Thank you Ros1609 for your reply. I have made a payment today of £10 and will continue to do so, should i respond to the letter repeating what i have already said or ignore!?

Hi, I've had an ongoing overpayment situation since last year for £3500, i wrote to HMRC in November making an offer of £10 month due to low income etc etc.....never heard anything until 16th January 2014 apologising for the delay in responding but they had now passed the debt to a DCA and i should contact them direct to discuss. Letter from DCA dated 24th January (Rossendales) to say they had taken over the debt and they were disappointed i had not responded!!!!! I wrote to Rossendales 28th January saying that due to my financial situation i could only offer to pay £10 and i wasn't prepared to enter into a plan that i couldn't commit to and i awaited their response. Letter dated 7th February from Rossendales saying that i had failed to respond again, obviously letters had crossed in the post! Letter dated 27th February from Rossendales: Thanking me for correspondence, to enable them to consider my offer of repayment they must insist on details of my financial circumstances, requiring copies of wages slips, pension, child benefit, job seekers or disability allowance (as relevant). Also to forward full list of outgoings with a reasonable offer of payment within the next 7 days. I must also ensure regular payments are made whilst they consider the offer of instalments. Which part of my offer for £10 due to my situation do they not understand........seriously do i have to prove my income and outgoings, i thought only a court could ask for this? I have just read through the link you kindly posted early and it does say if making payments causes hardship they may allow extra time to pay (up to 10 years) i have worked out i can probably stretch to £20 month but that's really going to be a struggle. I appreciate this debt is going to take a long time to pay but i can't change my situation and the debts i already have Any advice would be welcome? Thank you in advance

Sorry not been online for a while, my mum has been really poorly....... Anyway i would guess by now taxibhoy that you've managed to speak to them, how have you got on?

Hi Guys, Well sorry for the delay coming back to you, my mum has been seriously ill for the last 3 months so my time has been taken up with doctors, hospitals etc.. ...thankfully she seems to be on the mend now. i sent the £1.00 postal order etc off end of October and next thing i received it back with the postal order uncashed and them saying they were not able to help and they were passing it back to the original creditor!!!!! Step forward another month i receive a threatening letter from Shoosmiths LLP Solicitors saying that unless i make contact with them an make an arrangement to pay they will do the following: If we cannot agree during the next 14 days how you will repay the amount outstanding we will issue Court Proceedings against you for the full sum outstanding together with legal costs, we will not contact you again to warn you that the proceedings will be issued. Any judgement issued by the court against you will be registered by at Credit Reference Agencies. I have today responded to this letter by saying i have already made a request with the £1.00 fee and it was returned to me, now it appears to have been passed to yourselves (Shoosmiths), i said i would not call to discuss i was not prepared to be bullied and intimidated (bet they won't like me using those words), i would only deal with th matter in writing. Surely if i was taken to court in 2009 and a CCJ issued and i have been paying £20 month since, they can't suddenly take it back to court, especially as i am requesting account information relating to this debt? I have to confess this letter has really rattled me, it was dated 10th December and it arrived on the 21st!! What should my next step be, thank you in advance!

Awww, so pleased for you. Just proves the point if you stand up for yourself and don't give up then it can work out. My update, i wrote to them over 6 weeks ago with my income/expenditure and as yet not had a response with how much i need to pay back each month, if i am honest i'm not in a rush to chase them, i am sure they will be in touch in due course. These forums are ace and it's great that we can help each other and give advice that is helpful to others in a similar situation.

Well done for sorting it out, yes it is a big relief once you've made the call, i am in the process of trying to find out how much i will need to pay back, i am paid weekly so i am hoping to make an arrangement with them, i've phoned several times and sat in a queue so now i've written to them with an offer, it's a small amount weekly but at least i am making some effort to pay it back. I do certainly miss the money as other half is still with his dad at the mo, i've also been in touch with a mortgage adviser to check the situation again as i still think i'd be best off selling up and starting again on my own, my son is about to start his 3rd year at college he's 18, not working (feel for him as he can't even get an interview for jobs he applies for), so money wise it's hard, but cos i do get help with the mortgage i can't complain as i am better off than some people. Will let you know when i hear back about the payment arrangement. x

This is what I would do: Call them to cancel claim, if they ask you why, you can say you are about to have a change inI circumstances so you will have to assess new situation an then possibly make a new claim in the future. I wouldn't worry about you having the same name, plenty of people marry and then separate, if you contact them first that is better than what happened to me, which basically forced my hand as I either needed to provide proof of him being there or not. The way to stay in control is don't let them contact you, please don't worry, it sounds like the house business is nothing to do with tax credits but a tax exercise to do with your other half, which if I were you I would contact cab for advice. Just cancel your claim and try not to worry x

Hi space girl, my best advice is to ring them an say you need to update your details, don't tell them any unnecessary info, if you still qualify as a couple just tell them you now have a partner, if you are financially linked via a mortgage or any credit card be careful what you say. So make it your priority to ring them tomorrow, every day you put it off you will only feel worse.. You will not go to prison and the worst that could happen you'll be in my situation an you'll have to repay anything they think you weren't entitled to. Just close single claim if your worried about doing new joint claim leave it for now, you can always contact them to update anytime. Your still a step ahead and you'll have already informed them of changes. Keep in touch an let me know how you get on, just remember don't volunteer info. Take care x

