Tax credit debt

[Amy214]

Im posting this on behalf of my parents, about 2years ago they recieved a letter from hmrc saying they were overpaid child benefit or child tax they arent sure which one it was roughly £3000 they agreed to pay it back at £30 a month, everything was fine until my dad had a seizure whilst driving a lorry and crashed so therefore lost his license for 5 years and lost his job he contacted hmrc and told them he couldnt afford to pay anymore as he had no source of income and they told him it didnt matter and he was too keep paying but he cancelled the direct debit because he didnt want to lose his house, his mortgage was more important at that moment in time, he was off work for 8 months under the advice of a doctor and couldnt drive, he has no other qualifications so he cant really do anything else, now he has his car license back and does the odd job with and agency its just enough to cover basic costs but today he recieved a letter from a company called past due credit solutions and it says that hmrc contacted them to collect a debt of £1300 and he has to pay it my parents are worried as they cannot afford this should he contact hmrc or the debt collectors themselves to sort sonething out? Sorrt for the long post.

[wowfudge]

I suggest he make an appointment with the CAB - they do a lot of work helping people manage debt. What he mustn't do is ignore the correspondence.

[FishWithABicycle]

Sorry to be harsh but it's really ridiculous to say that because his previous work involved driving and then he couldn't drive he "can't do anything else" - there are lots of things that require no qualifications. They aren't pleasant and they aren't well paid but if you lose the ability to do your previous work and you have a mortgage to pay then you get out there and find something you can do.

How much equity do they have in the house? £1300 may be a tiny fraction of their actual assets. If they have a lot of equity but little income then an equity release plan may be an appropriate path for them?

[noisytoys]

Does your mum or any adult children have a source of income (even benefit income if no one is working? At times like this everyone needs to pull together and put their hands in their pockets and help each other. Or do they have an ongoing claim it can be deducted from? I am paying back a tax credit overpayment and it is deducted from my current award rather than paying them back.

[LIZS]

Was he not eligible for esa when he was unable to work? Yes he would have been advised to retrain or take alternative unskilled work. Cancelling the dd without renegotiation was not sensible. Does your dm work? They really need some solid advice , try cab or Stepchange in the first instance. Making an offer to pay even a low amount may be enough to stop proceedings.

[Amy214]

He got signed off work by a doctor for 8 months he got statutory sick pay which was £50 a week then he got made redundant after 3 months and lost that sick pay , he had been driving lorrys for 25 years its all he knew, my mums disabled and the benefits people said he wasnt entitled to any help because my mum recieved enough money to keep them going, there outgoings worked out to be more than there income, we offered to help but they said no but i transfer money over to keep them going, he cancelled more than one dd because he had too not because he wanted too, he knows he was stupid but he had to keep a roof over his head. He asked his doctor repeatedly to sign him off so he could get office work which required him to sit at a desk but she kept saying no because he had amnesia, now that he has his car license back he is doing odd jobs and getting paid very little for it, he is going to contact hmrc themselves rather than the debt collectors and see if he can pay £5 a week

[Amy214]

He wasnt allowed to do anything by himself, he had to have my mum go with him everywhere, the bathroom, the shops she had to be with him 24/7 he physically couldnt do anything