Just to remind everybody I am now in my IVA - 2 months down the line. I got a letter from Tax Credits yesterday out of the blue telling me that for the years 05/06 they have noticed they overpaid me based on income for 04/05 and I now owe them £400 plus (can't remember the exact figure). I think it unreasonable that in 2008/09 they now say they overpaid me in 05/06 and how does this fit in with the grand scheme of things when I am in an IVA and all income allocated. I am prob going to write back saying how on earth can they expect to pay this when they are letting me know 2 years down the line. Anyone now of a caveat by which if they have only just let me know I can say its unreasonable.
I think they will tell you that they want the money,unreasonable or not,I mean whats taken them so long???
I would write informing them that you are in an IVA and try to get away with making a small monthly payment if you have the cash to spare. Or you could ask for a monthly payment break from IVA and put it towards the tax folk?? Not sure what would be best but they will get their money back,coz thats what they do.
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
Just what you need Elizabeth!!!!!!!!!! I do think that there should be some sort of time limit for them to request back payment. After all, there is usually one for us if it is the othe way round.
I would definitly do as plastic suggests and tell them you are in an IVA. Be interesting to see what they say.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
We are in the process of getting our IVA approved and we too were overpaid FTC 4 years ago (their mistake and not ours I might add!)we got a bill for over £2000.[:(]
They said they would stop our payments until we had paid back the amount in full. We have actually included the amount we still owe them in our IVA proposal and our IP has contacted them to ask if we can resume our payments and so we are now just waiting for the outcome.
Has anyone elso included FTC in their proposals? and if so what was the outcome?
Many thanks
Don't quote me on this but I thought if it was there mistake they couldn't reclaim from you - certainly can't for overpayment of benefits - Check with the CAB
Rainbow
Every Cloud has a silver lining. At the end of the Rainbow is a Pot of Gold - Or Hope!
Tax credits can be claimed back. There have been a lot of people who have been overpaid and had to pay them back.
Surprised that benefits can't be - would have thought they would have come under the same umbrella.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
If you are in an IVA, and the claim relates to any period prior to the IVA being accepted, then the amount ought to be included as a claim in the IVA. HMRC have a specialist team in their enforcement office which deal purely with tax credit overpayments.
Just to clarify - for both benefits and tax credits. Neither can be claimed back if it is a Department "official" error. With the tax credits its usually hard to prove that it isn't the customers fault and therefore most people have ended up having to pay back. I think my situation could be called into question but I will have to check back in my paperwork. They are saying that for the year in question 05/06 I did not confirm to them the information they stated - hm I will check and dispute - so they had incorrect information and therefore overpaid me.
Thanks for the clarification Elizabeth - I knew it was correct for benefits but didn't know that to be the case for tax credits given the amount of news you hear about tax credit overpayments!
Rainbow
Every Cloud has a silver lining. At the end of the Rainbow is a Pot of Gold - Or Hope!
