I've been paying direct payments to my ex for almost 7 years now but I've recently had a letter through saying I owe money to my ex.
I've questioned this as to where it as come from as I've always paid on time and in the early days I chased up the CSA frequently to sort out payments.
They claim that these payments have been outstanding since day one, but in those 7 years they have never once mentioned outstanding sums of money.
Surely as so much time has passed that they can't prove I haven't paid it and I can t prove that I have (as bank records don't go back that far,) that they can't actually legally claim this money back?
Ask them to prove the figures they are saying you owe, and I would put in a complaint also about this.
You could also contact your MP, but as I've said in another post, unfortunately I wouldn't expect them to be doing too much useful for the next couple of months, so I'd do everything you can without them for the moment.
Probably worth looking at this thread:
Hi There,
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I agree with actd, ask them for a breakdown of the money they say you owe, with exact dates and the circumstances the arrears have occurred.
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While you wait for the reply contact your local MP just to make contact and explaim the situation, they may be able to speed up the proccess for you.
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Good luck.
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GTTS
Hi,
Thanks both.
It just seems wrong that so much time has gone past without any mention of outstanding money and all of a sudden it comes out of the blue like this.
They say they have a statement they can send me but there is no way I can prove that its been paid for one, but also when I first had involvement with the CSA a lot was done over the phone to speed things up and I know they changed dates and payments on a few occasions but promised me all was okay.
Just all seems wrong to me.
Hi There,
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Start with asking them to send you that statement and go through it and then speak to your MP and see if they can help you at all.
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GTTS
Just to update this.... after asking for a supervisor to call me and explain this situation it's now 3 months on and I've had no call, no letter.... so maybe it's gone away, at least for the time being.
These things don't go away with the CSA - it might be worth doing a Subject Access Request from the CSA - this should get you a copy of everything relating to your case right back to the beginning (some bits may be redacted, but shouldn't be too much) - it will be a lot of paper (think you can have it on CD) and it will be a real jumble, but it might help understand what has happened.
SHould be able to google it to find out how and where.