Thank you Dons. Best of luck to you also, hope you hear soon.

Hi all. I reclaimed all of my bank charges from Abbey and received their cheque last April. I withdrew the balance, after paying the O/D off and left a zero account. I thought that would be the end of the matter. I know now that I should have closed down the account, but I didn't, I just left it empty thinking it would be fine. However, after hearing nothing for months, last June I got a letter saying they were taking charges for interest due before the April cheque had gone in. I disputed this but their process takes months, and whilst my letter was being looked at I was continuously charged every month. Eventually I got a letter saying it was a computer error, and the charges had been put back to zero and there were no more pending. This situation happened 3 times over the next 9 months! Eventually I had had enough, I mean, I had no access to the account at all, so how could I possibly be incurring charges?? I sent them a scathing letter and the upshot is that I was given £100 compo for their mistakes I have now made sure that the account is CLOSED, once and for all I am shot of Abbey. Anyone else in the same boat, I just wanted to say Please Please make sure the account is closed because you never know what they could decide to take in a couple of months time.

Just a quick update Patrick. After hearing nothing from IB since February I asked my hubby to phone them today and see what was going on. It seems that they got his appeal letter weeks ago, and several documents have been sent off to their medical department. But he said because our appeal had been put on plain paper, instead of one of their numbered forms, it seems it isn't valid! My husband asked 'so you're telling me that just because I sent you something on the wrong paper, you are going to send it back to me, and I am going to have to copy the exact words down onto a different piece of paper and send that back to you?' The guy answered 'yes, that seems to be the case'. My hubby asked 'Is it just me, or do you find that totally absurd?'. The guy answered 'I couldn't possibly comment.' So I expect we will get another form through the post within the next few days. I also asked him to phone the DLA to see how that case was going, and the outcome of that call was that it had been passed to the Decision Maker, who has a deadline of April 27th to respond to us. The operator couldn't give us any inclination as to the outcome as it has nothing to do with him. So fingers crossed the next few weeks bring a bit of better news.

Hi Dons, thanks for that. I actually got through to them this morning fairly quickly, and spoke to somebody who actually had a clue! I am eligible, and as we haven't already received the payments, the first payment will be for £520 for the year 2001/2, and we will be getting £529, for 2002/3, plus interest. But he couldn't tell me how much that would be because my claim has been sent to the processing department in Leeds. He said to expect a cheque no later than a week from now. Woohooooooo

Sorry, I just meant there was already a thread, incase these new claimants wanted to read how others had been getting on in the same situation.

Expect a PM very soon Dons (wink wink)

Dont expect it to be quick either, acouple of us have sent letters etc in in Dec/January and we still havent had a reply due to the backlog, so expect to wait at least 4 months to hear from them

We've already got a thread on this, it's a bit further down the benefits section. For claims for the 2001/2 year you have already missed the deadline of January 31st 2008 I think, but you have until January 31st 2009 to file your claim for the 2002/3 tax year.

I've just found an absolute corker of a webpage purely for Blind and Partially Sighted folks. I really wish I'd seen it before my husbands CLA claim was sent off. If it helps anyone else here it is:: Disability Living Allowance

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Hi Patrick. Thanks for the link to Coventry. I actually found this one which I was going to try on Monday first, but if they aren't suitable, then I will try the one you gave me. I also plan to phone regarding our DLA claim and see whats happening with it, as its been months now. I'll post again tomorrow.

I must admit, that we are in the middle of a claim for my husband, it was filed in January but we also havent heard a thing (we were told 12 weeks). It seems that they dont rush themselves, and we have been told that on first try 95% of these applications are automatically declined, so that they can drag it out longer through an appeals procedure. It is disgraceful in a way that all of these governemtn buildings seem to have the power to stretch things out as long as they can, lets face it, they aren't going to get sacked though are they. Where else would a letter sit in someones tray for 12 weeks before it even got a stamp! We have been put through hardship aswell because he has had his incapacity stopped and that is also on appeal! My hubby has been registered as partially sighted due to 2 strokes so the blind worker said that he would be very surprised if we were turned down, but we'll see. Just to say there are lots of us in the same boat as you bazaar so I really sympathise. Keep your chin up and i hope you get it sorted quickly.

