To wish I'd never claimed tax credits

[StillCantDecideOnaUsername]

I only started claiming a few years ago when my income dropped as I was on maternity leave. I am now paying back one overpayment of 3k at £200 a month and currently disputing another overpayment of 6k. The amount of financial and emotional stress the situation is causing makes me wish I never claimed in the first place and tried to manage without. I have done a lot of research on TC overpayments and it seems that it is so common, surely this just goes to show that the system is not working!!!

Did you know they have to give you 2 years to repay? And up to 6 if you are prepared to give them financial disclosure. .

simialar situation with me aswell op..

Snap but owe them £80 a month for the next year.

@Boatmistress17 I have just completed an income/ expenditure form to try and get the monthly repayments reduced but given all the obstacles I've come up against already I'm not holding out much hope!

Have you offered these figures through dwp?
They sacked concentrix the con mongers but have another debt management team working on the overpayment section.
If you stop the current arrangement they will send your details over - won't damage your credit file - and they accept a lower repayment rate.

@Boatmistress17 I sent the form via the hmrc online system, on the confirmation page it worked out that our outgoings are £400 more than our income so with this in mind I'm praying they come up with an arrangement for us or we are fucked!!!!

Yes, totally wish I'd never ever engaged with them. We have paid back £50 each month for years now and have years to go. Sure it'll be more.money than they ever gave us! And all my information which I gave them was always accurate and always up to date. Yet still they've apparently massively over paid us. I don't believe it, but they said id left it too late to dispute it.

I'm repaying a £3k overpayment, at just under £100/month. It's sickening.

The tax credits completely got me through a horrible few years when ex-H left us, but this debt is just a weight round my neck! One more year to go. Can't wait.

I owe £1700 and paying £15 a month.

My original overpayment about 4 years ago was around 6k, I am paying it back at £20 a month. Took several phone conversations and had to tell them all my incomings and outgoings but they finally agreed that was all I could afford.

Shit isn't it @user1471468912 I have also been totally on it with letting them know about changes to circumstances etc but however good you think you are clearly they will always find something wrong! Literally every single person I have met who has ever dealt with TC has had some sort of issue at some point. It seems a bit ridiculous, surely it would make more sense to come up with a different system that works rather than spend millions on the administration of TC overpayments that also causes so much stress. I've often wondered how many people have suffered from TC related breakdowns, I've certainly come close at times.

Why are you paying so much? I told them I could only afford £10 per month and they accepted that. It'll take forever, but hey...

how come people have such over payments?

Just read more - they have to give you longer than 2 years. My debt is due to take 15!

I am worried as have clamied but hope to come them soon and I am worried now my circs have changed they will fine me or say I have been over paid.

Oh god how did you find out you were overpaid? This is my worst nightmare. I always check that the details I give are correct when I renew but how would I know if they cocked up and were paying me too much?

@theduchessstill £200 a month was what they originally asked for, it's coming out of my current award (leaving me with barely anything!) I'm hoping that by submitting the hardship form they will reduce the payment.

I've a £1400 overpayment apparently. Despite I was on the bloody computer site weekly checking all my info was right....

The issue we had back in the day was that even though we told them when our circumstances change, literally to the day, they continued the payments because, in their words 'people come to depend on them and it isn't healthy to cut them off.' As the payments kept coming we assumed that we were entitled to them.

We paid back £900 odd at £45 a month.

how come people have such over payments?

I was going to ask that too.

I don't know if you can now, but you should/could have queried it and said you couldn't afford it. That's what I did - no way were they taking a massive chunk of my disposable income when I'd reported everything in good faith. One advisor told me they'd have to run through affordability checks with me but I hadn't got time so had to ring back. When I did the advisor accepted my first offer of £10 per month.

I got screwed as I work shifts so had varying pay packets.
They took my overall wage one year, and continued it the next, but then the next they wanted month by month and somehow they figured they had overpaid me by 10k.
Seriously, how did they figure that!!!
So, 8 years later, still paying £77 a month (dropped from 144 as I went on mat leave) still struggling, and still don't get how they got their numbers when I was sending in all info as required.

This is the problem @Wide0penSpace I don't think you would know until you get that brown envelope through the door as it's almost impossible to work out how they have calculated your payments. I'm reasonably intelligent and I've still not worked out their formula! Then they don't actually explain why you've been over paid, just that you have to pay it back! Took a 2 hour web chat to get to the bottom of it all. I also used to dread being told I'd been overpaid then the nightmare came true!

I'm paying back £400 a month. From a 1.3k overpayment. It's halved my weekly income. With 2 dc in nursery this is going to be a very very hard few months until it's cleared.

It really makes me wonder how people have such over payments, myself included. You give them your figures and they tell you how much you're entitled to. You don't tell them how much you want! They then tell you you have had an over payment! It's shit!
IVe had my payments reduced to nearly nothing for years, yet I still owe more now than I did when I was first overpaid! Work that one out!