I decided to ring them today, got passed around two different departments and ended up with someone who was really rude, i asked about repaying it weekly, she muttered something about proving i couldn't pay it in full!!!! I politely said if i was in a position to pull £3,000 out of my pocket i wouldn't have been claiming, the snotty response i got was 'most people who claim don't need it'......clearly not going to get into a conversation any further with her so i said i would write to them with an offer of payment, end of conversation!!! It's really annoyed me, i was polite at all times, an i am trying rectify the situation, shame i didn't get her name.... think i was that shocked by her reaction i didn't ask!!

Hello everyone, just an update i finally had a letter today, they have just said that i have been overpaid, it's just over £3,000 and i am thankful they have only taken it back to last year 2012-13 and anything from 6th April 2013 to the date i phoned them. So now i need to get my mind round the thought of paying it back, i do feel very thankful that they haven't fined me or worse. Having read plenty of peoples experiences it does seem that if you try and be straight and as honest as you can they are actually ok with you, i am glad i phoned after putting it off through fear, i agree there are probably a few jobs worths that you could end up with on the end of the phone but it seems on the whole they are actually ok and pretty understanding. I just made it clear we are only living in the same house due to the house being in negative equity, because we have separate bank accounts and the only thing we have that links us is the mortgage that probably helped my cause as she did mention she could see the link between us went back a few years!!! Good luck to anyone who is still waiting to hear, i will keep checking back here and i will also get back to you all when i find out how much i am going to be repaying (hoping i can pay it weekly as i am paid weekly). If it helps i also found a site called netmums which i found helpful, do a google search tax credit fraud and look for netmums and you'll find a never ending list of people in the same situation. Remember they are unlikely to prosecute you they only want their money back that they feel you shouldn't have been entitled too!!! xx

It did lol, i surprised myself, but the relief after phoning i wished i had done it sooner, i think a combination of a nice person at the other end of the phone and me just being honest (as much as i dared) helped x

Thanks for your support x

Hi, just wanted to let you know that i have rang them today, i said having taken advice it would seem that i should have been claiming as a couple instead of single, she didn't ask many questions, i just said a couple of times that we are not together as a couple and that he does his own thing the majority of the time. She asked did he pay me maintenance, for which i announced he wasn't my son's father and the main reason we are still living in the same house is down to the fact we cannot afford to sell as there is no equity in the house and by selling wouldn't actually clear the mortage. I said that i saw myself as single and supporting my son who is currently at college. I made it clear he didn't even know i was claiming and that having taken advice even if i wanted to claim as a couple (which i won't be doing) i wouldn't qualify due to joint income. She said she had closed my claim from today and i would hear from the overpayments team, they will write to me and the overpayment will be from 6th April 2012, so i am thankful that it is only from that date, well i am hoping that is what she meant, if that is the case i reckon i will owe about £2800. I was probably fortunate i got someone who was ok on the phone with me, i just remained calm and polite and said i was sorry and that i had been naive, i just made it clear i hadn't actually set out to be dishonest, i was shaking like mad and my stomach was doing somersaults, but i am glad i phoned them as it's one less hurdle to overcome. I feel for everyone out there as that sick to your stomach feeling is horrendous, but i do feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I will keep in touch and let you all know the outcome once i hear back, she said she couldn't give me a time scale for a response. Thanks to all of you who have replied or commented, it means alot!! X

Thanks for your reply, glad it's a weight off for you, i've still not phoned them, i sat in a queue on Friday for 35 mins on my lunch break and still didn't get through, i need to ring before the end of the week to cancel the claim, i still don't know what i am going to say apart from i am cancelling my claim....never usually this bad when making decisions just frightened of saying the wrong thing or them asking something unexpected and catching me out!! Well done though for dealing with it, i know the days are running out so i'll keep you posted!

Hi slgsue, thank you for your reply. I am still claiming i've been to scared to ring them up to now. I wouldn't be claiming as a couple as we wouldn't qualify due to joint income, but that's the main reason i haven't ever declared him, our relationship is off as much as it is on, it is only down to the fact we cannot afford to sell the house the situation is how it is, hope that makes sense.....h'es currently off at his dads again at the moment, he can't cope with debts etc so he goes off an stays with his dad. I so wish i had the money to sell the house, i could then close this chapter of my life with him and move on, i certainly don't miss him when he's not here, so that says everything really. Do you think i will have to prove previous years, they only mention 2012-13 on the letter, they want evidence from a list which is asking for bank statements, mortgage statement, council tax the date they have asked for is 1st April 2012 to March 2013, do this mean that they are only checking this time period, or will they delve further? I will contact them to purely cancel the claim, an if necessary i will then contact them again, at least once i cancel the claim it's not another day of them thinking i am deceiving them.