That super news for you, I'm really pleased. I will forward my email as you suggest. I'm in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. Thanks

No better for me I'm afraid. My MP is more than useless, she passed it on to her case worker, and we have constantly had to phone her up to see if she is doing anything about us. But she isnt, we have no idea if she has been calling anyone, or writing letters etc because she never bothers to get back to us. I emailed the MP last week to tell here that I wasnt impressed with who she had passed us on to, and she hasnt even acknowledged me. The only positive is that our tax credits started again this week, got £105 today, but although we have asked them twice for a breakdown sheet we havent had it, so god knows what we are entilted to, and how much they have deducted. We were granted a budgeting loan of £700 last week, still waiting for it to go into the bank tho, cos we were turned down twice for the crisis loan. Apart from that theres no updates on any front. We are still waiting to hear from incapacity, and dla, and hopefully we should get that backdated if we can get it sorted out. Glad to hear you're getting some action though. I'll keep reading.

Thanks for that Dons, you are an absolute gem! I found a handy link myself yesterday so I was able to get a better understanding of what the payment would be like, because one website that I had looked at previously said each applicant was able to reclaim £1500, but now I see it's nowhere near that amount. Youth Information Child Tax Credit (CTC) Also, I havent had to fill an 11CTC form, I havent been asked to yet anyway, but I'm assuming that this gives them authority to dig around in your files! On my initial letter I did state that you have my permission to obtain whatever info you need, so I guess I covered that basis. My new CTC award is due to start on April 10th (Woohooo) and it will be £105.12 a week so I have been informed. But they are also giving us an early payment (how kind) of £57.00 on Monday 7th April, but I'll believe that when I see it. We havent had a breakdown of the new award notice yet so I have no idea what they are claiming back, and what we should be entitled to, but at least we'll have more of a normal income again. One good note is that I sent a scathing letter to Abbey because they keep adding charges to my unused account (they paid me off in April 07) but since then have added charges despite me not using the account once. So I told them I had had enough and was getting my solicitor onto them for harrassement causing undue stress, and they have credited my account with compensation of £100. So I will go and draw that over the counter and close it down in writing this time. Thanks for the phone numbers they will be extremely handy. I have already made 12 calls in the last few months to them, so I will try and reclaim that aswell. And if you add in all the other Government departments then it would probably be over 100 calls.

Thanks for that. I think I need to be a bit more firm on the phone aswell, but I'm having such hassle with all of these Government bodies at the moment that if I told you all of my problems you seriously wouldn't believe me. I am spending hours each week on the phone to all of these different people, and it doesnt come cheap when you are on hold for up to 20 mins at a time. I have threads on the CTC forum and also the Incapacity thread, but our affairs are in such a mess because of the complete idiocy of these people, that my MP is dealing with my case. To cut a massive story short, I have been surviving (we are a family of 5) on £80.95 IS per week while our Incapacity Benefit, Child Tax Credit, DLA and this Tax Relief is sorted out. This has been going on for 7 weeks now. We have no child Tax credit as they paid it to us too early! It seems to be the norm, that all departments take around 16 weeks to get a simple letter opened and processed. And most of the time it isn't the answer you are looking for so you have to go through appeals, which then takes another 6 months! Brilliant!! ps - I don't suppose you know the answer to my Q?? I have got 2 children who I am claiming the relief for, one born in 1999, the other in 2000. Would I be entitled to 2 payments, or will it just be one do you think. I have asked on the phone but nobody seems to know.

Hi Dons. I was just about to check how everyone else was getting on because I have got nowhere yet!! I sent my letter to my local office and they got it on Jan 25th. I have made numerous phone calls and it seems that it was sent to the Gloucester tax Office, but then it was again forwarded on to the South Yorkshire Office! But they didnt receive it until 26th February. Now I have called the South Yorkshire office 3 times over the last 2 weeks, only to be told that "it is being processed, but I cannot give you a guarantee of when you will hear anything as we don't work to any particular timescale" Super eh! I'm sure if they had been chasing me for any money I would have incurred numerous fines by now and probably have been hauled infront of the courts, but since it's the other way round they don't give a monkeys. Over 2 months has passed, and I still havent even had an acknowledgement. I don't know if I am even entitled to the payment. I could get a letter back soon saying 'no sorry, you're not getting anything' then I will have had such a long wait for nothing. Hope everyone else is doing better.

