HI Just wanted to say thanks to people for the posts since I last posted on this thread (about 4 from the bottom). I would click on Erika's bottom-of-her-post icon for saying thanks but it doesn't appear to be showing up on my system; which I mention just incidentally. Thanks to *all* who have posted here. A new question though maybe this shd be in a new thread - I am really unclear how the tax credits people process a claim, not from the point of view of the technical side of it (seeing if you are eligible, giving out the amount, processing renewal claims, the time of year for this, etc) but from the point of view of anyone assessing whether your claim is legitimate or not (people could be adjusting their income or expenses so as to make them eligible for tax credits - there must be people assessing the likelihood of this kind of thing...). Is that 'looking at the legitimacy of claims' question, something that is merely handled by the usual HMRC people when they evaluate tax returns at the end of the year? After all they know if you are getting tax credits and how much. So maybe it is left to them to make the overall evaluation/s of whether people are putting their details down correctly (both for tax; and for their associated tax credits claim)...does anyone know, or know of any poster on these forums who would be likely to know?! (I know there are some real experts on here but maybe they don't read every thread...in fact it would be impossible for them to do so so they could easily miss this question!). I guess I could pm someone if anyone thought they knew someone who'd know. But at the end of the day it's just a bit of paranoia here thinking about these things so...I ought not to concern myself with such things I guess...still, I'd be interested to know...

Hello On this mighty useful forum. I am wondering if I was mis-sold PPI or if it was too subtle for me to make a claim. I am getting to the end of a 5-year business loan. When applying for this, I was told by the woman at the bank that I could apply for the amount and the decision would be made by the person deciding (her boss or someone); however, that it would help the likelihood of me getting the loan if I took out PPI (I had said I didn't want to). She left with me a bit in other words rather than absolutely stating that I had to have PPI to get the loan; though it had also been clear from our conversation that for a loan to suit my purposes (buying certain totally key business items), a lower amount of loan was not going to be enough. So she knew I needed the money; and kind of knew that the risk to me of not getting the loan was, to me in my position (when without it I couldn't have the business I was looking at), something that would weigh significantly on my mind. As I say, she didn't dictate that I take it but, surprise surprise, I decided that to increase the likelihood of getting the loan, I would accept the PPI element. Then I got approval and the PPI amount was added to the cost of the loan (so the loan ended up being for more). The loan amount without PPI was 8k so it was around 8.72 k with the PPI element. I had my arm twisted a little bit you might say... Does that constitute mis-selling for claiming purposes? With the selling being like that, what are the chances of getting a payout (though I guess that depends on the bank and stuff - this was Lloyds, anyone know how much they are paying out or otherwise, they seem extremely stiff and difficult to deal with whenever I've made a complaint about a much more minor issue, like an overdraft charge or small series of them that I feel were patently unjustified...but I am not pursuing an overdraft charges claim and have no wish to in that area). The other KEY question here (sorry for caps!) is: would anyone know, or dispute it, if I (hateful idea though this may be!! and maybe I shouldn't consider it but I'll ask the question anyway) simply reported this PPI element (which, after all, I did not want to get, and had previously stated in the conversation that I did not want PPI) as being sold to me with the statement that the loan application was unlikely to be passed if I didn't sign up? ie who is to know at this distance in time what was said in that room, and do banks use this to try and avoid making PPI pay-outs? I reckon there must be 800 quid in this (PPI + interest on it, over 4+ years of the loan term) - a very considerable amount for me. A FINAL QUESTION!...I was quoted £395+VAT to pursue this claim by one company. On Money Saving Expert, it says you can pursue a claim yourself and it doesn't have any less chance of success. Is that right? What is other people's experience? The way lloyds have been to me in other areas, I expect attempts to simply ignore me completely. They never replied to my letter about an inappropriate bank charge 4 years back; and the bank manager was extremely unreasonable about another set of charges when I pointed out that lloyds policy on the frequency of overdraft charges appeared to have changed and asked that some of the sudden extra ones (like, every 2 days for a period...) be dropped. He just rang me up and became quite threatening and denied all ('I think you should be charged these charges'). Any advice on these several areas would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance Cheers Jimmy R

