Hi,

Got a letter in today with a demand of £600 for a shortfall in my NI contributions from 2011 - 2015 which was 100% my fault. The letter basically said if it was not paid then they would pass it to a debt collector although no date was given as to when it had to be settled.

Called HRMC today and spoke to a guy who was great and advised that i could set up a payment plan but had to transfer me to their debt section to arrange this.

Got through to a very arrogant [removed] woman who asked for the full amount to be paid today. I explained that due to the time of the year and my tax bill that was due (Not her fault i know) that i didnt have a spare £600 to pay in one.

She told me she could take £190 today and the rest would need to be paid by January. Told her that i could pay £100 per month but she said no this is not something that can be paid over that length of time.

She then told me to get a small loan or borrow the money. I told her i wouldnt be willing to do this. She then asked me why i had called her if i wasnt willing to make payment. I really had to just put the phone down on her as i didnt like the way i was being spoken to.

Anyway, It was my fault and not theirs and I have to pay it. I could pay it all today but that kind of drains me over christmas.

So my question is there any way that i could get them to accept a payment plan or do i just give in?

Ta

phone the person you first spoke to and tell them about the behaviour of the lady and say you want to make a complaint and who do you write to. Then explain about requiring 3 months to pay it off and say that you will not speak to that individual again so can they suggest an alternative. Try and record your conversations, even if it is with a dictaphone. Then if they are rude you can let them know afterwards that you have recorded them and will be sendinga copy of the tape in with your complaint.

Hi and thanks for your reply.

I just bit the bullet and paid it off as i would be stressed having that over the christmas period. At least i can now be stressed at being skint over christmas unless the work come in again

When i called them it did say calls were recorded so i left feedback for the person who wasnt helpful. I honestly wasnt expecting to be spoken to like that so she caught me unaware.

Ask for a copy of the recording.

You will then find out they have lost it or the recording equipment wasnt working that day.

They have to be quite forceful when speaking to customers on the phone, otherwise they wouldn't get payments at all. Don't forget that this team deal only with people who owe tax, whatever the reason. Their aim is to get as many full payments as possible and knowing your tax history they have a good idea whether you can afford to pay or not. They have heard all the excuses and being a little short at Christmas won't wash with them, that just proves to them that you have the money. They see it as a priority debt regardless of where it sits in your list or priorities.

All calls to the debt team are recorded. The complaints team will listen to all your recent calls if you make a complaint.

They have to be quite forceful when speaking to customers on the phone, otherwise they wouldn't get payments at all. Don't forget that this team deal only with people who owe tax, whatever the reason. Their aim is to get as many full payments as possible and knowing your tax history they have a good idea whether you can afford to pay or not. They have heard all the excuses and being a little short at Christmas won't wash with them, that just proves to them that you have the money. They see it as a priority debt regardless of where it sits in your list or priorities.

 

All calls to the debt team are recorded. The complaints team will listen to all your recent calls if you make a complaint.

It was class 2 National Insurance and she had all my tax information in front of her which shows all my tax returns are upto date as well as my tax bills. The bill that they sent had flagged up due to the new system where they now collect NI along with the tax. So i assumed that the class 2 was still being taken from my Direct debit but for some reason they stopped taking it. My fault for not noticing it but their fault for not collecting it for whatever reason, so when they send you a bill out of the blue i should been the one pSSd off but i owed it and paid it.

I appreciate that they do have to be forceful to get payments but i was phoning to arrange a payment plan but there is a difference between that and being arrogant and rude. No need for that when i was trying to pay.

I actually was struggling to also make her out, maybe there calls are sent to Nigeria !! Paid by bank transfer just incase !! Yep that was a dig !