CMS payment change little notice

Gavin78

Just wondering who you can go to for advice outside the circle of CMS that isn't a money grabbing solicitor?


I'm not wanting to do it now but looking for advice for the future.


My CSA case moved over to CMS September 2017 when I found out that I was 12k in arrears which CSA/CMS admitted it was their fault they never took enough off me and it built up over 12 years.


After calculating my wage and ex agreeing with them to do direct pay it was agreed on the phone that I could for the time being pay what I wanted for the arrears which was £30 a month as it was their fault the arrears built up and they didn't have an explanation for it.


So payments in 2017 were £171 a month plus £30 arrears £201.


The did a new calculation in October to start paying November this year and wrote to me as my wage was less and it dropped down to


£165 a month plus they increased the arrears payments to £45 a month I increased the standing order to £211 and made my first payment for that 1st November


I got a PM sent to me last night on my CMS account to say from 1/12/18 - 1/9/2019 that my payments per month had increased to £1206


I only earn around £1300 a month and this is the only income at the min to support my wife and a 5 year old till my wife finds work.


So I called them today and she didn't know why it was that much went away and said to me that my actual monthly payments to my ex are £149 a month which shows on this new statement.


However on my CMS account it's showing that payments are £168 a month so I'm not sure where this £149 has come from.


She said to me didn't you get a statement with a break down of payments and I said yes in October for the whole year for £210 with around £45 for the arrears this was agreed and with my only income at the moment you were ok with this.


Right well I'm not sure where this £1206 came from but we can only accept payments of £250 a month from today so well what can you pay she said.


I said ok well it will have to be £250 wont it and why did you send me a statement in October to make payments from 1/11/2018 - 1/09/2019 and today decide it has to be £250?


She wasn't interested and said well thats all we can offer today or we'll have to enforce further action if you don't pay.


I thought CMS were supposed to me better than CSA? who do you turn to for advice to stop them from doing this?

DUTR

Gavin78 wrote: »

Just wondering who you can go to for advice outside the circle of CMS that isn't a money grabbing solicitor?


I'm not wanting to do it now but looking for advice for the future.


My CSA case moved over to CMS September 2017 when I found out that I was 12k in arrears which CSA/CMS admitted it was their fault they never took enough off me and it built up over 12 years.


After calculating my wage and ex agreeing with them to do direct pay it was agreed on the phone that I could for the time being pay what I wanted for the arrears which was £30 a month as it was their fault the arrears built up and they didn't have an explanation for it.


So payments in 2017 were £171 a month plus £30 arrears £201.


The did a new calculation in October to start paying November this year and wrote to me as my wage was less and it dropped down to


£165 a month plus they increased the arrears payments to £45 a month I increased the standing order to £211 and made my first payment for that 1st November


I got a PM sent to me last night on my CMS account to say from 1/12/18 - 1/9/2019 that my payments per month had increased to £1206


I only earn around £1300 a month and this is the only income at the min to support my wife and a 5 year old till my wife finds work.


So I called them today and she didn't know why it was that much went away and said to me that my actual monthly payments to my ex are £149 a month which shows on this new statement.


However on my CMS account it's showing that payments are £168 a month so I'm not sure where this £149 has come from.


She said to me didn't you get a statement with a break down of payments and I said yes in October for the whole year for £210 with around £45 for the arrears this was agreed and with my only income at the moment you were ok with this.


Right well I'm not sure where this £1206 came from but we can only accept payments of £250 a month from today so well what can you pay she said.


I said ok well it will have to be £250 wont it and why did you send me a statement in October to make payments from 1/11/2018 - 1/09/2019 and today decide it has to be £250?


She wasn't interested and said well thats all we can offer today or we'll have to enforce further action if you don't pay.


I thought CMS were supposed to me better than CSA? who do you turn to for advice to stop them from doing this?

Take everything in writing not based on phone calls, CMS better than CSA? For whom?

Gavin78

I think I might have to do that in future.



I'm more annoyed that they sent a statement out from my earnings from HMRC and calculated my payments for the whole year which was actually £168+£43 towards arrears £211


Then a month later decided that a new statement be issued based on evidence she couldn't account for which dropped my base payments down to £149+£1057 towards arrears.


Her only case was that the £11,900 needs to be paid back and they wanted to take it all in 12 months leaving me with about £80 a month to live off and no bills to pay.


Then proceeded to tell me on the phone that the min payment they can take for arrears today was £250 a month up from £211 they said the month before.


I'm annoyed that there appears to be nobody to turn to and I can't even calculate my financies because at any min they could say £250 a month na it's £400 today

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn

Gavin78 wrote: »

I think I might have to do that in future.



I'm more annoyed that they sent a statement out from my earnings from HMRC and calculated my payments for the whole year which was actually £168+£43 towards arrears £211


Then a month later decided that a new statement be issued based on evidence she couldn't account for which dropped my base payments down to £149+£1057 towards arrears.


