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Hello guys,
I have lurked on this forum in the past and I apologise that my first post here is asking for advice.
In the early 00's I suffered from very bad postnatal depression that got worse through lack of treatment. It is written in my NHS records just how bad it got. Luckily all that is over and I am fine now.
A month ago I received a letter from the DWP stating that I owed them money from that period for social loans, and also because I had had employment.
I honestly have very little recollection of this period of my life and asked them to send me information.
It turns out that I twice worked for a period of a month or less each time. As I have no memory of this I can only assume I got sacked as I was not capable.
I also have no memory of asking for social loans, and feel it was irresponsible of them to let a young person build up such a debt with them.
The DWP are asking for just under £2,500 and I cannot afford this and also feel it is unfair to come after me more than a decade later over a period I can honestly not remember. If they had contacted me a few years ago my financial situation would have been different but at the moment I am on maternity leave and have two children under 15 months.
As I can show I was mentally unsound at the time, am I still liable?
Please don't think I am trying to get "away" with anything. I work full-time, I do not claim working tax credits or child tax credits and I really feel like that part of my life is related to another person, does that make sense?
Part of me is also concerned that I might have been tricked into getting loans and giving the money to someone else as I was a very vulnerable young person at that time.
EDIT: I should also point out that even though it was more than six years ago, the person on the phone told me that they could take it from my wages, take me to court etc,.. which I later found out was a lie. I had tried to set up an affordable direct debt with him and he said he would accept no less than £150 a month. The form they sent me asked for proof of all my bills, etc, which I feel is a gross invasion of privacy. Perhaps that is normal and I am reacting badly to it all, I just have never been in this position before.
I also find it very upsetting to have that period of my life brought up again.
I have lurked on this forum in the past and I apologise that my first post here is asking for advice.
In the early 00's I suffered from very bad postnatal depression that got worse through lack of treatment. It is written in my NHS records just how bad it got. Luckily all that is over and I am fine now.
A month ago I received a letter from the DWP stating that I owed them money from that period for social loans, and also because I had had employment.
I honestly have very little recollection of this period of my life and asked them to send me information.
It turns out that I twice worked for a period of a month or less each time. As I have no memory of this I can only assume I got sacked as I was not capable.
I also have no memory of asking for social loans, and feel it was irresponsible of them to let a young person build up such a debt with them.
The DWP are asking for just under £2,500 and I cannot afford this and also feel it is unfair to come after me more than a decade later over a period I can honestly not remember. If they had contacted me a few years ago my financial situation would have been different but at the moment I am on maternity leave and have two children under 15 months.
As I can show I was mentally unsound at the time, am I still liable?
Please don't think I am trying to get "away" with anything. I work full-time, I do not claim working tax credits or child tax credits and I really feel like that part of my life is related to another person, does that make sense?
Part of me is also concerned that I might have been tricked into getting loans and giving the money to someone else as I was a very vulnerable young person at that time.
EDIT: I should also point out that even though it was more than six years ago, the person on the phone told me that they could take it from my wages, take me to court etc,.. which I later found out was a lie. I had tried to set up an affordable direct debt with him and he said he would accept no less than £150 a month. The form they sent me asked for proof of all my bills, etc, which I feel is a gross invasion of privacy. Perhaps that is normal and I am reacting badly to it all, I just have never been in this position before.
I also find it very upsetting to have that period of my life brought up again.
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