DWP Overpayment - no info

[Kati]

I (like many others I suppose) used to dread getting those brown envelopes from the DWP, and was SO glad when I knew I didn't have to claim JSA any more. Imagine my surprise (I could think of better words to use, but I don't swear lol) this morning to come downstairs and find this on my doormat!!

Now I know for sure that I have never claimed anything I wasn't entitled to, and when I got a social fund loan it was always repaid through my benefits over the next year, so I cannot understand where this alleged overpayment is meant to have come from!?!

I'll be calling them first thing Monday morning to see if they can clarify their claim, and following this up with a letter ... but is there anything else I should be doing as well??

des8 Amethyst warwick65 ??

[Kati]

Letter to follow (when I can figure out how to shrink its' dimensions )

[Phaeton]

Do they purposely always send these out on a Friday so that you have to sweat over a weekend not knowing what it's about?

[Kati]

[Kati]

Do they purposely always send these out on a Friday so that you have to sweat over a weekend not knowing what it's about?

according to the letter, they are open today ... I'm just majorly busy lol x

[Amethyst]

It doesn't say it's an overpayment - it even talks about ' if you have been convicted of benefit fraud ' - they don't even know what you owe them money for - bloody ridiculous, particularly as it's the first you've heard of it. No wonder people get stressed about these things with nastiness like that coming through the letter box. I guess only thing you can do is ring them to find out what it is about, then check their figures and do an offer to pay ( if appropriate) over a longgggg period.

[enaid]

You need to check if any of your benefits were paid in advance as some are and that the date you started work is correct not just when your first pay day was.

[warwick65]

I can think of a couple of things
1) SAR the DWP- it takes an age but gets you the stuff and they shouldn't charge
2) Contact your MP

I am afraid this is the levels they have resorted to, going through back records and chasing historic debts that are possibly SB and will cost them a lot more to receive than they actually do

[Kati]

The only benefits I have ever claimed are income support (when the lads were little, and which was stopped as soon as I moved in with my ex in 2004) and then JSA (when I left said ex in 2009). The JSA was changed from a single claim to a joint claim when I moved in with OH, and both our claims were stopped when I entered employment (a month before my first wage was due). Neither of these were paid when I wasn't entitled, and the only social loan I got (approx 2010) was repaid through my JSA over the following two years as it was only a couple of £100s anyway!

I'll def be sending a SAR warwick65 and also going back through old bank statements too.

It'd be nice of them if they actually told you what the so-called debt was tho'

[des8]

Hi Kati
I wouldn't bother wasting my time on the phone.
Besides the SAR just a short note asking for a complete breakdown of, and the reason for the alleged debt.

[Kati]

Hi Kati
I wouldn't bother wasting my time on the phone.
Besides the SAR just a short note asking for a complete breakdown of, and the reason for the alleged debt.

I wouldn't bother usually Des ... but it's an 0800 number (and I can call for free on my mobile lol) xx

[Phaeton]

Not seen a scammer yet using 0800 numbers, but that's not to say they are not, I would just be careful about what details you give them until you are sure they are who they say they are when you ring them. They claim to be in Gloucester but their fax is showing a Manchester number, they could of course use a central fax farm.

[enaid]

Seems legit https://www.gov.uk/government/public...vice-standards

Same contact details on Gov site