Hi
Need some advice, received a letter from the child maintenance service stating I owe £27000 in arrears?? To be paid within 7 days, from 2003 till 2015, now during this time I have been paying monthly for the last 10 years, I don't know why nobody has even contacted me during this time to say I was in arrears, i would have been able to sort this sooner, but now I need to find £27000 in 7 days,
Not sure what to do, don't have that kind of money nor can I borrow it....
Any advise is greatly appreciated
Many thanks.
Hi,
Well they cant take what you dont have and they can only take what it is your able to pay.
The letters the CSA send to begin with are scaremongering tactics, it takes months to set up a sanction of earnings and so on. I stopped paying my CSA for 12 months, something which i regret but felt i had to at the time and all the letters i got demanded i pay all of it in full or face the consequences, so i rang them and sorted out a good deal. Gone are the days they can sting you for everything you have, as i just stated they can only take so much as they need to let you be able to live your life to. Contact them and if you simply have to pay this 27k then do it in instalments, you can arrange with them how much etc. I would ask if you can pay directly to the mother and if she agrees go down that route as you can avoid them taking the 20%, but be aware she needs to agree to this if there have been defaults from you in the past.
Dont get yourself up into to much of a lather about it, CSA will hunt you down and they wont leave you alone but if you come to an agreed price, stick to it they are usually ok.
Trust me, its not as bad as it looks.
Paul
Hi there
I would write to them and ask them for a breakdown of the alleged arrears and also the reason why they haven't written to you concerning this matter much earlier. Ask them to supply the information you e asked for in writing.
I don't know a great deal about the financial side of things, but hopefully you can negotiate a better deal with them.
All the best
If you haven't already written, I would send that by special delivery so you have proof of posting. I would also give them a ring to tell them there is a letter on the way so they know you aren't just avoiding the issue, but you definitely need an account of why the arrears have occurred.
HI There,
.
I agree you need a written statement of what you owe and why, before you do anything else, you can ask your local MP for some help if you need it.
.
GTTS