I think that Surestart may be able to help if there is one in her area, you would have to use a search engine, but they provide all kinds of help through pregnancy and until a child is aged 5. I have used my surestart group since getting pregnant and they have a built in CAB service which runs on a Wednesday morning, they hold all sorts of groups such as baby massage, chat morning, trips etc. But they have qualified staff who should be able to help your friend, especially with getting what she is entitled to.

I cant believe that in february we were receiving IB, IS, CB and CTC, then suddenly we are reduced to this situation, all because of one individual (who we have been informed IS a registered Doctor.) and his word. The appeals procedure is so long winded and useless that I really do dispair. I actually wondered if it would be worthwhile trying to find a solicitors who give legal aid, to see if they can hurry up any of this nonsense. At least this evening our local GP has said that the partially sighted certificate should put a stop to this nonsense once and for all, and they should immediately reinstate the IB. (But I'll believe it when I see it).

well I really hope everything works out for you, you've been messed around long enough. It seems the norm for these government employees to try and fob you off and pass you from pillar to post for as long as humanly possible. Last Thursday we re applied for a crisis loan, as we genuinly are in crisis. We have cancelled all utilities etc as we just cant afford to pay them on 80 quid a week, and live aswell, but they took so long to get back to us and when they did you wont belive the instructions we were given. I can actually laugh now, but at the time I was in tears all day and felt lower than I ever have before. We were telephoned back and told that because it was Easter and there were no crisis loan buildings open, we would have to go to our local police station with ID and ask to speak to their emergency social security worker. He would then call round to our house with cash! We knew this couldnt be right, so I telephoned the local police station and asked them if they did this. The lady was astonished and hadnt heard anything like it before. She demanded to know who had told me this, so I had to give here the details of the crisis loan people so I expect they will be getting a call! Then we were told we had to go to the local hospital and ask for their out of hours emergency social worker. At this point I thought to myself I would rather go and search bins than beg at the hospital, so I gave up and accepted yet another sub from my dad.. The joys of being on benefits eh!

Last week on wednesday my husband was registered as partially sighted, by the Eye Specialist, he is now on the UK blind list according to this man. Does this improve our chances of getting him back onto incapacity benefit. And also, we already sent the DLA form back several weeks ago, so would it be better to telephone them and ask for the form to be amended, as he wasn't registered as partially sighted when we claimed it, or would we have to start again from scratch.

shes tory, but i will do that, thank you

Also, just to comment on #56, do you think anybody would be willing to employ a man who has had a major stroke, a mini stroke, has 40% vision loss so cannot see anything to the right hand side from either eye. Also has had a heart surgery and is awaiting another, and also has a problem with veins pumping the blood from his heart incorrectly! If anyone knows where he could get employment then feel free to pass the info on!!! I myself would love to get a job but our little girl wont be starting nursery for another 10 months and even then I would have to earn enough to cover the mortgage payments that are being covered by the DWP before I even made any soft of profit.

Hi again Just a short update. We appealed the crisis loan decision and they said that they couldnt help us out, we did not qualify, so we have given up. We are still in receipt of £80.95 and nothing else apart from Child Benefit. I have emailed the MP case worker twice and telephoned once but she has done nothing to hep us and it's been about 5 or 6 weeks now. i am very dissapointed on that front. I did really hope that she would be able to sort this mess out for us, but she obviously has other situations to deal with. We have heard nothing from the Incapacity Benfit appeal yet, and also nothing from the disability living allowance so hopefully that will be not much longer now. I did just wonder about my CTC though because the new award should be starting from April 4th 2008 but I have heard nothing from them either so I just wondered whether it would be worth phoning them, I just wanted to know whether they are within their rights to hold all money from our new years award, or whether they can only keep a percentage of it, as we have struggled for 6 weeks but I really couldnt do it for much longer. Its only due to my extremely generous father that I have not sucken long ago. He has been paying our bills and giving me money on a weekly basis. Its a bit embarrasing for me being 30 and still needing subs from my dad, but I doubt anyone else would be able to manage on this much either.

On the boiler it says Minute 20 SE and also X100. When we were council tenants the girl who serviced it said never let the pin drop under the number 1, but it has dropped to zero. Also, since we bought the house and the kitchen fitters turned the water supply off in the kitchen we have had problems with the water flow. Sometimes the pipes make huge noises, some of the radiators are warm when others are hot, and if your in the shower and someone flushes the loo, then god help you cos the water stops for ages lol. It's so annoying!! I think it all must be linked, but hopefully I will find out today. The house insurance are sending npower round between 12.30 and 6pm.