Need help regarding my debt

volta_2

This is my first time posting here, been lurking for a while but I really need some help and advice at the moment. Apologies it is very long but this has a lot of background to it, thank you in advance for any advice.

I am 25. In 2003 I began a midwifery diploma at university. Everything was ok for a year or so but then I started to become very unhappy on my course. I dreaded going in, but I kept at it cos I didn't want to leave half way through. In 2005 I ended up being off sick on and off and took one or two leave of absences, before everything came to a head. I became extremely depressed, I shut myself away never left the house or answered my phone etc, just vanished from university. I eventually sought help and was treated successfully by my GP, I then contacted my tutor at uni to apologise etc and let her know what had happened to me.

I heard nothing more about it, but then around christmas 2006 I got a letter from a company called ControlAccount, saying that as I had failed to respond to previous correspondence they were threatening proceedings against me. Apparently I owed the NHS Business Services Authority over £1600. This was the first I had heard of it, had no idea I was supposed to owe anyone anything, let alone what for.

At this time I was still heavily depressed and I admit to burying my head in the sand somewhat, I got a few more letters over the next few weeks, eventually I telephoned them (after a kick up the behind from my OH) and they said they would put my claim on hold and find out why I owed the NHS money and let me know, no explanation as to why I hadn't been contacted by the NHS sooner.

I didn't hear anything for ages again, then in May of this year I got another letter from Controlaccount asking why I hadn't responded to their letters and again threatening action against me including bailiffs. Again I got in touch with them and told them I was still awaiting some kind of explanation as to who I owed and why, and said that there is no way I was handing over any money (even if I had it which I don't) without knowing why.

A few days later I got a scrappy little email with this apparently copy and pasted from the NHS: "Balance is now £1300.19 following a reassessment. This student withdrew from training on **/**/05 (this is the official date as supplied by her university). Her payments continued until **/**/05. This resulted in an overpayment of 63 days or £982.97.
She then resumed on **/**/05 and withdrew again on **/**/05 (date supplied by her university). This resulted in an overpayment of 20 days or £317.22” (I've blanked out dates).

This is all I have to explain what I apparently owe. No letter from the NHS, no breakdown from controlaccount, nothing at all. Also, if this totals £1300 as stated above, why are thy chasing me for over £1600?

I replied to this email asking for some kind of further detail as to breakdown of what I owe, what to do if I dispute the claim, and explaining that I was in a very poor financial position due to my depression and could not pay the money back. I also moved house in May so I included my new address for future correspondence. Do you think I heard anything? Course not. Not until yesterday when some letters forwarded by my previous landlord arrived, including one from Controlaccount saying that they are sending someone to that address this week for "Dispute Resolution Attendance", and that they are taking me to court for still not responding to them. I have written them a letter expressing my frustration with this whole situation.

I am just beside myself with worry right now. I am still awaiting any kind of notice in writing that I owe money, any kind of decent breakdown of what I owe and why, any information whatsoever on what I need to do if I disagree with the NHS, or any advice about what happens if I am not in a position to pay them back. I can't understand why the NHS didn't just contact me themselves at the time, why I didn't hear anything until suddenly a load of threatening letters land on the doorstep. Their management of my case has been shoddy at best.

My illness left me in a really bad financial state, I am now a student again doing a course I love but money is tight and I survive on my student loan, my overdraft, and uni bursaries due to low income. The most worrying thing is that I don't know how to dispute the claim. I have no idea when I officially left uni, I just stopped going in because I was ill and those months just feel like a blur to me, the uni will have decided the date and let them know. It was the whole nature of my illness that I didn't arrange anything, I hardly spoke to even my family let alone the NHS bursaries department. I really don't know where I stand or what to do. I'm really scared at the moment...

OliveOyl_2

I'm not sure of any advice I could give - just a cyber hug and to bump your post in the hope someone wiser will be along shortly.

CCCS_Emily

Hi Volta,

Sorry to hear about your situation, but well done for facing and looking to deal with it.

I am a debt counsellor with the CCCS. The first thing I would suggest you do is talk to a Student Welfare Officer about how to go about disputing this debt and if you have a case. They should be able to guide you through the process and provide advice and support.

If it turns out you do owe the money then it can be treated as any other unsecured debt. This means that, if you cannot afford to pay them the amount they want, then you can pay them a reduced amount based on what your budget shows you can afford. You would need to provide them with a copy of your budget to back the reduced payment up.