Her only case was that the £11,900 needs to be paid back and they wanted to take it all in 12 months leaving me with about £80 a month to live off and no bills to pay.


Then proceeded to tell me on the phone that the min payment they can take for arrears today was £250 a month up from £211 they said the month before.


I'm annoyed that there appears to be nobody to turn to and I can't even calculate my financies because at any min they could say £250 a month na it's £400 today

They have a debt steer where they want to collect the arrears as quickly as possible understandably. But in your case it's clear that the their !!!!!! system has automatically scheduled your arrears to be collected before the next annual review (it does this) I'd suggest that you're lucky that they're accepting so little from you towards those substantial arrears. Wouldn't be surprised if they increased it again next year.

Gavin78

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn wrote: »

They have a debt steer where they want to collect the arrears as quickly as possible understandably. But in your case it's clear that the their !!!!!! system has automatically scheduled your arrears to be collected before the next annual review (it does this) I'd suggest that you're lucky that they're accepting so little from you towards those substantial arrears. Wouldn't be surprised if they increased it again next year.

Yeah I understand that. They mentioned that my case like many I assume have an advisor that takes my case on.


When the calculations were made I thought it was a person that did this. I guess they have an autumated system in place which is clearly broken.


How the system didn't seem my earnings and just thought £1206 was ok is shocking. Thankfully I do Direct Pay but I got the message through on the 29th November for a 1st December payment so my wage is at the end of the month if that had been the case it was coming out of my wage it would have left me with nothing.


The arrears built up over 12 years of not paying enough. Payments were coming direct out of my wage so didn't have a say when it went from CSA to CMS I found out I was 12k in debt and CSA admitted they it was there fault for not doing any new calculations to my earning during that time and never wrote to me or my ex regarding statements or anything they said we were lost inthe system.


I don't have any contact to my ex so I'm surprised she never called them in all this time.


To cut a long story short they admitted 90% liability which they agreed a payment plan to pay the arrears back. based on my earnings of what I can afford as I am the only one working at the min after wife lost her job and we ended up 25k in debt.


I've had to drop my debt payments to £61 a month (through stepchange debt charity) in order to pay CMS I'm in a right situation leaving me currently with this new £250 payment plan of £150 a month left to buy food for a family of 3.


My wife is looking for work atm had plenty of interviews but no luck at the moment so financially should be a bit better once she starts working.


I've never refused to pay CM but they need to be realistic with my earnings.

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn

Gavin78 wrote: »

Yeah I understand that. They mentioned that my case like many I assume have an advisor that takes my case on.


When the calculations were made I thought it was a person that did this. I guess they have an autumated system in place which is clearly broken.


How the system didn't seem my earnings and just thought £1206 was ok is shocking. Thankfully I do Direct Pay but I got the message through on the 29th November for a 1st December payment so my wage is at the end of the month if that had been the case it was coming out of my wage it would have left me with nothing.


The arrears built up over 12 years of not paying enough. Payments were coming direct out of my wage so didn't have a say when it went from CSA to CMS I found out I was 12k in debt and CSA admitted they it was there fault for not doing any new calculations to my earning during that time and never wrote to me or my ex regarding statements or anything they said we were lost inthe system.


I don't have any contact to my ex so I'm surprised she never called them in all this time.


To cut a long story short they admitted 90% liability which they agreed a payment plan to pay the arrears back. based on my earnings of what I can afford as I am the only one working at the min after wife lost her job and we ended up 25k in debt.


I've had to drop my debt payments to £61 a month (through stepchange debt charity) in order to pay CMS I'm in a right situation leaving me currently with this new £250 payment plan of £150 a month left to buy food for a family of 3.


My wife is looking for work atm had plenty of interviews but no luck at the moment so financially should be a bit better once she starts working.


I've never refused to pay CM but they need to be realistic with my earnings.

Tell them that you've got a debt plan and about your circumstances and be as civil and as nice as possible with whoever you speak with. That generally goes a long way I've found. I acted as a representative for a friend and always found being polite and friendly worked better than becoming irate even if you have good reason to be. Best of luck.

BAFE

The CMS and CSA record all their phone calls. If they have said something and then backtracked then ask to have the telephone transcripts.

Gavin78

BAFE wrote: »

The CMS and CSA record all their phone calls. If they have said something and then backtracked then ask to have the telephone transcripts.

Thanks,


I did this to at the start of CSA - CMS transfer to try and find out what happend with this 12k but they never sent any information regarding this just a breakdown of 12 years worth of payments and no reason other than they lost me in the system.


The first guy I spoke to on the phone about the 12k debt said £50 a month was too much considering it was there fault. He said I would offer less but thats upto you.


I have a recording of that.

Gavin78

Just to update this decided to check my online account as a letter hasn't come yet and noticed the agreed £250 a month on the phone has suddenly turned into £261.50 on my account.


I've sent them a message asking why that is.


I've just looked on my account after posting this and its now reverted back to £210.84 to 1/9/2019 which was the October yearly break down they sent me



I've got no message in my inbox though so not sure what is happening with my account.