board they'll be able to help you better manage your income. Is there nothing you can put on ebay to raise a small amount?

If this goes to small claims you risk the possibility of fees being added to your claim - you could potentially end up paying double or more.

whitewing

Could you not cut done on your food bill and pay them £5 a week until it is cleared?

ClareH1963

Believe me I have sold everything I can think of on EBay just to get by over recent years. My ex left me with £40k debt, the majority of which I have cleared. I am left with this, one credit card debt of about £3000 and a student loan which is deducted from my salary. I have worked hard to clear my debts as it is the right thing to do and am proud that I have reduced it so much. I would love to be in a position to clear the remaining ones immediately, but can't and am doing what I can to clear them as quickly as possible. I just do not think it is reasonable to suddenly demand immediate payment when I have never been late with repaying and the possibility of an out of the blue demand for the balance and the addition of interest charges was never specified at the time of the repayment agreement.

ClareH1963

Whitewing - I cannot cut anything back any further - I am not extravagant in the least! I have gone without year after year to clear debts and just do not think that they have the right to suddenly change things when I have always paid on time. I refuse to submit to the temptation to take out a payday loan as it will cost me more than I can afford to even take it out for one month. I cannot think of anything I can do to cut back further or to raise the money in one payment and really don't think it is right that they should be able to do this.

ClareH1963

How do I post a statement of affairs on the Debtfree Wannabe board please?

amiehall

If you have earned enough to clear nearly £40k of debt, there is no way I can see that you don't have more than £1 a month to put towards this debt. Surely now the other debts are clear, the substantial minimum payment amounts are now available to pay towards something else....

You don't seem to understand why the council wouldn't want to wait a further 4 years to recover £50. Can you not see that the situation is absurd particularly if you're working? You could find more than £1 a month on the pavement if you were looking....