Tax Credits Helpline - Has this happened to anyone else?

[KathH]

Rang the Helpline today wanting to query something on my existing award. After initially being chuffed at actually being able to get through I'm really irritated now! Went through the usual ni no, full name, was I employed, name of employer the adviser asked me for my PAYE reference from my previous employment. I told him I'd been in my current job 15 years so hadnt got a clue I've now got to attend at the HMRC local enquiry centre to ID myself. When I told him that surely it was a bit unreasonable to expect someone to remember their number from 15 yrs ago he said they'd updated the info they had on people to ID them. Does anyone know if I've buggered up my existing award by failing their ID check? (I'm worried they'll stop them or something until I go in but never thought to ask the chap as I was so miffed). Thanks

i'd ring back and speak to a different person as you get told different things depending on who you talk to.

Ummm... I don't think you've affected your award at all. They usually ask you 5 questions and you can get one of them wrong. I'm guessing something you said didn't match their records and therefore they cannot talk to you for security reasons. But they wouldn't change anything on your account because of that. Usual questions they ask is NI number, full name, birthday and address.

Note that HMRC has got a new PAYE computer system which merges two separate systems they used to use before. This means there's a lot of redundant and plain wrong information on their system. therefore I would agree with Morph2 and try calling again - hopefully you'll get another person and won't run into the same problem again. If that doesn't help then most likely something is wrong with your account and you might actually need to go to the local enquiry centre to sort the details out.

Last time I called they told me they could now use info from experian to verify my identity and I had to set up a password on my claim.

Not impressed that they have access my credit record due to security measures being brought in because of HMRC incompetence a few years ago where millions of records were compromised because of a security breach.

Besides experian often contained errors

Til 8pm I believe Riven

Yep..

The Helpline is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The numbers you can ring are:

tel 0845 300 3900
textphone 0845 300 3909 - if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment

Got friends who work on helpline. Very unusual shift patterns

A new security procedure is being phased in (partly in response to the rampant whining about the old one).

A one-off check using details gathered by Experian is used to confirm who you are (far more secure means of identification) and passing this one-off check leads to setting passwords based on personal info to use in future - far less likely to be open to identity theft, overseas targeted fraud etc.

If you haven't got a big enough 'footprint' with Experian or fail for any other reason, you need, one time only (provided you're not dim enough to forget your passwords) to id yourself at an enquiry centre and set your passwords up there.

Needless to say, as ever, everyone's up in arms, can't please any of the people any of the time, etc etc....

It's being phased in and depends on your NINO whether you're asked or not,and will be much faster and more secure than the old system once it's fully in place.

Also prevents the wholesale issue of claim forms to identity thieves - they're unlikely to be able to check up every possible Experian-based question.

Oh, and we don't access your credit record.

The security system throws out randomised questions based on Experian info, and we input your answer to get a pass/fail result.

No actual access or viewing or even longing sniffing of credit reports.

Snigger...that is useful information but how the advisor described it was not at all clear. Do you have a link to any information on this?

Obviously because it's a security process there's likely to be very little publicly available information, as this would just tell the criminal elements what they had to research to break through.

What's your particular worry/query?

The system, like any security system, can have its hiccups, but as an advisor, I think it has the capacity to prevent a lot of problems, and is certainly less open to abuse.

My concern is that experian are not faultless and often credit reports have errors. I would like to know what procedures are in place for when this happens.

For example my credit report incorrectly shows a financial connection to someone. I am in the process of having it removes.

And what happens when I forget my password cos I think I have already!

That's not the sort of info being accessed, dietcokebreak - and even if Experian's info was wrong and your answers therefore don't match, all that happens is what KathH had - we can't be sure for certain you're you, so we get you to pop in with photo id and something confirming your address so we can be sure (a la Passport application).

Then you set up your passwords and in future use them. You can change them any time you like, too, and they are personal to you, so in a joint claim your partner would have their own independent security passwords.

It's not as Big Brother as it sounds, I think people jolt when they hear Experian - it's just the best means available to filter out some of the security issues.

If you've already forgotten your password, prepare for the sound of the advisors eyes rolling as they take you through the whole damn procedure again .

Thanks snigger...Gotta call them soon anyway will soon find out if I have got the right passowrd in my head- he out me on the spot and I was really shocked about the experian thing.

I am well use to the sound of advisors eyes rolling as you put it..I seem to get the small minority who normally speak to like Im a small child.

Thanks all. While I understand the need for security I just thought that asking for my PAYE ref from over 15 years ago was a tad difficult!

Some of the questions are pretty tricky - I'd almost certainly be treading the path to the enquiry centre, passport in hand....