However, they can still take court action against you if they disagree. The court action they can take is called a County Court Judgement (CCJ). They are usually sorted out through the post. You would receive the blue and white court forms through your door, fill in your income and expenditure and offer the same amount on the form and send it back to the collections agent. If the offer is accepted, and as long as you keep paying it, then there is nothing else they can do. If the offer is rejected the court will decide, based on your budget, how much you need to pay, however if you cannot afford this amount you can ask again for it to be reditermined. Bailiffs only come into play if you do not keep to the payment set through a CCJ. CCJs also provide a chance for you to defend the debt if you do not agree that you owe the money. However there would be a court hearing for this at you local County Court and you would need to seek further advice from Community Legal Advice found at http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/

My point is that you will not be forced to pay an amount you can’t afford, and there are always ways to get the amount you need pay changed. Just seek advice as the situation develops. Let’s take this one step at a time. See the Student Welfare Officer first, see what they say, and move forward from there.

I am concerned that you mention that you are struggling generally. You may benefit from having a look at our online debt advice facility Debt Remedy available on our website www.cccs.co.uk Even if you do not have any other unsecured debts it can help you put together a household budget and provide some basic advice.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

bridget81

hi there, ive not got a lot of info to give but it may be of use. i did a nursing diploma in 2000 - 2003, a few of my friends left the course ranging from weeks into it to 2 1/2 years into it, they all left for a variety of reasons, one was due to ill health and i am not aware of the NHS chasing them for any money. the only things i can think of as to what they are saying you owe money for , the first is tuition fees as the NHS pay these as part of the course the other may be bursary you were paid while you were off sick (these are just me assuming) but like i said my firneds left and did not owe anything (im still in contact with them now so thats how i know)
i would have thought the university would have contacted you and it is very poor on their part that they didn't / haven't.
sorry this is not really much help but i have never heard of it before, and i work in the NHS and see students regularly and they have never mentioned anything like this.
really hope you can sort it out
good luck

volta_2

Thank you all for your help and support.

Bridget - I believe the reason they are reclaiming my bursary is because when I disappeared off the face of the earth, after a couple of weeks the university declared me to have left, however I did not inform the NHS Bursary department of that. I think I possibly received some bursary after this date, and the university must have contacted them later and given them a date which was before the NHS stopped paying me. I don't know how to defend the claim, I have no idea whatsoever when I actually left, I kept no records and had no contact with anyone. Was living in my own little miserable world for quite some time heh. I don't know whether poor mental health will be any defence and get the amount written off or reduced.

Emily - I will take your advice and contact a Welfare Officer at my uni. Thank you for your detailed reply. I am generally ok for money at the moment, I don't spend on anything but rent, bills etc, and I manage to live off my loan and bursaries ok, but only as long as nothing unexpected turns up. £1600 is an amount I have no hope of paying off anytime soon, I've just started a 5 year course so income for the forseeable future is student loans and overdrafts. At the time, I was getting into a right mess, going over my overdraft limit, not paying off my credit card, as I recovered I have managed to get myself stable now and thanks to help from my OH have managed to clear my CC debt. At the moment I'm more concerned about my mental health, had quite a few personal issues mount up recently, and now this on top I am feeling a bit borderline with my depression but ok for now I think.

I am wondering what the rest of you think about me never having received any letter from the NHS, nor anything in writing detailing what and why I owe. Is this normal practice? Would I have any grounds to add this to my defence, that the way my case has been handled has been what I would call very irresponsibly and incompetently, to put it mildly.

volta_2

Had a rather blunt response to my email today, basically it contained the same copy and paste as I posted above and said this contains all the information required, please contact to arrange payment. Oh and also the rudely worded comment that she didn't appreciate me implying in my letter that the fact this situation is taking a long time to be resolved is in any way down to them. I would have said that failing to respond to any of my requests for written information was down to them, but who am I...

Feel so down right now...

misspoppy

Hi

please don't take the comments personally from the collections company they don't care about anything other than getting their money. Follow the advice from Emily and speak to the welfare team and take it from there, technically they are not permitted to attempt to collect a debt that is in dispute. the national debt helpline has a lot of information to support you through this process but please don't make yourself ill over this.

