Dwp claim i have undeclared capital!

Novembermoon

Hi, this is my first post & I would appreciate any help at this moment as I am really depressed & anxious about this matter.
I am currently on JSA and had a Customer Compliance Telephone Interview from the DWP, I assumed it was a random check to see if my situation had changed at all.
However during the interview I was told that I had 2 Barclays Bank accounts with a large sum of undeclared capital!
As far as I am aware I do not bank with Barclays, although I have done years ago & I definitely do not have any savings.
They claim that the GMS matching service has informed them via HMRC that these accounts are in my name matching my personal National Insurance Number with these said savings in.
I have since been to my local Barclays branch who have been unable to locate them as currently active accounts,however they have advised me to claim through mylostaccount website in case they are lost or dormant accounts, I have made these claims which I was told would take up to 12 weeks for a reply!
The account numbers they have provided me are a combination of letters & numbers which are not in the current Barclays account numbers formats, any ideas on this?
If these accounts are as they say there with the savings in them I would gladly want to be the first to know,yet they say they can not supply any other information with regards to them??
They have requested my current Lloyds Bank accounts for the past year which I have sent, but I have informed them I have no access to these Barclays accounts they require.
Also what worries me is on my current accounts I have PayPal transactions from EBay sales of my personal belongings which I have had to sell over the last year to pay my cards, debt, loans, car expenses etc which I obviously had in my life before I was signing on as I do NOT want card companies & other debts not being paid due to the fact that the JSA is not enough to pay them.
I have also had to borrow money from friends & family to pay these & still having to do so.
I have never in my life even had a parking ticket or broken the law in any way whatsoever.
I would greatly appreciate any help & advice from anyone who may have shared the same experience or can let me know what to do or expect with this situation. This seems to have affected my health and I am in a depression with anxiety attacks & I am currently unable to sleep properly.:(
Thank you for any advice you can spare....

marliepanda

If those Barclays accounts exist, then you may owe money back. If they are yours then you do have access to them whether you remember it or not.

If you don't, then you don't.

As for the PayPal payments, if they truly relate to the sale of personal belongings you are fine. If you are buying and selling on eBay as a 'business' then you're not.

So to sum up if you've been honest about eBay you are fine, and if you the Barclays accounts are a mistake you're fine.

Novembermoon

Hi thank you for the quick reply, I have been totally honest about everything.
I am just surprised at apparently having accounts I have no knowledge of, which they are adamant are mine.

marliepanda

Look on the positive side, if they are yours then you've got a chunk of money.

Any chance accounts were set up for you as a child?

Novembermoon

marliepanda wrote: »

Look on the positive side, if they are yours then you've got a chunk of money.

Any chance accounts were set up for you as a child?

I honestly have no idea, but as you said I hope so

pmlindyloo

First of all, the Barclays account.

Could you get a letter from Barclays referring to the account numbers and saying that these are not active accounts?

Then you need to send this letter or take in to Job Centre and tell them that you are trying to find the accounts but it will take 12 weeks.

At least this way they can check that the account numbers are correct. Also have you checked that they have the correct NI number (have known them make that mistake before)

Paypal transactions shouldn't be a problem. If you are worried then keep a track of your sales and payments.

And to add, if you are on JSA then you need some debt advice (at the very least). You should only be making a token payment towards any credit card debts (non priority). Post on the Debtfree Wannabe forum for further advice or visit CAB.

By borrowing from friends you are creating more debt for yourself.

Novembermoon

pmlindyloo wrote: »

First of all, the Barclays account.

Could you get a letter from Barclays referring to the account numbers and saying that these are not active accounts?

Then you need to send this letter or take in to Job Centre and tell them that you are trying to find the accounts but it will take 12 weeks.

At least this way they can check that the account numbers are correct. Also have you checked that they have the correct NI number (have known them make that mistake before)

Paypal transactions shouldn't be a problem. If you are worried then keep a track of your sales and payments.

And to add, if you are on JSA then you need some debt advice (at the very least). You should only be making a token payment towards any credit card debts (non priority). Post on the Debtfree Wannabe forum for further advice or visit CAB.

By borrowing from friends you are creating more debt for yourself.

Thank you for your quick reply, with regards to the Barclays accounts I have informed them of the 12 weeks timescale which they are happy with.
They claim the accounts are in my name, with my National Insurance number as a reference, with these savings in.
Yet they can not tell me where they are or supply any further information!

TELLIT01

DWP have provided account numbers which Barclays say aren't currently valid format. Do Barclays say they are in previous account formats or are they saying that the information provided by DWP is not in a format which has ever matched their accounts? If they are old format, and dormant, that will hopefully be enough to convince DWP that they are account you had no knowledge of, even if they are yours. You would probably have to pay back money you received from DWP but that should be all.

pmlindyloo

Just a thought - don't know whether you are male or female and or if you have thought of this already!

Since the 'lost' accounts appear to have been data matched by your NI number have you tried asking Barclays if there are any accounts in your maiden name or from previous addresses.

Am sure you have thought of this but just in case!

Have the DWP given you any dates re: these bank accounts?

Poppie68

Isn't it strange to have Bank accounts linked with a NI number? I've never been asked for my NI to set a up an account?

zagfles

Poppie68 wrote: »

Isn't it strange to have Bank accounts linked with a NI number? I've never been asked for my NI to set a up an account?

ISAs ask for your NI number. So likely to be an ISA I guess?