case ended 3 years ago

jarhead66

I have been on CSA1 for the last 14 yrs so,
last week I contacted the CSA by both email and phone asking for a child benefit check for my son who i thought may have started uni, I was contacted last Thursday by the CSA telling me that my case is now closed as from October 14th 2011, and that they would send a letter out confirming this, also that the finance dept would be in contact about refunding my over payments. I do know that I don't owe any arrears as I was refunded £168 in August 2014 for over payments from last July when I moved house and was told that my account was up to date. Does anyone know what will happen next? will i get the full amount back which amounts to well over £12000, I do have all my pay slips and work are going to give me a print out of my wages showing CSA payments for the last 3 years, I have been advised that when the CSA phone me not to agree to anything over the phone but to ask for a letter with a full break down of my over payments, My work place also charged me £1 admin fee for my CSA payments to be taken out, so will i get this back? what about the interest on the money i have over paid?
I have had no contact with my kids for 13 yrs now so would of had no idea what my son was up to after he left school, I feel like I have been a victim of fraud so will my Ex get taken to court over all this? Back in 2010 when the CSA went benefit disrecard I found out that my ex went out and bought a horse so will she have to sell this to pay her debt off just as they make the NRP sell their assets? I do wonder if she will be fined the £1000 that they threaten the NRP with for giving false information? One more thing when I moved house last year my Ex asked for a reassement as she said that my G/F was living with me, which she was not, so why did she not tell them then that she was not claiming child benefit for my son?

shoe*diva79

Something suspicious about this. I find it hard to believe that she could get away with it for 3 years. Mostly because when the child turns 16 you have to complete quite a comprehensive form from the CB office in which you have to include contact details of the college etc that they are attending and CB can (and do! contact the colleges.

I dont know what would happen if it is true, but I would be wary, sounds to good to be true.

jarhead66

Maybe that's why she waited until October, fiiled the forms out in the sept knowing fine well that the child benefit would stop in the oct, so that as far as the CSA where concerned my Ex was still claiming, My ex is very money obssesed. I got the letter yesterday confirming that my case finished Oct 14th 2011

Cally_Smart

They just trust the pwc to be telling the truth about the Ch/ben.....its beyond belief ...we found the same thing ......We asked for facts from the college to be looked at but CSA just not interested.....

shoe*diva79

Have you asked for CB checks in the last 3 years? If so, what was the outcome?

Cally_Smart

The ongoing case finished last Sept but still paying so called arrears while waiting for them to find out !

jarhead66

The CSA told me on the phone last Monday that it would take 4-5 weeks for a child benefit check, yet they got back to me on the Thursday to say that my case was closed, I have been told by someone who works for child benefit that it can be checked in a matter of minutes as alot of gov bodies have access to the child benefit records,, try what I did email them requesting a benefit check then phone them straight away asking for a benefit check, and tell them that you have already emailed them aswell. I used the CMS website for the email and phone numbers!! It worked for me :beer::j:j:j:j:j:T

13Kent

I can believe it, we had to continue to pay when the child in question wasn't even living in the mother's house, the CSA often seem to take the PWC's word for things even in the face of evidence to disprove it. We also overpaid for a while as the PWC did not inform the CSA that she was no longer getting Child Benefit for that child. Thankfully it wasn't 3 years, more like 3 months, but they didn't return the money to us in a lump sum, but we had to be proactive and ask for a benefits check before the case was reassessed. Had we not done so in our ignorance we could still be paying for that child.

Just a word of caution, the money we'd overpaid was given back in dribs and drabs over a few months so that the PWC got used to the lower amount. Apparently it wasn't fair to the PWC to take it back as a lump sum as it may have caused her financial hardship - regardless of the fact that she wasn't entitled to that money in the first place!

I hope that isn't the case for you, and I hope you get repaid the full amount asap.

Sadly another incident of the unfair system weighted in favour of the PWC, but glad you've managed to sort it out.

jarhead66

thanks for your reply. I was under the impression that i would get the full amount back in one lump sum and that the CSA would start a repayment plan for my Ex,, How long did you have to wait for them to get back to you from when they informed you of case closure?
Do you think it would be worth getting my MP involved if the CSA try and pay back drips and drabs or try and refund me less than I have paid over? I do feel that I have been a victim of fraud as my ex knew exactly what she was doing by not informing the CSA about the child benefit,

13Kent

When we were informed that we'd overpaid the finance dept got back to us amazingly quickly to tell us the figures by phone followed by a letter. I don't ever remember the CSA acting so speedily. The money we had overpaid was repaid over about 4 or 5 months by us paying a lower monthly amount as the case hasn't closed, there is still another dependent child.

Have sent you pm

jarhead66

thanks for your 13kent. I phoned the CSA fiance dept last night and spoke to a male member of staff, he was very polite on the phone, he got my details up and although my case has been closed but the DEO for my wages has not been cancelled, which he did for me. I was also informed that that he would pass my case onto someone else to process my refund and that they had a 3 month back log
While I was on the phone I also asked for an areas check as I had a refund in August he confirmed that their was no areas on the case, and that i will get a full refund back, but he did say that the normal refunds are for 3-4 months not 3 years
One more thing I asked if my Ex will have to repay any of the money, I was told she will be asked but may not have to pay it back, which I find unreal as she has committed fraud by claiming child support from a govement body.