www.iva.co.uk

Hi i started my iva lst June this year but now the CSA have been in touch saying that i owe about £5000. My son that i used to pay for is now 21 and about 8 years ago his mum somehow cancelled things with the CSA. They said i owed about £5000 about 8 years ago and have now just tody got back in touch! Fair enough if i owe this but i a now tied up in this iva for 5 years and in no way can i afford to pay out any money as there is just enough for my family and i to get by on.

Any suggestions?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You need to speak to your IP and tell them about this, and also see if you negotiate payments with the CSA. It may be that your IVA payments can be lowered to take this debt into consideration.

Had you not wondered why your CSA payments had ceased?

I suggest that you make them an offer of nominal repayment until the IVA has concluded, and then try and get the debt paid off as soon as possible.

If they have not chased you for eight years however, the debt may be unenforceable due to statute of limitations.

Have they been in touch over the 8 years,and have you acknowledged the debts in that time?

Paul

Hi it has been about 8 years since I heard from the csa and to be honest I thought due to the 8 years without hearing from them that I would hear no more! The worrying thing and what really annoyed me is they rang my work who I have been with for a year and said " this is the child support agency do you have Mr ................ Working for you! They had no right to mention who they were to an employee from my work! It's not like I was working on the quiet as I fully pay my taxes!

Hi, did you continue to pay child support direct to your ex or did you stop contributing altogether?

I suggest that you take legal advice on this one. It is appalling that they called you at work in such manner.

Thing is, if your child was under 19 & you were earning money then you know full well that you should be paying 15% as a minimum across to support your child. I think the rules for paying the CSA are slighly different to other debts (not included in BR etc) so might not be statute barred.

The statute of limitations doesn't apply to The CSA, they didn't get in touch with hubby for 10 years Mel (his youngest daughter was 21 when we heard from them),they then slapped an attachment of earnings on him for £365. he was only earning £800 at the time. It's no wonder our debts built up
I was on the committee of NACSA when the CSA was first set up and one of the rules surrounding them was that if anything they did was deemed to be unlawful the law could get amended to make themselves lawful! So basically they can do what they like and get away with it.

That's very useful information to know Pandy thanks - but I still don't see why this agency can be outside of the law!

No matter what anyone says, The CSA was never about getting fathers to pay for children it was about getting money back for the government.

But surely he knew that he had this daughter & should be paying for her Pandy?

Edited, the remove information I do not want put on public board.

Thing is, regardless of the mother, the children need money for their upkeep & as you found out it was owed. The CSA take money from the father & then deposit it into the mothers account, there is no need for her to have his details, all the csa need is hers. Their error still doesn't mean that the money shouldn't have been paid. I also do know all about domestic violence from women to men & yes thhey should be protected but two wrongs do not make a right.

RHB,
I am not prepared to discuss my private story on a public board. If you want to discuss it more please email me.