Received CSA letter TODAY backdated to 28 October threatening legal action...

[Tamashii]

OK... OH received a letter form CSA today demanding about £3000 in arrears. There is no explanation of where they get this figure as they had previously decided to take £48 a week which he has been paying. Then this letter lands on the doormat. There is no post mark on the outside of the letter so no date stamp - just the printed price of postage. The letter inside is dated 28 October stating if OH does not respond within 7 days they will take legal action. Since he received the letter today which would be day 8 from the date on the letter, he phoned them immediately to ask what was going on and why he has received either a backdated letter or the letter has reached him so late. The person on the phone basically said he has 1 year to pay the £3000 weekly with interest and that his wages have already been arrested because he did not respond.

What the hell do we do? Firstly it looks like they have backdated the letter and sent it out so he has no time to respond. Secondly, we don't have £300 far less £3000 to hand over to them today. Thirdly we can not afford to pay £68 A WEEK as we are - like everyone else - struggling to keep afloat and have nearly lost the house 3 times over the last 2 years.

I have been crying since the shock of the severity of all this kicked in. What do we do? Where do we turn? The guy on the phone actually said to OH "Can't you ask your family for some money to pay us back"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't believe this is happening.

This is what happens when you co operate with CSA.

Help please... Do we need to get a solicitor now?

YOu def need some advice, were you aware there was arrears - have you ever been notified of this, you need to ask them to prove to you that you have previously been notified of this.

You usually have 2 years over which to pay back arrears so how come they have only given you a year?

I would get an appointment with CAB and your local MP

Go to the CAB, for free. Don't pay a solicitor. The CAB will help you get to the bottom of it and negotiate with them.

Does he accept the arrears? Or is it totally out the blue? It could quite easily be a mistake.

OH says he thinks the arrears are correct because they were accrued whilst they were awaiting results of DNA testing to prove he was/was not the father since his ex had categorically stated he was NOT the father and that she had left him to be with the child's real father.

I will tell him what you've said about CAB AND about the 2 years to pay. I just can not believe this is happening. Also, imagine asking if we could go to our family and borrow money to pay them the £3000?!? WTF. Disgusting soulless thieves. We may well end up homeless as I doubt we can afford the mortgage now.

Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it.

We had a similar problem. We spoke to CAB and NACSA. There wasn't a lot they could do as CSA do not negotiate on arrears.

If the amount is correct the CSA legally take 40% of your OH's wages. As you can see they waste no time in going for attachment of earnings.

We ended up paying out 40% of dh's wages for a long time. We nearly lost the house and we are now up to our eyes in debt.

The CSA do not care though, the children in the second family can lose their home but as long as the arrears are paid thats all they care about.

Sorry, just read that back and it does seem really harsh but that is the reality of dealing with the CSA.

They do not listen.
They do not care.
They will not bend.

One hope is that the DWP is taking control of the CSA as they are abolishing the quango that was CMEC. Hopefully the DWP will be accountable and more human although they will still have the same power and rules.

I hope you do manage to sort a way round this Tamashi

Not harsh. Completely accurate. Thanks and I am so sorry you are in this situation. It is soul destroying.

Do you work? If you don't it may be better if you work and your dh does less work and more of the childcare as it's on his income not yours

Hindsight is a wonderful - he should have realised that he would have to pay something and kept saving the amount he thought he would have to pay each week so the arrears didn't build up?

I hope CAB can help you, ask them to look at your finances as a whole - they may be able to help with debt repayment, negotiating to go interest only on your mortgage etc.

He didn't think he would have to pay anything back because he had being paying maintenance when his child was younger then his ex met someone and settled down with him so no longer wanted my OH to have anything to do with his child. CSA sent out a letter telling him this and said he should stop payment and cease all contact. That was years and years ago. He thought he had paid everything back then - sorry if I didn't make it very clear. I was in a state of shock really.

Thanks for the advice re looking at our finances as a whole and trying for interest only mortgage for now. Good idea.

Also, hindsight is wonderful as you say. I have realised that at the start of our relationship he never "disclosed" the fact he even had a child until we were really into each other and he kind of knew that at that young age I was unlikely to leave him. Love IS Blind and all that. Hindsight tells me that if I had realised the implications of being with someone with a child from another relationship then this kind of thing might come up and bite me later on... That sounds SO selfish but I just feel like being bluntly honest. I have my DS with him and we are still together so I would not ever wish that away now. It's such a mess.

Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it thank you.

That doesn't sound like a CSA letter. They would not tell anyone to stop contact with their child. That isn't part of their role. They are only involved with maintenance.