Hello I was wondering if anyone knows about the process by which HMRC ratify/evaluate tax credits claims. It is clear I would be eligible for working tax credits as I do more than 35 hours work a week and my income/profit levels (I am self-employed) mean I would be eligible also. I have looked in to it and it is clear they would make an award based on my current year's taxable profits (my income/profit level for last tax year was just over the limit for eligibility), and that I would be eligible for 3 months backdating for a claim also. The points I am wondering about are simply to do with other aspects of the way the tax credits people would evaluate a claim from me. Naturally, I would want to avoid receiving an enquiry or queries from the tax credits department - which like the HMRC's in general when they do this (ie when they do this on a tax return they have received), could be time-consuming and cause a lot of anxiety/stress (even if resolved ok in the end...). What makes me wonder about getting an enquiry/queries is to do with my not having claimed housing benefit or council tax benefit in the last two years (ie, the two years they would look at when validating my claim to tax credits; they would look at my position for the previous tax year and the current tax year...). I gather - someone told me - that if you claim tax credits this information gets put on the DWP's Customer Information System (CIS) database and so from looking at this (if that is what they do...) they would see this. I suppose, trying to look at things from their point of view at the moment, looking at new claims, my *not* having claimed housing benefit/council tax benefit might raise questions about how I was able to live in these two tax years – if my income level has been low (in the current tax year, making me eligible for tax credits…). I guess (again, trying to think of it from their point of view) they could see the lack of housing benefit/council tax benefit claim from me as signs of potentially ‘under-declaring’ my income for these two tax years (since they might think I would need to have more income to survive, if I wasn’t claiming housing benefit…). So, my lack of claiming these other benefits, at the least might seem ‘mysterious’ to them and raise these kinds of question. That said, however, it’s important for me to add (obviously) that my income level is entirely and absolutely correct; the only reason I didn’t claim ‘other benefits’ to help with housing are that a) I was moving around a lot and living with friends at various points, and living as a lodger at some points also (where a council tax element was included in the rent); and b) I have a personal kind of attitude about claiming other benefits and was wanting to avoid this if at all possible. So it would be ironic if my position did lead to an enquiry/queries, through not claiming anything else in he past two years and looking a bit ‘mysterious’ as a result… So it all depends on how they actually assess/process a new tax credits claim. If it goes through automatically, I suppose I don’t need to think (and I am sure I may be overthinking this matter!) any more about all this. On the other hand, I guess the very fact of making a tax credits claim might act as a ‘flag’ for the way your tax return is looked at…ie a flag might come up on the system meaning your tax return is looked at when otherwise it wouldn’t be. In which case I might then get the enquiry/queries from the tax return people at HMRC rather than the tax credits people. So: does anyone know – really know (any experts in this area on here?!) what just making a new tax credits claim would mean, in terms of whether it leads to a flag/means you get looked in to/makes you more liable for an enquiry/query? Or is the info they would see about my housing benefit/council tax benefit position on the DWP’s CIS something that would raise such an enquiry/queries? I did claim housing benefit over two years ago so they would see it coming up for that period (on CIS). Does anyone know how far back the tax credits people can legitimately look at/go in to your records also? The tax return people are obviously only allowed to query something on your current tax return – ie they have 12 months after it is submitted to consider it and it is only one year they can look at (unless they were able to prove that there was a case for starting to look at a previous year). No doubt this may sound like overthinking it – or paranoia even! I am just wanting to keep my life simple – indeed this has been another reason for not claiming state benefits - too much paperwork/hassle and I just want to avoid all that, preferring to live off a bit less money and feel more ‘free’, in essence.e Wd be most grateful for any responses here Many thanks in advance, cag Trevor

Many thanks to all who have replied here! @ inovermyhead2...(and possibly jabba jones and erikapnp) you sound like you really know what's on CIS, inovermyhead2 (nice user name b-t-w!); can I ask you then, does it have the amount of housing benefit = council tax benefit received on it (among the details of the other things you've mentioned are on it)? From what others have put (like jabba jones) it sounds like there may just be an 'indicator' or flag to say that you had a claim between such and such dates (without it saying the amount) - but I wonder if, as one or two of those other people imply may potentially be the case, it is just a case of needing to click somewhere (once inside the Customer Information System) to get another screen that would give details of the amount of housing benefit/council tax benefit received? If you know, most grateful to hear! Many thanks in advance!

Hello What a great place this is. Loads of good - invaluable - information, in lots of areas. I would be v. grateful if anyone knows the answer to my query about the kind of information that is held on the DWP's system, the Customer Information System. Particularly if any ex-benefits officers or similar are able to respond (I say this having noticed there are some on this forum!). Basically, I am looking to make a tax credits claim. I understand that HMRC tax credits information gets put on the Customer Information System. This means that Local Authorities get given the tax credits information. This is no problem for me on its own - I just wonder if *more* than tax credits information gets put on the CIS after you make your tax credits claim. Do your tax details (ie details of income and tax paid) get put on CIS also? Again, not a problem per se, it's just I don't like the idea of all my personal details like, other stuff beyond the simple tax credits information (award level, date starts, when it's going on to etc) going on the CIS. Does income and tax paid, then, go on to CIS? And if I make a tax credits claim now, do details of my income and tax paid for any previous years also go on to CIS? Additionally, what exact details of my housing benefit claim go on to CIS (if I make one)? Is it just a 'flag' to show I am claiming or is the amount on there as well? I remember claiming JSA once, a fair time back, and although I didn't think CIS was supposed to have the amount of housing benefit per week on it, I could see that it did have, so the person I was signing on with every fortnight could see how much housing benefit I was getting. That's fine I suppose (again there's no problem, per se - it's just, is that the way the system is supposed to or does work (maybe it was a fluke in my case), if so I would like to know about it as it is all to do with my personal information, and who has access to it. Sounds in theory like CIS doesn't have the amount of HB on it, only that you are claiming (though they can find out if they wanted to, anyone looking at CIS); and that it records tax credits details but not other details on people's tax returns; and that HMRC people aren't supposed to be able to look at CIS without applying for special access/permission (which LA people also need although in practice this is given routinely). No doubt I ought to stop fussing about the way my information could be spreading around beyond this 'way things are supposed to work' picture...but anyway it would be good to know whether this picture is correct in its details, of the way things are supposed to work. Anyone especially any experts on here?! many thanks in advance, much appreciated. Best regards Jimmy Richardson