Urgent help - very worried

Becles

I'm wondering if anyone can make any sense of this, as we're really worried. I'll post a brief summary of the letters recieved and the action taken so far:

My husband was seeing a woman who dumped him when she discovered she was pregnant. He has a daughter out there somewhere, but he has no idea where she is and has never even seen her as the mother refused him permission to see her. She will be 10 years old now.

He met me and moved into my house in Nov 2005, and has since been awarded parental responsibility for my two children from my previous marriage. We also have a daughter together who was born in May 07.

03/03/06

Letter said that all his arrears had been paid off and he now had to pay £21.59 a week. He adjusted his standing order to pay this weekly.

10/03/06

A letter came saying the claim had ended on 15/04/04.

After telephoning they said the child had moved abroad with the mother. They said nothing further was payable, so the case would be closed.

12/09/06

2 letters arrived:

Letter 1 claimed he owes £4414.62 which needed paying straight away.
Letter 2 claimed he owes £8.04 which needed paying straight away.

He telephoned and they said the letters were sent out in error and he owes nothing.

15/09/06

Another letter says there are still arrears outstanding but no amount is given. It asks for £5.80 a week to be paid till the arrears are cleared.

He telephoned and again was told this was an error and to ignore it.

23/07/07

Letter recieved today says he owes £5286.26 which is payable within the next 5 days otherwise legal action through the courts will be taken.

He telephoned and a very rude ignorant man has told him we must pay this within 5 days or they will start legal action. He refused to tell us how they got that figure, or what it relates to.

Please advise what we should do next?

We haven't got £5286.26 to pay them. At the moment I'm not working and claiming Maternity Allowance, and the CSA are not interested in the 3 children my husband is responsible for here.

Any help appreciated as we're sick with worry

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

I would telephone them again at a different time and hopefully get someone else to speak to I can only imagine that the case is with the DCA team which refer the case to external services to obtain the money as the usual warning letter says you owe £xx.xx now however if you cannot pay this amount in full then we can arrange for you to pay it in installments (or words to this effect)

The person you should speak to should be able to tell you where your arrears are from if the person refuses as before ask to speak to a supervisor, or if they cannot demand to speak someone who can as you firmly believe that you owe no arrears ~ you can also ask them for an account breakdown which will show all the charges and all payments on his account.

The computer system is notorious in carrying on charging for regular maintenance although a case is closed. ( especially when the cases are shifted from CSCS to CS2) That is why you need to check where the arrears have come from. Also the letters you have been getting regarding the arrears have also been increasing which would suggest that it has carried on charging.

You say that you were not told until 10/03/06 that the case was closed back to 15/04/04 .'. if your partner had been up to date with his payments up to that point surely he would be due a refund.

Do you have copies of all your letters, as I suggest that you should also put a complaint in as you were told you had no arrears and then a large bill, do this via email on their website and then send your letters recorded delivery to their customer services department.

Sorry i cannot give you any answers but they are open until 8pm and are open on Saturdays, I think that there is even overtime on Monday so they should be open then ( and hopefully that very helpful man will not be working) so get back on to them asap.

:A

elite_2

Can you write to them (enclosing copies of the letters they have sent) and asking them to clarify if there is anything to pay as you are receiving letters saying there is, but some advisors are telling you no... Also state that as you are confused by them stating claim was finished and then demanding money you would like a breakdown of the charge.

Would be much better if you could get them to confirm in writing (not by a computer) that there is no amount due.

Lil2002

The problem is as Amelia's Mummy pointed out, that it sounds like the case has continued charging after it should have been closed.
I would call again and ask
1)Is the case 'showing' as open or closed on the system. If the person who was closing the case didn't complete all the work, the case could still be showing as open, and still charging money, causing the arrears to mount

2)If they answer 'open' thats half the battle. If you remember when you received your letter, ask them to look at the contact log, and whether there is a closure letter around those dates, get the exact system date it was sent. They can see the letter themselves if it's available, through the system.

3)If the case is showing as closed, (unlikely) then ask for a complete account breakdown. It's your right. It will show where any arrears have accrued from.

4)Ask who is chasing the debt. Is it debt management, or debt enforcement? If it is the debt collection team, the case is been prepped to send to outside teams, and you need to get that stopped. They are probably working off a scan, and haven't even looked into the circumstances of the case, just at the outstanding debt.

5)And finally - get them to check the contact log for the name of the person you spoke to last time, who would not give you any info. If you called on the 0845 number, the call is logged through the system, and their name will be beside the call.

When you have all that info, write a letter of complaint, with a heading of complaint. (The word has got to be used). Bringing in the big guns would be to send it to the Chief Exec, or your MP. Either should get you a faster response.

I hope thats helpful.

Becles

Thanks ever so much for your help.

There were some arrears initially, due to a change in income that took ages to work through the system. He still kept paying the initial amount though, so we don't think the arrears can have been that big, which is why he believed they were paid off when the letter came in March 06.

We also thought he must have overpaid beween April 04 when the claim officially ended and March 06 when the claim letter came, and he continued to pay during this time.

