Centrelink Overpayment - Court?

[Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 18:54
Last edited 14/10/2015 - 15:33 by 1 other user

Hi fellow OZBers

I have recently been contacted by Centrelink to repay $5800 in over payments, for under reporting income while on youth allowance payments over nearly 3 years.

I appreciate the gravity of this situation and am concerned about a possible court case and criminal conviction for fraud.

I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and could detail what happened. I'm slightly freaking out.

If I had my time over I would be more vigilant and avoid this situation but here I am, so it'd be great if we could avoid any "don't defraud Centrelink" posts.

Any information will be much appreciated.

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Comments

  • loulou1 on 13/10/2015 - 18:59
    +2

    Did they offer a payment arrangement?

    • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 19:20
      +1

      I asked for a review of the amount as I think the true overpayment is around $4000.

      I haven't discussed a payment plan yet.

  • QuickToThePointless on 13/10/2015 - 19:05
    +5

    Happened to a mate of mine at uni. 99% sure No repercussions. Just sort out a payment plan and you'll be sweet.

    I hope you partied the governments $6k away…id hate to think that it went on milk and bread etc

    • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 19:21
      +5

      I hope I did too as it'll be bread and milk for a while now!

      • QuickToThePointless on 13/10/2015 - 19:23

        Very funny, nice one…hope its not that bad champ….just mooch of your parents or mates with more coin for a bit. $6k is not all that much really….my mate got stung for $14k fpr two years of 'fraud'. Had to move back home for 6 months to get on top of it!
        ,

        • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 19:28
          +1

          Ill be OK. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for taking advantage of a system designed to help those in need, so in a way I'm glad. It's given me a sense of perspective.
          That said I could do without a conviction!

          Cheers for the kind words

        • QuickToThePointless on 13/10/2015 - 19:31
          +2

          @razzamatazza: dont worry about that side of it - our generation will be paying the most in tax ever, and working until we are well into our 70s.

          So you will be making up for it whether you like it or not!

          put it this way - you inadvertantly took advantage of the system for a short time, while the system will advertantly take advantage of you for the rest of your life.

          Dont you feel better now?

        • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 19:44
          +1

          @pointless comment: I don't disagree young generations will be paying high tax and working until we are 70 though it still wasnt a good thing to do, inadvertently or not

  • tomatosauce on 13/10/2015 - 19:10
    +1

    Once our family allowance was over-paid and Centrelink arranged a repayment plan - take away $5o per fortnight from the current payments. Took us about a year to pay back.

  • 17833 on 13/10/2015 - 19:17
    +1

    As per comments above. They will be quite persistent at getting you to pay the highest amount you can possible per fortnight, dont' get yourself into financial stress about it. They might go through a bit of a budget with you for expenses e.g. car payments, rent to work out how much you can pay. I think if you show that you are prepared to pay the amount back they won't bother about court etc.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 19:23

      Though I have asked for a review of the amount (I think the debt is around $4000)I'm pretty keen to start paying for those reasons

      • 17833 on 23/11/2015 - 16:22

        Thanks for the correction. I was speaking from an experience about 15 years ago, and centrelink had sent double payments themselves accidently, so that was a bit of a unique situation. (It was under the $5,000 as well)

  • altomic on 13/10/2015 - 20:42

    Ordinarily Centrelink don't request the police to intervene if the amount is less than $10,000 or the person is a repeat offender.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 21:16

      From what I could gather that seemed to be the case

  • currentfad on 13/10/2015 - 21:43

    How much were you earning on Youth Allowance? What's the threshold?

    • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2015 - 21:51

      It varied as I was a casual employee. Threshold in 2010-11 was only $265 a fortnight, not much.

      • currentfad on 13/10/2015 - 21:55

        Wow that was very low compared to what it is now. $427 a fortnight according to http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink…

        • [Deactivated] on 14/10/2015 - 05:17

          Yeah I agree!

        • [Deactivated] on 14/10/2015 - 08:08

          I used to get $12 a fortnight
          I had a loaf of bread every week while i was studying at tafe.
          I would have been better on the dole or in prison

          Maybe that why those two things are much more popular now?

        • competecarrot on 14/10/2015 - 08:30

          @carlb:

          He's saying income threshold - income can up to before payments get cut at a certain rate (40cents per extra dollar earned etc)

  • Banana on 13/10/2015 - 21:50

    Curious to know what OP did? Currently on centrelink as well and would hate to have to pay that back. I don't have a job yet, but I do get scholarship, which I think centrelink knows about?

