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I've just been landed with an 11.5k bill from CSA arrears after closing their case which I have now moved over to CMS.
CMS is all sorted and setup through Direct Pay and CSA have given me 14 days notice to contact them about the arrears before it goes to CMS.
Here is the story.
Split from ex got into some debt with my bank/credit card was living at my mums at the time and eventually a bailiff turned up. They couldn't take anything as it was my mums but rather than leave it I gave him everything he needed to take back to court with an offer of payment to £20 a month. fell out with my mum moved in with brother never heard anything more.
Not long after CSA contacted me to setup payment with them I followed advice to contact them only by letter (was on a forum at the time this was suggested rather than telephone) after some debating with them they agreed to setup payments by "standing order" all was happy left it at that.
They took 3 payments then I got a letter to say there was a DEO on my wage had all my details of work and they were taking £30 a week. my understanding was "now" I should have been given the opportunity to attend court this letter never turned up. Anyway I wasn't bothered it was easier coming out of my wage I could forget about it.
Somewhere in the mix of all this £21 started coming out of my wage I assumed the the court accepted my £20 offer for the debt.
This was all in 2009.
2009 -2017 I have moved 2 different address and told CSA each time and in 8 years I've not heard a thing from them. didn't think I would unless there was a problem.
Get told in April 2017 first time in 8 years I have been paying them that I am moving to CMS in September. No problem contacted wages to find out what happens to the DEO and they didn't know so I asked them about the debt I was paying off at £20 a month and they didn't have a clue about any debt.
Found out the £20 that said Debt on my wage was CSA. I dropped like a bomb I didn't say anything on the phone but I was like [censored] 8 years at £20 when it should have been about £150 a month.
So I left it waited for CMS to take over and for CSA to say they were closing the case and was hoping to god it wasn't noticed. I got a letter last week saying 11.5k arrears.
I dont' have wage slips going back 8 years so couldn't check and I assumed CSA was coming off my wage before I got deductions. So taking some of this as my fault I hadn't noticed and couldn't remember.
It wasn't till the the other day when I looked online at my wage slips (I work for the NHS and we can now access them online) that I can go back right to my first wage slip.
What they did was they took 3 payments Jan-Mar 2009 £241 then x2 £131 it then dropped in april 2009 to £21 a month and then Jan 2010 to £20 a month and stayed at that for 8 years.
Somewhere in all this I hadn't noticed that CSA dropped off my wage slip and then I've seen the £21 appear as court order and got confused with what I thought was a debt and got it in my head CSA was coming off my wage before I got paid.
So I've really F'd up this one. I spoke to wages today to find out what happened and they couldn't find the original court orders but they do have the one for Jan 2010 that states they put an order in for them to take £20 a month she can only assume they did the same for the others.
She said someone in CSA has screwed up big time. Not just once when it was reduced to £21 but again in 2010 when it was reduced again to £20 she said she doesn't understand why they hadn't picked up on it.
As for the Debt I contact the local court they found a record that said it was returned as being void (unable to get payment) so god knows what they did with the documentation but the debt is cleared now as its been over 6 years he said.
What do I do with CSA at this stage 11.5k owed I need to do a SAR do I speak with them on the phone about it or just write to them and stick to writing? would they consider wiping the debt? I'm the only one working at the moment wife is a uni student till at least July next year and I have a 3 year old. She lost her job last year putting us 20k in debt which is being paid back at £269 a month through stepchange debt charity
I have just about found the money to pay the £170 a month CMS needed for ex the only money I can offer for arrears to CSA is £269 a month taken from the debts and offer them a reduced payment till wife gets into work next year.
Not sure what to do at this stage??
I would certainly do a SAR for all documentation at their end, and then put in a formal complaint - https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/complaints-and-appeals - you aren't trying to avoid the debt, so I can't see that they shouldn't accept a reasonable level of repayment, but of course they won't do it without a fight.
With respect to them writing off the debt, I am 99% sure that this won't happen, the CSA just don't do that unfortunately, even when it's their error.
Hello, I have out of work for 8 years due to mental health issues caused by my expartner and the CSA and CMS. I had a nervous breakdown and because I was in no fit state to go to get sickness benefit but was told to by the hospital because I had tried to commit suicide again that I should. However as six months had gone by since I had to leave work then I do not get anything, I have relied on my wife all this time. I have had five claims made by the CSA since paying on the CMS system. They made mistakes and sent me massive bills when I had left work too. All the amounts were written off because I proved that I was either living with her at the time she claimed, were fraudulent or that I had been paying her by standing order. However I have been asked now my children are adults and working to pay £567.99, passed over from the CSa to the CMS sum years ago, although they never told me about it. However I wrote and asked what the sum was and they told me an old CSA claim, and sent another letter dated the same with two other amounts of £754 and £2,310? It is like Ive been punished for asking what the £567.99 was, even though I had not had an income when it was passed to them. My wife doesnt earn much and we scrape by. She called the CMS who assured us only had £567.99 arrears so she agreed to pay it in instalments and asked for a letter verifying this. Instead we get a letter asking for £754, and the amount to be reviewed in November. They dont even have the date the claim was for. This might seem poultry to others but we really do live on a shoestring and cannot afford to keep paying forevermore. I have nightmares and wake up thinking Im trying to kill myself. I had twelve years of torment and torture trying to see my children, being attacked by her friends and family, my car kicked and scratched and we have had to have cameras and floodlights around our home. She has some nasty family who have gone to prison for GBH who have attacked and threatened me these last 23 years as well as groups of men who have been told lies to do me over. My children have been poisoned against me, and my wife is at her wits end having no reply from the complaints team. They even give my brother friends abuse and threats. Anyone got any advice please. I have had no help from the NHS just drugs which do not help and I have had to quit. I have lost nine years of pension contributions and eight years of earnings and Im so screwed up I don't even answer the phone.
hi,
if your not working and eligible to claim benefits due to mental health issues etc, then do it. that will shut up the cms. they will then make you pay £7 a week in maintenance.
hello Id love to do that but as it was past six months since paying national insurance when I left work they would not give it to me although i have been approved for it they said I could not claim any benefit. I wonder who else with mental health issues knows this. You don't even get a stamp towards a state pension, nothing.
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