Am hoping that someone can provide some advice as at the moment I am at my wits end.
I received last week a voicemail from the CSA advising that this was a courtesy call advising of a change in circumstances.
I received a letter two days ago advising that my following an assessment my payments will be increased. I contacted the CSA to discuss this as non of my circumstances have changed.
I was told that they had just completed as assessment from details I provided in January 2012. There was no explanation as to why it has taken so long to complete. Yesterday I got home from work to find a very threatening letter from the CSA saying that I owed over £1000 in back payments and that legal action will commence to recover the money. This was the first I have heard about any money being owed.
There is no way that I have a spare £1000 lying around!
When I contacted them this morning I was told that I need to pay it in full and they were quite insistent that I should supply them with my credit card details.
I ended up having to hang up on them as quite frankly I was so angry I would have ended up saying stuff I shouldn't.
I really have no idea what to do now, it is not my fault they have taken so long to arrive at these new figures and I just have no money to pay the outstanding amount.
Could anyone offer any practical advice on what I can do?
Hi
I'm afraid this sounds all to common from the CSA these days. The first thing you need to do is to write all of the details and dates down and go and see your MP as soon as possible - they are able to raise a complaint with the CSA which has a much higher priority than any you can do, and a lot of people have had success with this.
On the assumption that the figures they have calculated are correct, the bottom line is that you do owe the money, so it will have to be paid. Make an offer (in writing) to pay them at a reasonable rate - in my opinion on this, it has taken them 18 months to calculate this - if they had done this promptly, you would have been paying this amount over the last 18 months, so I would say that you have a reasonable argument that you should be allowed to clear the arrears over the next 18 months - do that letter quickly, and include a copy in the details you give to your MP.
Thank you very much for the advice - I will definitely be contacting my MP. Fingers crossed as they say 🙂