how may have been over payed?

iwanttosave_2

i have had two kids and really want to go out to work and claim family tax credits, but i am absolutly terrified of being over paid and getting into debt paying it back.
How many of you out there have had to pay tax credits back because of this,
i have seen on the news where people have ended up with hardly any money because these over payments, it just seems to be happening to often.

Fran

I know exactly what you mean, it's scary now if you have changes in income or get sporadic work as you don't know where you stand any more. I can only suggest trying to save a pool of money for this purpose, but of course this is more easily said than done and is often not possible.

fatblokexl

hi,
you could do worse than visit my site at http://fatblokexl.tripod.com it has some useful info but as you have not claimed yet it will either no make much sense or put you off entirely

taplady

Hi we may be in just such a position after stupidly leaving it several months before telling the child tax credit agency of a change in income(hubby returning to full time work after heart surgery) I am waiting for their re-evaluation with dread :mad: I realise it was stupid but kept putting it off.

Miroslav

I've been tryiny to tell the tax credit people for 4 months I no longer wanted them. They stopped and they re-started. A Month had gone before I realised and then I phoned them.

They told me to write to them, so I did. Next week, it was in again and I thought it may be in arrears so carried on. Next statement, they'd been carrying on paying, so I wrote again, this time with recorded delivery. Still didn't stop. So I wrote again recorded delivery to a different address, still paying.

They are still paying. Sending off my annual review and a note with it. Also going to contact them again via post at two different addresses, recorded delivery.

Oh and I e-mailed them once via their online thingy....got a baffled response telling me to phone the helpdesk.

No idea what they've done with my Recorded Delivery letters, checked with Royal Mail - all signed for!

Gonna have to pay it all back.

The idea when I realised they were still paying, was to save it. But other debts were getting more heavy handed and had to use it.

taplady

Yes i know what you mean, we are in debt too and this money has been a lifesaver to us but since becoming an Old styler(see old style living forum) I can at least see that we can live on a lot less than we were and I am now living within my means and am determined that when I eventually get out of debt (June 2010 :eek: ) that i will live without credit!!!! but the tax credit folk dont make life easy for us do they? :wall:

iwanttosave_2

it also doesn't fill me with confidence that they are looking at doing a complete overhaul of the system because of how flawed it is. The tax credits system is a fantastic helping hand to families who want to work (you don't feel very good about yourself when you are on income support) on paper they just can't seem to put it in to practice.

fatblokexl

miroslav,
there are 2 ways you can stop a claim.
1 is a change in circumstances such as a single claimant moving in with a partner or a couple splitting up.
2 is to write in, as you have done. as incoming mail is very slow to get processed this can take sometime, meanwhile you will keep getting paid.
you can complete a cop26 when they eventually stop your claim as depending on the dates involved they will see you as being overpaid. the cop26 allows you to explain why you contest the overpayment.