OMG! They do say that Him above never gives us more than we can handle - your life at present would suggest that this might not be strictly true!!!??? As if you haven't got more than enough on your plate? Look, I really marvel at just how you are coping with all this, I really, really do. I am full of admiration for you. This 'bad patch' will not last forever - IT WILL BE RESOLVED and so just try to focus on the fact that THERE WILL BE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! If your overworked brain can find the space/time - try to imagine how you are going to celebrate when this nightmare part of your life is over:-D:D:lol::p;)!!! I bet it will be SOME kinda celebration eh? Speak to you soon, chin up and all that.

That just about sums up the state of NHS! Well, hopefully, you get the 'tested' followed by an effective remedy. Nobody should suffer the way you have! I used to get 'weekend migraines' - the minute I returned home from work on the Friday which lasted right up until bedtime on Sunday night, miraculously gone when I woke on Monday morning!? They were bad enough but I just cannot imagine enduring one for a whole week! All the very best. Keep us posted.

Hi there! I can only tell you of my experience of WTC... My husband claimed WTC for our family up until 2002 at which time he lost his job through illness and the benefit changed to Child Tax Credit (same horse, different jockey) together with Incapacity Benefit (Income Support). Each year I dutifully completed the Annual Review form which was quite easy because our only source of income was Income Support. However I did incur a 6 month overpayment during the year my husband ceased employment - due to the fact that I did not inform Inland Revenue when my husband's SSP stopped and Incapacity commenced. I acknowledged this 6 months overpayment to an IR advisor when I phoned Tax Credits Hotline. She told me not to worry and that they would sort it out. That was in the August and they were swift to recover the overpayment - all subsequent payments were reduced significantly - our CTC payments were reduced by almost £200. We were only able to cope with the shortfall because we used the remainder of our meagre savings to get by. Personally, I felt comforted thinking that the debt (amount unknown - never received any paperwork from IR)would be paid back by the beginning of the next financial year... You can imagine my utter disbelief when, in March last year, I phoned the TC hotline for confirmation that the 'overpayment for 02/03 had been repaid in full' (convinced it was, in view of the fact that they had deducted almost 3/4 of our monthly Tax Credits for the previous 7 months) only to be told... "NO, WE HAVEN'T CALCULATED THAT YET BUT YOU ALSO HAVE OVERPAYMENTS FOR YEARS 03/04, 04/05, 05/06, AND 06/07"!!! Had I not been sat down at the time then I would have fallen down! By then, our savings were used up and we were suffering financial hardship and I was attending weekly counselling for depression, so to be given that devastating news, was a blow too many (by then my marriage was irretrievably broken down and we were separated although still living under same roof) and I actually contemplated suicide as a 'way out'. But luckily for me, that telephone call took place at 2.30 pm on a Friday and I had a vague recollection that my local MP had an open surgery on Fridays from 3.30 - 5pm. Consequently, I rushed off to see her, with copious amounts of neatly filed tax credits documentation which I dumped on her desk and burst out crying! She assured me that she would everything withhin her power to get it sorted and for me not to worry. I felt as though a huge weight had bee lifted from my shoulders. To cut a long story short, it took her exactly a year to 'get to the bottom of it' via the MP's Hotline and many letters, and almost a year to the day that I dumped my file on her desk I received a letter from the RT HON JANE KENNEDY MP (HM TREASURY) informing me that... "UNDER THE PRINCIPLES OF THE REVISED CODE OF PRACTICE 26, HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS HAVE DECIDED THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO ASK MR & MRS .... TO REPAY THE OVERPAYMENTS. HMRC HAVE ASKED ME TO PASS ON THEIR APOLOGIES THAT THEY DID NOT MAKE THESE DECISIONS PREVIOUSLY AND FOR ANY WORRY AND UPSET THAT THIS HAS CAUSED. HMRC WILL MAKE A COMPENSATION PAYMENT TO MR & MRS... FOR THE WORRY, UPSET AND FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES THEIR ACTIONS HAVE CAUSED". Also attached to this letter was a 3 page report itemising, in detail, each and every mistake that was made with my 'account' during the 6 year period! Mind you, 'they' continue to make 'mistakes' because the compensation cheque that I was to receive within 14 days of the date of their letter, still hasn't materialised to date - 4 weeks later! I made a telephone enquiry to this end but, would you believe it? they "had no record of it"!!! I'm afraid I was back on the phone to my saint of an MP and got her on the case again. She telephoned the HMRC on same day and phoned me to advise that they have admitted to yet another "mistake" but that a cheqe will be drawn up and I should receive it within 2 weeks. I'm not holding my breath but I will advise my MP if it doesn't turn up on the 14th day! Under the circumstances, I will be eternally grateful to my MP, as without her tenacity on my behalf, I KNOW that I alone could not have resolved this tangled mess of maladministration by HMRC. I doubt that all MPs are as good as mine, but if you decide to approach yours I wish you luck. After all, you have nothing to lose but much to gain. Sorry but I couldn't be brief if my life depended on it!!! Here's wishing you all the luck you're going to need! Keep us posted.

I can empathise re your migraines as I suffer too - ask your GP if he will prescribe Zomig (zolmitripan) - I have taken these since over counter medication ceased being effective - approx 15 years on repeat script. Only get 6 tabs per script but I only ever need 1 tab to zap my migraine - no side effects either. They are very expensive (according to my pharmacist approx £15 per tab!) so don't be surprised if your GP doesn't rush to write out the script! If I were you I would tell him that you have tried all over counter migraine relief but that none are effective. Furthermore, if he is not aware of your present dire financial straits, do enlighten him - hopefully if you go into enough detail he'll issue the script just to get rid of you! lol Good luck, let me know how you get on.

