Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
I have just found out from my mother that she is having problems with the Working Tax Credits. Ive asked her to collate everything she has regarding this, so we can look at trying to resolve it. According to the letter she has received, she was overpayed by the system and therefore has to pay £10,000 within a year. My father is disabled and unable to work, and my mother only brings home £600 a month. Obviously this is worrying, and need to know where to start to help my mother. She has kept every letter sent. I don't really have much more info untill I look into it with her.
For my girlfriend - I put for each financial year the actual income and pension payments for the March payslip and P60. Take note of the entitlement that should have been due.
After review the mountain of paper work the Tax Office had sent - most of them blank, it turned out the error was on their part in 2004. The summary sheet stated that they had paid £1500 in Working Tax Credit during that tax year whereas a review of bank statements only showed receipt of £115!
After reviewing all paperwork, rather than owing £1080 she actually owes £97. We are still disputing the amounts - last letter recieved asked for £630 - after they reviewed the case and found an error by themsleves!
Keep attacking them - always state the amount is disputed (if it is actually in error).
You must summarise your mums bank account statements that recieved the WTC and CTC - write it out. We haved asked numerous times for a statement of payments from them but have never received anything.
I had 2 overpayments of tax credits on 2 consecutive years. Both were just short of £1000.
They basically occurred due to my circumstances changing (changes in salary, splitting from partner, higher child care payments). I told them about all the changes when they happened and they recalculated my awards.
After the first overpayment notice I telephoned them and asked for a detailed Breakdown of how such a huge overpayment could have occurred. i also asked for appeal forms.
The answer the sent basically said 'we have calculated yor payments wrongly because we didn't act on the information you gave us'. It was a bit longer and more fancy worded than that but that was the basis of it.
I filled in the appeal forms telling them that it was unfair to penalise me for telling them of my changes when they happened and that it wasn't my fault that their staff couldn't calculate awards properly. In the section that asks why you didn't know that the award was wrong, I replied that it wasn't my job to know. They have trained staff to know what awards are right and wrong.
A week later I got a letter aying the overpayment was being written off.
Lo and behold the did exactly the same the next year. I followed the same procedure and have had that overpayment written off too.
They are an incompetent bunch who make so many mistakes. I have had a nightmare with them. If they are in the wrong then stand your ground and appeal. And remeber too that they will re-consider overpayments if the repaymen will cause you severe financial hardship.
Working Tax Credits
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