Child/Working Tax Credit Payments/Giros SUSPENDED!

[miles100]

Hi, hope someone can help! Ive been paid CTC&WTC manually by bank giro for a few years due to technical fault with bank payins. Sep 07 was last payment as they suddenly stopped with no warning. Informed the call centre who stated that with all personal information on me now updated they should be reinstated. After 4 months calling with no money and no further help or information on when I would be paid, I visited my local IREC office. The girl there was very helpful and found out that Preston had tried once again paying all my monies due into my bank account and because the paying in procedure to the account was unsuccessful, they SUSPENDED my payments! She took out all my bank details explaining that the Manual Giro payments I had before should 'kick-in' within 48 hrs as now they should NOT be attempting to pay into an account that does not exist on their system and to re-check with Call Centre after then.

I have just recently checked with the Call Centre to be told that now my manual giro cheques have been SUSPENDED with no explanation. I have requested to speak with a Team Leader and because I missed their callback, I have to wait until they call again!

So far I have suffered hardship (5months)missed payments totalling to over £4000 and the IREC girl confirmed that all details on me including review signature are updated and correct so there appears to be no reasons why I am not being paid. Does anyone know or have advice on how I can progress further with this? They just keep fobbing me off saying they will refer it to their Preston Office. Being a single mum with two children under 16, I cant survive anymore with my measly part-time salary.

Cheers for anyone's help.

[Kerrie78]

This happened to us last year. We changed banks while we were reclaiming our bank charges from Abbey, and despite telling the CTC of my new halifax bank account they still continued to pay the money in to abbey meaning that we lost it for many many months.

Eventually I got to speak to a manager (I'll try to locate his name). He was brilliant. He got manual giros set up immediately and increased them to cover the amount we had lost (It hasn't helped now though as they say we owe them £6000!).

Then I think duiring Nov/Dec last year they just said the firos would stop and the money would go into my new bank account. The process had taken about 7 or 8 months, and every time we were told it was a computer glitch.

 

I will try and find the letter with the name of the guy who helped us, but to be honest their whole system is complete chaos and it's no wonder everybody is in such a mess. Sorry I can't help you out any further, I sympathise with your situation as it happened to us.

[miles100]

Hi Kerrie, thanks for replying and any contact names and/or direct telephone number you can provide would be most helpful. One of the issues I brought up with the girl in the IREC office when I was there, just to add insult to injury, the statement in my award saying I had a £17,000 approx overpayment dating back to 2004. She assured me that this is the 'norm' when someone is being paid by Giros .... apparently the computer doesnt work efficiently when Giros are paid as opposed to into a Bank Account and clocks up every Giro payment throughout the years as an overpayment!! Ive no idea why, however more than one advisor has stated this at the Call Centre and as soon as manual/giro payments come into the equation, overpayments start to kick-in. Again, I was assured that this would be rectified. I believe that this issue has just been sussed out by some of them but how many people out there are in the same position and already paying back what is not accurately due?! Ive still not received any money and they are already deducting overpayment from my award amounts and Ive not even been paid anything yet!! .... What a mess indeed!

Cheers for your time and attention.