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!!!

I am so gobsmacked by this post. What an appalling system.

Posted my dispute forms today, keeping everything crossed that they will see their mistake and they will drop the £5600 they say I owe.

StillCant I'm not sure why they're insisting you pay it back at £200 a month as that seems ridiculous, when I rang to sort out a payment plan I ended up speaking to a lovely guy who just said the lowest they could accept was £47 (which will take 10 years to pay off) I was genuinely distraught when I rang as I was so worried about being made to pay it all back in one go, so maybe he took pity on me.

However, we were also overpaid around £3000 of Housing Benefit from 2012 (despite DH taking them the correct documents 7!!! times and them always getting "lost") I made the mistake of ignoring it and they caught up with us last year and took us to court. I've ended up with a CCJ (in my name only cos DH wasn't listed on the paperwork, despite it being a joint claim and ALL the money went to him - which he then passed to the landlord) and they decided on a repayment figure of £170 a month, which was ok till CTC decided we were no longer entitled and we lost over £300 a month.

We're constantly struggling to make ends meet now as they wouldn't revisit the repayment amount without me submitting a form which cost £50 and wasn't guaranteed to get the payments lowered.... I've resigned myself to paying the £170 and I can't wait for March 2018 when I will have paid it off!

Don't give up trying to get your repayments lowered. Contact your local MP and see if they can help. Good luck

@FooFighter99 , the form cost £50? Surely that's not right?

Can I get advice about tax credits

So I've been currently employed and getting child tax credits and working tax credits. In 1 weeks time I will be finishing work and starting university, because of this I will no longer qualify for working tax credits anymore which I will tell them about.

Will they make me pay back April to September working tax credits come April 2018? As I didn't work the rest of the year

Is that the way it works

Shakey15000 Thats bloody awful

misscph1973 I think it was because it was court ordered, I'd done an attachment of earnings in the first instance and offered to pay back £10 a month but as we were receiving CTC they said no, you have to pay £170. When our CTC stopped the following month I enquired about getting the amount lowered but the application cost £50 and wasn't guaranteed to be successful anyway

After a bit of googling, it was the N245 form with an associated Court Fee of £50 - that would have been to change the order, but wasn't necessarily going to be successful.

@Hunkle

Yes it was really stressful at times, mainly because it took so bloody long. But the exasperation also! I listened to the recording over and over and there was clear evidence I'd updated correctly and me reiterating that I didn't want to be in an overpayment situation. The advisor clearly states that I won't be. I query her and she repeats it. So when I got a letter saying "We've listened to the recording and can find no evidence that you were misadvised" I was like "Whaaaa??? Which recording were you listening to??"

At a few points over the four years DH said to just drop it and pay it but I was incensed and adamant I was keeping going. It was the principle. Thankfully it was resolved but I feel aggrieved when I read of others in a similar situation accepting the fate as they're of the opinion that nothing can be done. It can! Not always of course and I do appreciate that it's SO complicated that, understandably, many give up, don't challenge and pay.

If this was a financial institution such as a lender or a bank they would have to fully disclose to people how they arrive at these amounts and abide by strict regulations. The amount of mistakes and overpayments would cause outrage if this was any other organisation. They stress caused by this is just horrendous and I will never go there again unless I am really desperate.

@Shakey15000 I can't believe that you still had such a battle despite having the concrete evidence against them!! It's hardly surprising so many people just back down and end up paying. What a shambles of a system.

I had a sizeable overpayment and then repayment plan 4 years ago. Took me 2 years to pay it off.
I knew it was too much money so I put it away but HMRC swore blind it was correct. Ha.
A guy in the tax credits office told me that there are calculations that are a black box. No one knows what they do.
Never claim Tax credits if you can at all help it.

I declared a change in circumstances 7 days after the event - I received a delightful letter stating I'd received benefits that I wasn't entitled to. Two hours spent being passed from pillar to post. No-one could tell me where the over payment had come from or which department I needed to phone?

The actual letter had huge voids in the printing - so sections couldn't even be read.

I wouldn't care, but the stupid tools have just credited my account with a further £1,100.00 - no doubt I'll get a further letter about that!

Yanbu, I am still paying back an overpayment of several thousand pounds from the one year I claimed them for! What I don't get is how bloody impossible it was to understand how to fill in the form. I was totally upfront and honest but still went wrong somehow. It's a shameful system that plunges people into desperate uncertainty. I'm so cross. It doesn't make any sense. My only income is PAYE from a single job so why can't one bit of HMRC just talk to another bit ffs!

The problem is that the annual amount is calculated based on your circumstances at the time you claim and then paid over 12 months. If your circumstances change during that time and your entitlement reduces you will possibly have been overpaid. There must be a better way to manage this rather than the current rollercoaster ride.