Overpaid tax credits, please help!!

[demonpants]

Hi thanks for looking at this. A year ago I split from my husband. Within days of telling the tax credit people I received a letter stating I had to pay back £3500!!!! I was left having to raise the deposit for a rented house buy a whole houseful of new furniture on credit cards and paying back £35 per month to hmrc. They have not contacted my ex husband at all. I asked him and they have not even written to him which is very unfair. Im lucky enough to have a full time job so I do not claim benefits and by the time rent etc is taken out of my wages I have very little left so £35 does actually make a hole. Plus the fact it is going to be going on for years before it is finally paid off. Is this right? It certainly dosnt feel fair!

Phone them up and tell them you agree to pay half and to contact you ex for the other. They will do it as its a joint claim but seams that you have to tell them to do it. I think they just send the original letter to the main claimant

I heard a radio programme the other day saying there has recently been a court decision that it is unlawful for the Dept of Work & Pensions to try to claim back Tax Crdits overpaid IF this was the fault of the DWP. I'm sorry I can't decipher from your post whether the money was overpaid as a fault of the DWP. If it was then I am sure that you do not have to pay the money back. The programme talked of people receiving letters saying how much they owed which had caused great stress. This I think has been a very recent decision so it may be worth checking this out with a lawyer (some of them give 30 mins free advice) or you could contact the DWP saying that you had heard about this recent ruling (preferably in writing) and I think they would have to be truthful about the ruling.