SOA: Housing Benefit Overpayment

Toon_Dave

debt_doctor wrote: »

No Dave they could not, that would be unlawful once discharge had occured, up to discharge they can recover from ongoing benefit.

DD

Would that be the 12months after the BR? would they be allowed to take more than the £9 they remove already?

Jane21_3

Thank you Dave and Fermi,

God this BR lark is a minefield!! :eek:

I will include the HB overpayment as a debt, I didn't include this on my CCCS online thing, will this make a difference?

I really hope they don't get funny with us, I'd rather pay it back as I am doing at the moment but I know I can't do that...

Is it only once we are discharged that it is written off?

Also tax credits wrote to me ages ago saying I owed them over a gand which I disputed, I haven't heard from them since, do i include that as a debt in the bankruptcy because CCCS said 'no' but I think I read different elsewhere

Thanks

skylight

I would include the CTC as a debt as well, as far as you know, it still is. The court case refered to all benefits and until there is further clarification, I would treat it as such.

I have written to my council about my benefit overpayment, which has put me into arrears with my rent after Fermi posted the link above. My OR knew nothing about the court case in Nov 07 and told me that I had to sort it out myself (!) I will be calling the council on Tuesday to find out whats going on as this was 3 weeks ago and I have heard nothing back.

debt_doctor

The £ 9.00 per week you are reffering to must be the maximum allowed from income support or job seekers allowance which comes from 5% of over 25 yrs old benefit multiplied by 3. ie £ 59.15 times 5% times 3 = maximum lawful deduction from benefit. ( £ 8.85 per week )

This should continue to be the maximum deduction.

DD

Toon_Dave

Hi Jane,

i think the more you include the better...if you dont include in BR pertition then it wont be included in the order.

I would put it on the CCCS SOA thing as well if you are doing this again.

Toon_Dave

debt_doctor wrote: »

The £ 9.00 per week you are reffering to must be the maximum allowed from income support or job seekers allowance which comes from 5% of over 25 yrs old benefit multiplied by 3. ie £ 59.15 times 5% times 3 = maximum lawful deduction from benefit. ( £ 8.85 per week )

This should continue to be the maximum deduction.

DD

Thats good, i would hate for Jane to be worse off with her HB after the case, thought wouldnt help her at all.

Dave.

Jane21_3

skylight wrote: »

I would include the CTC as a debt as well, as far as you know, it still is. The court case refered to all benefits and until there is further clarification, I would treat it as such.

I have written to my council about my benefit overpayment, which has put me into arrears with my rent after Fermi posted the link above. My OR knew nothing about the court case in Nov 07 and told me that I had to sort it out myself (!) I will be calling the council on Tuesday to find out whats going on as this was 3 weeks ago and I have heard nothing back.

Great, will do then, I suppose it can't hurt. To tell the truth though if they've forgot about it I wanted to keep it that way, but will include it to be safe.

I hope things go well with your council and you get it all sorted out, when you say you have gone into arrears with your rent do you mean that they have stopped paying you HB all together?!?

fermi

Yes. You list Tax Credit overpayments as a debt as well.

Under certain limited conditions (depending on when they notify you of the repayment) these have been included in bankruptcy previously.

While the position with these benefits is a little confused (at least for the OR's and Benefit Agencies :rolleyes:), the general principle is that you list EVERY debt you have on your SOA. Officially it is not your job to decide which should be written off by the BR and which shouldn't.

skylight

Jane21 wrote: »

Great, will do then, I suppose it can't hurt. To tell the truth though if they've forgot about it I wanted to keep it that way, but will include it to be safe.

I hope things go well with your council and you get it all sorted out, when you say you have gone into arrears with your rent do you mean that they have stopped paying you HB all together?!?

No - what they have done - back in 2006 sent me an invoice for overpayment (which I disputed) as A) they had the wrong amount on the invoice and I was entitled to it!

Since I have been claiming full HB now I am on income support, they have been deducting £13pw from my housing benefit allowance - which has put me into the red with my rent account. After informing me that the never actually did anything with the invoice in 2006. So why start deducting now? Why not chase me up for it over the last two years when I have been paying my rent in full and on time??

And they had the cheek to not even inform me! (Letters leaving our council offices are a well known issue, every week there is another comment in the local rag about it - but the council claim there is not a problem!)

But, C'est La Vie. I will get it sorted. Its a debt and I am not paying it now I am BR. The council did originally tell me that they would suspend the deductions on my account until after my discharge - which was when I questioned that here and Fermi pointed me in the right direction. As the ruling in Nov 07 - they can't. Tough. Then they threatened to evict me (yeah? - try it. BR is horrible enough and if I can manage that, then I can fight them - Bring It On!)

Jane21_3

skylight wrote: »

No - what they have done - back in 2006 sent me an invoice for overpayment (which I disputed) as A) they had the wrong amount on the invoice and I was entitled to it!

Since I have been claiming full HB now I am on income support, they have been deducting £13pw from my housing benefit allowance - which has put me into the red with my rent account. After informing me that the never actually did anything with the invoice in 2006. So why start deducting now? Why not chase me up for it over the last two years when I have been paying my rent in full and on time??

And they had the cheek to not even inform me! (Letters leaving our council offices are a well known issue, every week there is another comment in the local rag about it - but the council claim there is not a problem!)

But, C'est La Vie. I will get it sorted. Its a debt and I am not paying it now I am BR. The council did originally tell me that they would suspend the deductions on my account until after my discharge - which was when I questioned that here and Fermi pointed me in the right direction. As the ruling in Nov 07 - they can't. Tough. Then they threatened to evict me (yeah? - try it. BR is horrible enough and if I can manage that, then I can fight them - Bring It On!)

Good luck, let us know how it goes