  • rambutann on 13/10/2015 - 21:57
    +1

    That'll do it!

    I received a letter from centrelink once claiming that I owed them over $3k because I wasnt studying full time but I was still being paid youth allowance.

    I appealed it on the basis that I never actually told them I was studying full time. I was originally studying full time through Open Universities then I dropped down to part time for a couple of months during study period 2 due to the fact that I was due to start on campus for semester two; if I studied full time on OUA then it would overlap and i'd be studying full time through two universities.
    When I changed down to part time I literally went in and said 'i will only be studying one subject, as far as I can understand I cannot get youth allowance, can I go on a different payment type for a month or two whilst im only studying part time?' and they said 'NAH DONT WORRY YOU CAN GO ON IT' so surely enough they put me on youth allowance even though I was only studying part time.

    In the end it was actually revoked as they realized that I literally told the centrelink representative that I was only studying 5 hours a week.. Yet they still put it through. I did however not receive a payment from them for about a month as a result and I was not backpaid.

    In regards to your issue, yes it sucks, but in the scheme of things you did try to cheat the system. Just pay the bare minimum, in a few years time that couple of grand will be nothing once you're earning real money. It'll be the cheapest loan you ever get!

  • StewBalls on 13/10/2015 - 22:33

    I've had clients stung for more than that, as others have rightly noted don't sweat it, just speak to their recoveries people regarding a payment plan. I've actually done this on behalf of some clients, and let me tell you, the recovery staff are really nice…their best interest isn't in punishing you, it's just in working with you to recover the money.

    That said, some of my clients have had this happen despite being 100% transparent with Centrelink…this may come as a shock but sometimes the govt just stuffs up the calculations, and the harsh fact is that YOU then have to wear it!

    • Lysander on 23/11/2015 - 16:23

      Not having been born here I always wonder why people put up with such behaviour by government. If they make a mistake they should be held accountable and wear just like it is when I make a mistake - they government then holds me also accountable and I have to wear it.
      The government is there to serve the people, not to get special treatment and get indemnity from mistakes and make the innocent party bear it.
      To me that is a sign of a corrupt, underdeveloped, non-transparent system as well as a sign of too much complacency on the part of the Australian people.
      I just cannot understand why people do not rebel against such atrocious government behaviour.

  • MITM on 13/10/2015 - 22:54

    I remember the Howard years when overpayment debts were written off 2 years in a row - ah, the blessed mining boom or was that the GST boon.

  • dp1 on 14/10/2015 - 11:42

    We were overpaid Family Tax Benefit $3600 in the 2013-14 financial year (I'm self employed so income underestimate was wrong by about $30000). Still paying it back at $60 a fortnight, another couple of years to go.

  • rushil01 on 16/10/2015 - 13:26

    I was overpaid. You'll just go on a payment plan. As long as you pay there are no legal issues. I've also confirmed with centrelink that this is considered a private arrangement and as such does not appear on your credit history and you don't need to inform any banks about this when organising loans, etc (although please consider your repayments when your considering how much you can borrow…).

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2015 - 18:55

    Determine if you were overpaid(?). If so drop it, talk to them, arrange repayment.
    I found they are well above average in settling, longterm. When it's their fault (eg. wrong advice is common) it doesnt matter. Fair settlement is the aim.
    I repaid the Aust Government Solicitor for many years, because I got Sickness benefits while 5 months in hospital bed (Motorbike accident), with the dole continuing too. I thought this was pretty good at 17yo. But I repaid it all happily.

  • Luckylocky on 12/07/2019 - 20:43

    Hi razzamatazza,

    What was the outcome of this situation? I’m in a similar situation and am interested in your experience.

    • fidelcashflow on 01/11/2019 - 10:20

      what was your result man? I am too

  • shags21 on 16/07/2019 - 21:21

    I was overpaid a few k and just went on payment plan of $200 a month till end, took a few years.

    • Luckylocky on 17/07/2019 - 19:50

      Did you have any interviews regarding your debt or interest added to your amount to pay back?

      • shags21 on 17/07/2019 - 21:04

        no interviews or any interest at all. they just told me i was overpaid because i didn’t have uni during my unpaid placements and that i worked too much? zero interest added on debt

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