Social fund loan from 1999

mastic

Could someone please give me some advice, I took out a social fund loan for £892 in January 1999, the money was being paid back out of our benefits so when we came off benefits we thought it was paid off. I then got a letter it must have been around about the year 2003 saying I still owed them money from this social fund loan, I contacted them and set up a direct debit of £12 per month and I was paying it for a long time, and then my direct debit stopped so I was under the impression I had paid the debt off because I didn't cancel the direct debit. I have now received a letter saying I still owe them £350 9 years down the line, I have spoke to the social fund section and they said they don't know why it has took them so long to contact me but I still owe the money, I have also spoke to my bank and they can only go back 6 years for bank statements so I can't even get them, but the bank did say I should have been notified when the social cancelled my direct debit. I just don't know who to go to for advice could someone please help me with some advice.

bestpud

Have you asked DWP to send you all the relevant details to probe you owe the debt?

They should have records of what has been paid and when.

poppasmurf_bewdley

The DWP cannot have cancelled your Direct Debit. Only you can do that.

All the DWP can have done is stop requesting payments via the DD.

You seem to have done a lot of presuming over this matter. You need to take some action as has been suggested above.

mastic

When I spoke to them yesterday I said I had no paper work from 15 years ago and they said neither did they, all they say is a last payment was paid on 27th june 2005, they said they don't know who cancelled payments and why and the debt must have just been lying dormant for 9 years.

help4help2013

send them a subject access request' they will then send you all the information they have on you I.E benefit claims, social loans ect ect

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-request-for-personal-information

mastic

I have asked for all the paper work and I am waiting for them to send it out to me. When I rang debt recovery they couldn't even tell me what payments I had made they just had a amount and no other details.

help4help2013

mastic wrote: »

I have asked for all the paper work and I am waiting for them to send it out to me. When I rang debt recovery they couldn't even tell me what payments I had made they just had a amount and no other details.

that's the DWP for you im afraid

pmlindyloo

£892 is a large sum of money.

I know you have no records but could you work out approximately if you owe this money?

So how many years you were on benefits and about how much you were having deducted and for how long you were paying £12 a month (that's only £144 a year so how many years?)

Social fund payments always have to be repaid and there is no time limit that is attached to them.

Having said that they have to prove that you owe them the amount they are asking for.

Wait until they send you the information about the payments you have made. If they make sense then pay up or ask for a repayment plan.

If they can't prove that you owe the money then they may decide to write it off.

mastic

They say I owe £350, I was paying it out of my benefits and when we got into work we thought it was paid off because they didn't get in touch till 2003, which is when I set the direct debit up but when they stopped collecting payment I thought once again it was paid until they contacted me this week 9 years later.

tomtontom

Read pmlindyloo's post and do some basic maths. If you have a vague idea of how much you were paying you should be able to estimate how much is owed.

missapril75

So £892 borrowed.
There's£350 still unpaid.
You remember paying £12 a month "for a long time"

Let's say a year. £144.


So that's £350 + £144 = £499 out of £892.

Less than half paid off at the time you thought it all paid off.