I shouldn't worry too much about that - the law is on your side and in any case the time it takes to instigate the eviction process, you'll be quids in!!!

Hi there. I'm far from an expert in this field, although have been at the mercy of DWP (Income Support/Incapacity Benefit) and Inland Rev (Child Tax Credits) for last 6 years. Don't want to 'put the boot in' but they're all a faceless bunch of b......s, robotic and with hearts(?) of stone. The bottom line is, no matter what they told you, you have no proof and cannot pin down any one individual for giving you such devastatingly incorrect information - and even if you could they would all close ranks and you'd still get no satisfaction. The most disturbing thing about your dilemma is that the scumbags don't really give a stuff whether or not your kids eat or not. In a 'crisis' they expect you to apply for a crisis loan:mad:, even though that could take the best part of a week, oh and in the meantime you are expected to beg, steal or borrow to put food on the table! Sorry to be so negative but there is no quick fix when trying right wrongs done to you by the w.....s that some of us have to depend on in order to make ends meet. Try and keep your cool, chin up and all that, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future this living nightmare of yours will be but a distant memory. Oh and you'll have learnt, albeit the hard way, never believe what any of the benefit agency w.....s tell you - grab any piece of paper to hand, thrust a pen/pencil into their hand and demand that they put it writing, sign and date it AND stamp it!!! I hope your troubles are short lived. Regards and good luck.

Sorry, can't give any advice on this one except my sincere sympathy. I know first hand how being trapped in debt can make you ill and also makes you question the choices you made in life but once you resolve your issue, and I'm sure you will - there's some superb advice given on this site - just sit tight and wait a little - you'll have learnt a valuable lesson in life, never to be repeated again. I know you must feel helpless and hopeless right now but try and get some positivity back into your life (it used to work for me by thinking that there are very many people much worse off than myself) and always remember, once you've hit rock bottom, there's only one way to go and that is UP! Oh and don't be tempted to turn to the alcohol or prescribed medication - fuzzy heads never achieve anything!!! lol All the very best and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I've had dealings with these people - it doesn't matter what you offer, what you say to them - they're like a dog with a bone. However, they sit up and take notice if Citizens Advice Bureau or any of the local advice centre debt counsellors (mostly one or two in each city - check on internet) sends them a letter on your behalf. They are then very compliant. It's a bit of a hassle getting to see one of these 'advisors' but the end result - peace of mind - is surely worth the effort? One thing's for sure, I don't think you need to entertain the thought of bankcruptcy over this and don't lose any sleep over it either! Good luck!

Sorry to hear of your troubles. How d'you think I feel then when I'm still being chased (& harassed) for a debt 17 YEARS OLD?! I made my first contact with C.A.B. re this debt AFTER I had been making agreed, reduced payments to Nat West for two years religiously - they became greedy and their insistence twice per year for me to increase payments, drove me to seek advice from CAB as I would write to bank explaining circumstances same - on benefits - but it was as if I had never made contact with them - they totally disregarded my letters. However the immediately responded to letter that CAB wrote to them on my behalf and even stopped interest being added. CAB advisor told me that my "big mistake" was ever making a single payment to them in the first place - as after 2 years of non payment & non contact, they would have wiped debt!? It seems crazy that people like you and I who actually WANT to pay off our debts the best way we can, happen to get pursued for years on end, whilst some (though not all) individuals, 'in the know', run up debts intentionally with the express intention of never repaying them! I would advise you to find an experienced 'debt counsellor' attached to a local advice centre (these are far superior to CAB advisors who have very little time to spend on your case - and in order to get to 'see' one during any session slot, you to join a queue in the street, sometime a 'mile' long, then when, eventuall, the doors are open, take a ticket, sit, wait and often still not get to see an advisor. Or, alternatively, do as I did - arrive 2 HOURS before they open to ensure you are first in the queue - even then though you cannot guarantee that you WILL be first - when I did this a woman appeared from 'nowhere' and exclaimed that she was "before me and had been sat in her car!" Advantage of a local advice centre (there must be one in your city?) is that they are smaller, more friendly, mostly operate on an appointment system and spend far more time with you. They are every bit as good (if not better, in my experience) than CAB. Second suggestion is to go and meet your local MP at his/her surgery - they will help you in any way they can - I realise they are not debt counsellors but mine worked on my behalf tirelessly for 12 months to resolve and Inland Revenue issue - absolutely brilliant. You've nothing to lose (except maybe half hour of your time) and everything to gain. You are a constituent and they need/want to secure your future votes so it's in their best interests to help you all they can. Anyway, good luck and I'm sure many other people on this brill site will have some ideas for you.

Phew, how complicated! I can only offer my sympathy at this stage but hang on in there, surely someone out there must come forth sooner or later with some problem-solving solutions! Good luck.

If it's any consolation to you, I'm suffering the same memory loss - if it doesn't get written down the minute it comes to mind then it doesn't get done till the next time I remember! lol

Wow, thanks loads! This information is brilliant! It's amazingly put together also. Thank you so very much. Regards, Beryl

Brilliant thanks very much for the clear and consider information.

Okie doke, thanks very much for that clarification.

Hi again! GNI03349 is quite correct - you definitately need to see your MP and not local councillor! Also I would not SEND anything - you need a face to face meeting - you would need to phone and make an appointment or turn up at one of the weekly surgeries they hold. This is what I did and because of the state that I was in on the day (could hardly stop crying when relaying my problem) I'm sure this gained MP's resolve to help. I would not ASSUME that he/she won't be able to help re DWP - as with Inland Rev, they also have an MP'S HOTLINE. Good luck!