Tax credits have just put nearly 10k in my bank

[TheWildOnesNeverDie]

Just checked my bank, as I do most days at 12am incase payments have Gone in from my free lance job.
I don’t earn very much so I like to keep an eye.

I have just checked and nearly had a heart attack to see there was 8k in there. Last time I checked I had £113

I quickly scrolled to see where it had come from and it says bank giro - which is usually tax credits/ child benefit, but I get paid on a Friday.
And usually only £63 per week.

I have one child, have not changed circumstances all year. Haven’t contacted them for anything recently either.

WHAT DO I DO?

We don’t know of this is £10k of benefits as the OP hasn’t returned to say. If it is then there’s a massive back payment there somewhere. However I didn’t think tax credits went that high so my guess is a mistaken credit from somewhere else to the account. The OP says she went to her Govt Gateway page which didn’t mention this payment.,

It could well be a back payment if they reported their self employment estimate being higher than it was. i know some self employed do this deliberately to avoid potential overpayments if it goes the other way. Bit like tax rebates I guess.

I’ve just checked all OP’s posts and she never mentioned £10K, that must be an over- zealous rounding-up by other posters.

She says she found 8k unexpectedly in the bank.

10k is in the title ...

Ha ha so it is!

Over-zealous rounding up by OP for headline purposes then!

She had 3 payments, one of £1000, one just under that amount which tax credits have said is hers then the £8000 which sure doesn't know whether she can keep yet.

So yes, not far off £10,000

Please come back and tell us it isn't a mistake. I just love the bit about you needed that exact amount #positivethinking.
I hope it isn't a joke . I've contributed to two deleted threads in the last week so I'm doubting my judgement.

She had 3 payments, one of £1000, one just under that amount which tax credits have said is hers then the £8000 which sure doesn't know whether she can keep yet.

Where does she say that @JulietTango?

I can only see her saying she saw 8k in her account when she expected less than £150, the she says they confirmed that £1k and another payment of a few hundred were correct and an unspecified “larger payment” would be checked.

@Bippety what are you on about? £300 is about minimum for flights to NY. Unless you're staying with family it will cost a damn site more to stay/eat/transport

I'm the one who went to New York for Christmas with my backdated payment and just wanted to address this as some of the comments have been presumptuous or implying we shouldn't have gone because "if you can afford that then you don't need tax credits" or "FFS that's not what tax credits are for".

My backdated payment (£4200 ish) was for an error made by tax credits over a FIVE year period. Where my husband and I (yes, I'm not a single parent) got around £1.40 a month for our three children. We assumed that was correct so lived within our means and never relied on CTC money. The letter came out of the blue advising us of their mistake and the payment then arrived in the bank. We had a shitty year with several close relatives on both sides passing away so decided that life is wayyyyyy too short so we just went for it. It was amazing and we have no regrets.

So please, feel free to fall of your high horses for being so judgemental (the few of you who were)....

Oh and to add, it was working tax credits.

@Hellofromtheotherside2020, we d not worry about justifying. If their error meant things were tight then damn right I'd have done the same as you and made sure we had a good time on the back paid money.

@Hellofromtheotherside2020 good for you. You shouldn't have to explain yourself!

I would keep it for six months or so until waayyyyy after the tax year ends then use it for clearing debt

Waiting until after the end of the tax year will have zero impact on the op being required to pay it back.

There are so many implications to keeping money you reasonably know isn’t due.

If tax credits (or their bank, if that’s where the error originated) identify the error and ask for it back and op doesn’t then the FIRST thing the bank will do is send this info to the op’s bank.

And banks can be arseholes. If ops bank have a look and think she’s been a bit dodgy in keeping a clear payment-in-error they could shut her account. And spread the info around so that she finds it difficult to get accounts elsewhere.

Flinging your hands up in mock ‘oh but i didn’t knooooww’ won’t help.

I would keep it for six months or so until waayyyyy after the tax year ends then use it for clearing debt

Legally, it can be reclaimed for up to six years, so you'd have to wait at least that long to know that it wasn't going to be reclaimed.

As it's benefit/Government debt, it wouldn't become statute-barred in the future, either.

Thanks - I just didn't want anyone coming on here feeling like just because they are getting working tax credits - or any benefit, that they're not allowed to have nice things or enjoy life.
Plus was also genuinely shocked that people can be so judgemental. I hope they don't breed.
Hopefully OP will let us know how they got on. Fingers crossed it's great news.

@Strawberrypancakes

I read the whole thing and no resolution shock
Did you miss the post where she says the smaller amounts were correct but that HMRC need to look into the larger amount?

Wow. Over 5 years that's less than £7 per week, if she had put that in an account every week for 5 years would you still be so horrified that government money had payed for a holiday???

Anchor down can they only go back 6 years or indefinitely if the fault As in overpayment is on their side.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark

3rd Dec at 16:05

Hi so sorry I haven’t even read the last few pages - update - I called them and confirmed that the one payment of £1k is correct, and another for a couple of hundred but they are going to look into rest !

Where does that say the large payment was £8,000 @JulietTango?

It doesn't specifically say there's a single payment of £8000 no. However the title of the thread says that tax credits have just put nearly £10,000 in her bank and the opening post talks about £8,000.
Since the op talks about three payments my inner Sherlock twitched and I deduced the payments were £1,000 an amount slightly smaller than that and the remainder being the £8,000 mentioned in the opening post.

It could be entirely possible that the op has done as 99% of the population do occasionally and embellished for effect.
Although it seems to me that most of the 1% frequent aibu regularly

She had 3 payments, one of £1000, one just under that amount which tax credits have said is hers then the £8000 which sure doesn't know whether she can keep yet

No, she said she checked the bank and there was £8k. That would include ALL of the payments.

Just to update - I have had a letter through today, explaining the amounts and it says....

It’s correct.

However - I have no intention of spending it all yet (although I would rather like to!) I’m going to keep it aside, pay our tax bills and then incase they ask for it back still have enough to do so!

Still terrified a copper is going to knock the door and take me in for something which absolutely isn’t my fault 🙈

Wow. That is brilliant op. Fingers crossed i get something similar