Hubby did get the name of the rude person he spoke to this evening and will be putting in a complaint about him. Hubby came off the phone absolutely wound up and furious by this idiot. Even if we do owe money, he should have been treated with some respect, and not as if he were something the man had trodden in :mad:

The rude person informed hubby that he cannot have an account breakdown until he pays the £5286.26. If we knew he owed that much we'd have no problem paying. However we don't know why he owes it, and we can't get hold of it within 5 days. The man wanted a credit card number there and then, and when hubby said he couldn't pay it, the man said "well face the consequences then" in a nasty tone.

Frankie12_2

You are well within your rights to ask for an account breakdown, this is something they can print off quite easily, it may mean you have to request this in writing ( as with everything !)

As for threatening legal action, they need to supply you with details in the first instance.

Do not let them frighten and bully you, put everything in writing along with copies of all letters received and send it recorded delivery so they cannot use the good old excuse of......" we have not received anything from you" trick.

Stay strong and try not to let them grind you down, patience is a virtue !!!!

Good Luck and remember there are many thousands of people having to deal with this sh***y organisation......you are not alone !!!!

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

I think it is absoloutly ludicrous that the member of staff said you cannot have an account breakdown, you can ask for one as you are querying your arrears unless someone can give you a satisfactory explaination as to where they come from.

However it is not just a matter of printing one off (oh how much life would be easier if they had thought about this when designing computer systems!!) a member of the accounts team needs to work out all the charges for the whole case from saatrt to closure and all payments received and then type it up!!

All calls should be recorded so when you make your complaint it should be easy enough for them to sort out.

I would suggest that you get the ball rolling by contacting them again as the letter you have received possibly means that your debt may be going to be passed to an external Agency , not sure if that is the case or whether it is just with the enforcement team.

As I have suggested try contacting them at a different time as the wonderful member of staff may not be working then or try the weekend.

:A

Mr_Green_Genes

Becles wrote: »

The rude person informed hubby that he cannot have an account breakdown until he pays the £5286.26. If we knew he owed that much we'd have no problem paying. However we don't know why he owes it, and we can't get hold of it within 5 days. The man wanted a credit card number there and then, and when hubby said he couldn't pay it, the man said "well face the consequences then" in a nasty tone.

What would be wonderful would be for one of the CSA defenders on here to come and try to justify this one. However, it'll never happen, they will ignore it completely.

It is totally untrue, they can't refuse to send a breakdown until he's paid what are almost certainly fictitious arrears. Make a formal complaint and refuse to deal with them on the phone - they will have to put everything in writing which will certainly be beyond most of them.

Becles

Thanks all. We're going to deal with them in writing now so at least we have written evidence of what has been said.

We're going to write a letter to go recorded on Tuesday, and ask for a full account breakdown to see where the arrears have come from and why.

We're also going to put in a complaint about the rude man that hubby spoke to on the phone yesterday.

I'll let you know what happens.

shaddowmum

Becles wrote: »

I'm wondering if anyone can make any sense of this, as we're really worried. I'll post a brief summary of the letters recieved and the action taken so far:

My husband was seeing a woman who dumped him when she discovered she was pregnant. He has a daughter out there somewhere, but he has no idea where she is and has never even seen her as the mother refused him permission to see her. She will be 10 years old now.

He met me and moved into my house in Nov 2005, and has since been awarded parental responsibility for my two children from my previous marriage. We also have a daughter together who was born in May 07.

03/03/06

Letter said that all his arrears had been paid off and he now had to pay £21.59 a week. He adjusted his standing order to pay this weekly.

10/03/06

A letter came saying the claim had ended on 15/04/04.

After telephoning they said the child had moved abroad with the mother. They said nothing further was payable, so the case would be closed.

12/09/06

2 letters arrived:

Letter 1 claimed he owes £4414.62 which needed paying straight away.
Letter 2 claimed he owes £8.04 which needed paying straight away.

He telephoned and they said the letters were sent out in error and he owes nothing.

15/09/06

Another letter says there are still arrears outstanding but no amount is given. It asks for £5.80 a week to be paid till the arrears are cleared.

He telephoned and again was told this was an error and to ignore it.

23/07/07

Letter recieved today says he owes £5286.26 which is payable within the next 5 days otherwise legal action through the courts will be taken.

He telephoned and a very rude ignorant man has told him we must pay this within 5 days or they will start legal action. He refused to tell us how they got that figure, or what it relates to.

Please advise what we should do next?

We haven't got £5286.26 to pay them. At the moment I'm not working and claiming Maternity Allowance, and the CSA are not interested in the 3 children my husband is responsible for here.

Any help appreciated as we're sick with worry

First of all congrats on your baby, If I was you go see the benefits and citizeins advice people they wil be able to help you out and if not they can give great advice on where to get the best help from

jazzyjustlaw

Expect to wait maybe 6 or 8 weeks for a response. If you are on a low income (to to the Legal services website to see if you are eligible for advice under their legal help scheme. If so it may be a good idea for your solicitor to write to them together with a letter of authority to try and see what has happened. Mind you might still take some time to get a response.

Good luck.