In_Search_Of_Me

Did you complete any kind of contract to repay funds if you left early? Also wondering whether you have contacted the college you were at about this as it sounds unusual in the circumstances for them to be claiming back if you had left due to depression. Is there any way of checking with college when you actually left?
Re the blunt response remember that debt collection agencies are there to collect debt & if you have a look around the boards will see how some dont give a stuff about the people they contact as long as they get the money off you! I would ask them to send you formal written copies of any contract you are meant to have in terms of owing the money, where the request originated from. I think there's a template letter somewhere (does anyone have a link?). Plus copies of previous letters from the NHS (not just copies of supposed text) & REAL proof that they were sent. Did you manage to get to the Welfare office today?
Good to hear that you are now doing a course where you are happier & have a supportive OH!

volta_2

Thank you both. I know I shouldn't take their comments personally but I can't help it, when I'm feeling down I take everything to heart even things that normally I would know are not meant that way.

misspoppy - you mention that they are not permitted to collect a debt that is in dispute, could anyone confirm this and where this in official writing, just incase I should need to refer them to this? I have told them numerous times that I am not sure I do owe anything, but this doesn't seem to result in them saying anything other than "ring to arrange payment".

In Search Of Me - I did not complete a contract although taking up the funding was probably acceptance enough. It is not the University claiming, it is the NHS bursaries authority, who fund midwifery diplomas. It's my belief from the very limited infromation I've been given (which is the copy and paste above and NOTHING more!), that they are not reclaiming for time that I did spend studying, but because I left officially on whatever date the university have recorded it as and notified them of, but I did not tell them this and they apparently have continued to pay me until the Uni let them know, they are now claiming back this overpayment.

I really can't see me having any hope of disputing this claim. I can of course check my past bank statements and see when payment stopped, and I have contacted the University and asked for them to give me the date I left according to their records, no answer as yet but I should get that this week. I am expecting the dates to be correct. I have no records of my own to compare with. I don't know whether poor mental health at the time would be any kind of argument as to why I was not able to inform the bursary department of the situation and therefore have the debt reconsidered.

I will reply asking for paper copies (not just emails that they seem to think is acceptable) of the letters you've mentioned, I won't hold my breath though. If I do not receive anything like this, is it reasonable for me to withhold payment until I do? I think it's crazy that they expect me to hand over £1600 without having ever received a single request from the NHS themselves, and nothing but a pasted snippet in an email to say what the money is for. For all I know Controlaccount have made this up and are going to keep my money! It's ridiculous.

Is it possible for me to request that they pass my case back to the NHS, or is it worth me contacting the NHS myself? Not that I have been given any kind of contact as to who/what department is making the claim.

RAS

volta wrote: »

In Search Of Me - I did not complete a contract although taking up the funding was probably acceptance enough. It is not the University claiming, it is the NHS bursaries authority, who fund midwifery diplomas. It's my belief from the very limited infromation I've been given (which is the copy and paste above and NOTHING more!), that they are not reclaiming for time that I did spend studying, but because I left officially on whatever date the university have recorded it as and notified them of, but I did not tell them this and they apparently have continued to pay me until the Uni let them know, they are now claiming back this overpayment.

I really can't see me having any hope of disputing this claim. I can of course check my past bank statements and see when payment stopped, and I have contacted the University and asked for them to give me the date I left according to their records, no answer as yet but I should get that this week. I am expecting the dates to be correct. I have no records of my own to compare with. I don't know whether poor mental health at the time would be any kind of argument as to why I was not able to inform the bursary department of the situation and therefore have the debt reconsidered.

This may not make much difference long run, but

Whilst it was your responsibility to tell the SGU about the change in your circumstances, it was also the responsibility for the University to advise them promptly. If they had done that promptly, you would not be in this situation.

I think a letter or a meeting with your MP, pointing out that you recognise that you may owe something but that you had not prior warning (abuse of process) and that there were extenuating circumstances, might get the debt back with the SGU, with whom you can then negoitiate.

volta_2

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

I would ask them to send you formal written copies of any contract you are meant to have in terms of owing the money, where the request originated from. I think there's a template letter somewhere (does anyone have a link?). Plus copies of previous letters from the NHS (not just copies of supposed text) & REAL proof that they were sent.

Does anybody know where I can find a template for this kind of request letter? Thank you all.