Tax Credits just called to say I owe £1500 from 2009!! Pls help!!

[miamama09]

Just had a call from HM Rev & Customs saying I owe tax credits £1500 from 2009! I have never received any letters communicating this, but according to the guy on the phone - that is neither here nor there - it's all on their system, they have sent me letter after letter.

I asked when the last letter was sent, he said January 2011. I asked if it was to my current address (as we only moved in January 2011) and he said yes. Well, that's funny because I was so busy I forgot to call them and change my address until well after January.

They said I have been overpaid Working Tax Credits, but that's all he could say, and the main thing now was that I have to set up a recovery so that I don't face a legal battle!

Does anyone have any experience/advice on this? I am sooo stressed out. We literally do not have this money, and barely have enough to survive on at the minute, with one toddler and another baby on the way. The amount of times I have spoken to them on the phone since 2009, changing my claim/circumstances etc etc - nobody has mentioned this!!!

Please help!

They don't call, they write letters. Have you tried calling the helpline number to see what they say?

It sounds a bit scammy. Phone the Tax Credits people and double check.

I agree call them but may be difficult to get through because of the renewals.

If it genuine they will take a small amount each week you shouldn't have to pay in one go. Good luck

I hope you didn't give any personal information. They don't call, they write letters. My mo ney is on this being a scam.

Scam scam scam!!!

I agree, I would be very worried about this, TC NEVER call, they always communicate by letter. I hope you didn't give any card details etc over the phone. Good luck with getting through to them though, I've been trying all day to do my renewal, I think I'm going to send it by post!

Well, I didn't answer the call (the number came up, 0845 302 1420), they left a message to call back, so I rang the number back and this guy answered straight away. I refused to give him any details over the phone, except to answer his questions re. DOB, child's DOB and NI number.

When I refused to discuss anymore with him and told him I would call the main Tax Credits number to get more info regarding why I have been overpaid - he transferred me. Then I was on hold to the usual Tax Credits line, but had to hang up as I was on my lunch break and needed to get back to work.

I will get my paperwork together and try to get through to them tonight after work. I'm going to ask them to send me proof of all letters they are claiming to have sent me... I am just so worried, as even a little amount over a long period of time is going to hit us hard.

Plus, he didn't say anything about wrong information given, he just said it was Working Tax Credits, but I was on maternity leave in 2009.

We pay back £5 a week for an overpayment of £90 so they don't take a huge chunk

They're a PITA.

Write to them and ask for copies of all the letters they've sent detailing the overpayment. Ask them why they renewed in 2010 (and this year presumably) without mentioning this overpayment and get details of the supposed incorrect figures which resulted in this overpayment.

Have a look on their website for the bit about 'disputing an overpayment'.

Overpayments

Thanks saggar and everyone for the advice.

I will try to get through to them tonight and ask for copies of all the letters. And also ask them why they renewed without mentioning this! I doubt I will get anywhere, as they always fob you off ...

But will post tomorrow if I manage to get through.

Hiya, I googled the number and found this: whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08453021420

Sorry... whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08453021420

Sounds pretty much like a scam from humanBehaviour's link. Ignore it. I hope you didn't give them any useful info.

OK - looks like a bonafide scam! eeeeeeekkkkkk!!!!
Thank god I didn't give out any usable personal info. I gave my DOB and NI number, which I know I probably shouldn't have, but you assume they are doing the normal security checks....

Thank you for pointing that website out, makes perfect sense now. TC never call you! If genuine, they will send letters, which I haven't had.

From the HMRC website:
Bogus callers
HMRC have received reports of customers receiving telephone calls where the caller claimed to be from HMRC and asked them for their bank details so a tax refund can be made for a fee. HMRC will never ask you for a fee to provide any services including repayments of tax. If you cannot verify the identity of the caller HMRC recommend that you to report it to the police immediately

If anyone receives a call from this number - IGNORE and report to HMRC please. Gave me the fright of my life! Going to report to them tonight. PHEW!

Having given you DOB and NI number, you are now at risk of identity theft. I recommend that you keep a very close eye on your credit record (Experian etc)

Slightly different but I did get a call from them saying my payments from them had got sent back by the bank, they wanted my bank details so they could repay them, I obviously didn't give them the details and said I would call them back, turns out when we changed bank accounts they never changed the details over after we told them.

You can never be to careful but that time it was genuine. So they do phone sometimes.

Hope you get it sorted and it turns out that you don't owe them anything

Well, spoke to Tax Credits last night, and they said they haven't been trying to contact me. But there are overpayments from 2009, which equal £3000! Their fault, they renewed in 2010 based on the wrong income figures apparently.

But I remember having a letter from them in Dec 2010 saying I owed money, when I rang they said it was a mistake on the system and I owed nothing, which they proceeded to send me out in writing.

Have asked them now to send copies of all letter they have sent me, as I haven't received any on the dates they have told me they were issued. I think they seem to make quite a lot of mistakes...

So we will see. Thanks for all advice. roquefort I will definitely keep an eye on my credit etc.

I owe them about £3000 from overpayments, they take it back by cutting what you should be getting now rather than you paying it if you see what I mean.

tabula yeah I asked them if they could do that - they said no, becuase it was a new claim it had nothing to do with the old claim.
It seems depending on who you speak to there, you get told something different every time.
I don't get why they renewed in 2010 without telling me there were overpayments due from 2009! And again now without mentioning the overpayments from 2010!

Read this article www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/dec/08/benefit-overpayments-court-legal-action
Quite interesting.