Salary Overpayment Repayment

Annisele

I suspect your former employer has one of two issues:

• It doesn't believe that you can only afford to pay £1 a month; or
• It's upset that you've paid your other creditors ahead of it.

If the real problem is the first one, and you genuinely can't afford to pay more than £1 a month, then I think you should send them full details of your income and expenditure to explain why not.

If the latter (which I think is likely given that you've paid £40k of other debt in the period) then it might be worth paying less to somebody else this month.

millicent74

Hi whilst I understand your point that you have not defaulted on your repayment plan with them I do also see it from their point of view as the plan was set up when, you say, you were not employed.

Why not try to pay, say, an additional £5 as a when you have it so that you can clear this because whilst its on your credit report, it does not look good for you in the long term.

Having said that, if it is really the case that you cannot afford to pay more, do not let them try to bully you into committing to a plan that you cannot maintain. It serves no purpose and will cause you additional stress. Send them your up to date expenditure sheet of outgoings and say you will continue to maintain the plan as previously but will let them now if your circumstances change.

Even if they were to take you to court and the judgment increased what you owe them, they cannot make you pay what you cannot afford so would probably still have to accept £1/month in any case.

good luck

ClareH1963

The reason I have been able to clear so much debt is that I surrendered my endowment policy, which leaves me with no vehicle to repay my mortgage and because I have sold everything of value I had in order to repay creditors. Until the beginning of this year I was receiving tax credits which meant that I was able to manage financially. However, without this income, I am really struggling to pay bills and food to the extent that I have very little food at home at the moment and £20 spare for food until payday at the end of the month. When I say I am struggling, I mean I am struggling! I have a son to feed and I go without a proper meal sometimes in order to see that he is fed! I have no wish to get back into a situation where debt is increasing and am doing my best - so for those of you who think my repayment is ridiculous - if a person really doesn't have more than a pound per month to pay, it is ridiculous to expect them to find £48 immediately! It might as well be £5000 for the difficulty I have in finding it. My house is on the market so that I can try to find somewhere cheaper to live and clear my remaining debts, so please don't think that I am not doing everything I can to get my financial situation sorted, because I am!

I made the post as I thought people would answer my question, not criticise. For those of you who have offered practical advice - thank you!

Does anybody know the answer to my original question, which is can they demand immediate repayment when I have never defaulted on the agreed repayment terms and can they add interest to it dating back to the date of the overpayment?

I will try contacting them again with full details of my income and expenditure, but their attitude so far has not been one of negotiation!

Contacted them with full details - Response received is pay or will take to court!

LandyAndy

If they do take you to court then they can, but may not, claim interest on the £48 going back to 2008 at the statutory rate of, currently, 8.5% pa. But they will certainly add their court fee to the debt. This would be £35.


But, TBH, I think they are bluffing. You have an agreement with the County Council at the time an d I think a court would uphold that. Clearly it is a PITA for them to administer it for another 4 years and they would like it settled for ease on their part. I think a judge would take a dim view of them suing you and I imagine they know that.

specialboy

The agreement to pay was when you were unempled, surely now you are working you can afford to quadruple your payments to £1 a week.

stevemLS

Have to say I think they are correct to say it is entirely unreasonable to expect to be given 10 years to repay £115.

Effectively the law says that forbearance on collecting a debt at the proper right does not waive your rights ot seek it in the future, particularly where the forebearance is given on the basis of the debtors financial situation and that situation has now improved.

I think the interest rate on judgment debt is 8%, not 8.5%.

jobbingmusician

I think you have ALL missed the point, though. Yes, I agree that 10 years is a ridiculously long time to pay back £115, BUT THEY AGREED TO IT. The OP's question is

As they agreed to it, and I have never defaulted, can they now demand immediate repayment?

The answer to that would depend on what was written in the original agreement. If, as I suspect, nothing was written down, then I would guess - and it is a guess - that they can. If the loan agreement was in writing with terms and conditions, then only the T & C can answer the question.

However, leaping from an over-generous agreement to demanding full repayment is also ridiculous. The REALLY stupid thing is that if your circumstances are as dire as you describe, it is entirely plausible that a debt recovery company would end up with an agreement to pay ..... £1 a month. But of course the Council would have sold the debt on.

One for the CAB, maybe? I will have a think but am scratching my head, here.

Go to the DFW board and read a few threads - the statement of account thing will become clear. Sorry, out of time now, running to a meeting.

Undervalued

jobbingmusician wrote: »

I think you have ALL missed the point, though. Yes, I agree that 10 years is a ridiculously long time to pay back £115, BUT THEY AGREED TO IT. The OP's question is

As they agreed to it, and I have never defaulted, can they now demand immediate repayment?

The answer to that would depend on what was written in the original agreement. If, as I suspect, nothing was written down, then I would guess - and it is a guess - that they can. If the loan agreement was in writing with terms and conditions, then only the T & C can answer the question.

I completely agree with your first paragraph.

The fact that the OP has been paying the agreed amount each month (and that they have been accepting it) for five or six years (!!!) would seem to me to be proof enough of the agreement.

So, unless they can produce evidence that it was agreed that the monthly amount was subject to review I think the OP can dig her heels in and tell them to stick to the agreement.

However, if you do this then DO IT IN WRITING, keep a copy and make sure you keep proof of payments (bank statements etc).

kazzah60

I am sure that IF this matter went to court the Op could argue that her employers are NOT going to be financially worse off if she is unable to repay the £48 debt immediately

whilst it is easy to berate the OP - let's think about the employers
they are NOT going to be bankrupted by the loss of £48 and I am sure it is costing them MORE than that to chase this amount

perhaps if the OP agrees to go to court and let the judge adjudicate she can prove that currently she is unable to afford more and is in fact complying with the mutually agreed payment schedule - then hopefully the Judge would award costs against her employer and make them realise just how silly they are being.
I am ALL for people paying their debts - but really?

Undervalued

kazzah60 wrote: »

I am ALL for people paying their debts - but really?

But she is paying them in the manner they agreed!

OK, they were pretty stupid to ever agree to such a long timescale but it seems they did. She appears to have over five years of payments to confirm this.

I would be reasonably sure a judge would tell them where to shove it!