I was contacted out of the blue 2 months ago by a debt collector stating they were acting for HMRC and that I had been overpaid tax credits, they were demanding the repayment of over £2000 by return of post. The letter was vague and initially looked like a scam, it mentioned previous letters I had ignored as if I had been deliberately avoiding contact, however prior to this I had heard nothing from either the debt collector or HMRC.
The letter contained a bold heading and mentioned the consequences if I didn’t reply, indeed it appeared to be using psychology to create an emotion of fear and worry in me, it partially succeeded as I got very little sleep for the next couple of nights.
A friend mentioned debttactics.co.uk and I emailed them and they said they could help, once I appointed them as my representatives they examined the letter and noticed it was missing a lot of foundation evidence, it did not say what year the overpayment occurred or how the £2000 figure had been reached. They wrote to the debt collector on my behalf asking several questions, they also requested an audit of the accounting showing what tax I had paid and my tax allowance for the year in question. They requested a reply within 28 days; it is now over 2 months since their letter was sent and the debt collector has not responded.
Whilst I understand that I may eventually have to repay the tax credits overpayment if the demand is genuine and the calculation is correct, I wonder how many of people would just have paid up without questioning the letter, the amount demanded, or the authority of the party demanding it.
Karen B
