The single track road - life on a different path

MeandO

Geez, it's no wonder they manage to stuff up the tax credits so frequently - I just phoned them to give them details of my estimated income for this year so they don't overpay me and I had to deal with the rudest, most incompetent and snappy woman ever!:mad:

She kept interrupting me mid-sentence and actually started to get stroppy with me when I was trying to explain she was talking about the wrong tax year!!!!

So, that is done. We'll see how this goes, but I have no confidence they're going to get it right. :mad:
It does mean my tax credits will drop to around £183 a month instead of £514 though! Ah it was good for the month or two it lasted lol! :rotfl:

liltdiddylilt

Hey it allowed you that big bump in your loan already so cheers to that!! If you are genuinely concerned, wait for the award notice to come through showing your changes for this year... and then ring them back to discuss it even if it looks right. Just talk them through it and see if they get the idea I've had some really lovely people and some horrible ones over the years! But when I finally did owe them a back payment relating to when Him was living here, they offered to let me only pay half and they would chase him down at his mums :rotfl: and then when I explained that the money was in my household pot not his he still said they would chase him :rotfl: and then when I offered to pay it back over 4 months at £63 a month to get it cleared quickly he told me the minimum he could accept was £7 a month over 36 months and was I sure I didn't want to do that!! I did it over 4 months, then got bored after Christmas was out of the way and I messed up a DD accidentally, so rang and paid off the remainder. They were in shock :rotfl:

Anyway.. the point is, they won't just demand it all back instantly. They look at circumstances etc etc. They aren't allowed to put you in financial hardship to recover money that was their error after you gave them all of the correct information in a timely fashion OK? So don't worry!

As for the ridiculous way they work it out in terms of what you earn vs what you don't.. if I went back to work full time, I would earn less BEFORE tax than I do 3 days per week with all the tax credits, housing benefit etc they throw at me. Seems the perfect way to be is a single mum, working 16-24 hours per week, with a child in childcare, on less than £16,610 from the actual job... I ended up £4k better off working 2 days less. You don't get taxed on tax credits.. or NI costs... Ridiculous system.

Am PMSL at your ironing board shelf. My ironing board is a hand me down from my mum that is genuinely older than I am. I am never paying for something I detest so much. My last 2 irons were also gifts from my daddy :rotfl:

I can't say a bad word about dfs to be honest with you. They have been fab. Both my sofas were incredible over the years. I was distraught to leave my last sofa with my ex. Less so when he kicked a hole in the side of the armchair just before I left :rotfl: then all excited to buy my new one which is an ENORMOUS corner sofa with a pouffe attached... thank goodness for my giant living room

Snugs! xx

MeandO

oooh oooh, I'll reply properly later, but *EXCITED*

I've ordered two sofas and... a stripey pouffe! :D:D:D

The things that makes us happy eh....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

MeandO

Ooh, I just realised my avatar has disappeared

<<<<<<<< where've I gone?!? Ok, own up, who stole me away???

Levi-

i'm so confused.
another letter from tax credits awaits me today too.. seems the letter i had the other day relates to 2013-2014 and this one relates to 2014-2015.. i have absolutely no clue where they get their figures and i need to sit down and look at things properly but what is the deal with this: if you work less hours, do you get less tax credits? it says on my form.. if your salary has gone down, let us know, as you may get more tax credits.. i dont understand anything... liltyyy.. please adopt meandO.. we are helpless

greyfox

Levi. Hope my "PM" has explained the TC stuff (in principle, anyway).

MeandO

Levi- wrote: »

i'm so confused.
another letter from tax credits awaits me today too.. seems the letter i had the other day relates to 2013-2014 and this one relates to 2014-2015.. i have absolutely no clue where they get their figures and i need to sit down and look at things properly but what is the deal with this: if you work less hours, do you get less tax credits? it says on my form.. if your salary has gone down, let us know, as you may get more tax credits.. i dont understand anything... liltyyy.. please adopt meandO.. we are helpless

I'm with ya honey. I'm not a fan and I've spent most of today worrying - if only I didn't need the money then I wouldn't bother, the hassle and stress of it all is just ridiculous.

When I called today to give them my earnings for last year which had gone up massively, she got all rude and said she couldn't take last year's earning but wanted this year's predicted earnings. If they based that £900 backpay in the 2013/14 earnings I gave them then I'm in the poop as my salary doubled in 2014/15 as I was full time again, but they asked me for the 2013/14 earnings in the first place. Oh I just don't know

Liiiiiiilllllllttttyyyyyy!

Xx

Levi-

Me too regarding what they asked me for which is also not relevant to the status quo. LILTYYY!!greyfoxxxx!!!!.... can you help Me&O as well? (greyfox helped me understand the hoursy thing at least!) x

greyfox

I'm OK on the "big picture, general principles" stuff (was working on another Benefit Policy area when Tax Credits were being developed) but not on the day-to-day admin stuff. It might be better if you post on the Benefits & Tax Credits forum - there are people on there who should be able to explain/help.

MeandO

Thanks Greyfox, I think I'll see what they send me in the mail next and go from there. *sigh*.