Centrelink debt

I'll finally be receiving some CSA next week. Quite a bit actually. But because I haven't received a cent in over 2 years, I was on a nil assessment? I think that's what it is. So I haven't been deducted for my CSA payments in well over 12 months.

When I was being deducted, I was losing about $40 a fn. So I'm guessing I'll be owing centrelink a bit over $1000 once the money comes through. I'm currently waiting for a call back to talk to them about it.

I have a question though. I was told I may be able to set up fortnightly payments to clear this debt. If I do that, am I able to avoid it being taken from my sup payments? Or will they take anything still owing from that no matter what?

Sucks that over 2 years CSA will be deducted from one financial years payments :/ But I'm glad I already know that bit.

It may not work out to that amount. The system will work out what you are receiving and will reduce your current year payments from now until end of June to reduce any debt. Hopefully that will be enough for it to correct itself otherwise your FTB supplements will be with held

CSS payments only impact you in the financial year that you receive them, so last fin year was reconciled and won't be touched at all. This year is the inky one that will be impacted. No debt will be raised until after reco - and that would only happen if reduction to payment and supplement amounts weren't enough to offset any over payment you may have received.

I just got the call back. She told me that its possible my FTB will be stopped until it's evened out. That's really not much help :/ Surely they won't stop it altogether if its only around $1000...

My assessment for each financial year has been over $5000. This payment will be just over $6000. So its a little higher than I should get for the financial year. But when I was being deducted for the same assessment amount I'm on now, it was around $40 a fortnight. That over a year is just over $1000. So maybe $1200 max with the extra $1000 I'll receive.

That could be paid in under 2 FTB payments... so would they stop my payments for say, 2 fortnights, or reduce it evenly for the next 8-10 weeks instead?? Which would probably be about $200 a fn wouldn't it?


Am I thinking about this the right way? Obviously these aren't exact amounts, but I'm not that far of base am I?? I was thinking of this as a way to get winter clothes & a much needed table & chairs, microwave & a few other bits & pieces... not if I need to live on it :/

And after talking to a friend, she's losing pretty much the same as she's getting. Fabulous.

It will depend on when the info is received from CSA as to how much ftb you lose. The only time that you will know for sure what you are going to lose over the course of the year is at tax time when everything is reconciled. Until then, it is a theoretical

There are two methods of calculation for how CSA payments impact you. The one you were on where you were impacted each and every fortnight is one of them. With that one, there is minimal chance of you being overpaid unless you get arrears or you have a higher assessment come in later in the year.

The other is far more complicated and carries a high risk of overpayment, as you are seeing here. Basically you are only impacted if you receive a payment, and when you do, the system has to correct all the previous fortnights where you weren't impacted by that assessment, and reduce all your future payments to account for the previous overpayments as well. In top of that, the system also assumes that you will receive money for the balance if the financial year so factors all of that in as well.

Honestly, the safest thing for you to do (as much as it sucks for you for right now) is bank the money from CSA. Take from it whatever dollar value you lose from ftb each fortnight, and leave the rest there until reco. Once reco goes through and supplements are processed, the balance is fair play. Until that happens, you have to wear the fact that if you spend it, you may end up worse off in future fortnights. Please note I am saying this is the SAFEST thing to do. I am not saying it is the only thing. I am a realist. I know it will be next to impossible given other threads you have posted. Perhaps you could work out how much ftb you are due to get for the next half dozen fortnights (til end of fin year) and put that aside as "worst case" with you having payment reduced that drastically - and then the rest can help at the moment....

And yes you are right. Any potential overpayment is deducted evenly over all remaining fortnights in the financial year

That's what I was thinking anyway. Pay the few little things I need to pay. About $300. Maybe get a second hand alternator for the car, if it starts to play up again, & not touch the rest at least til I know how much they plan to drop my payments. They can take my sup payments! Lump sum payments are just bonus's. I'm scared of losing my regular payments. I don't know if I have the self control to live off that one payment for the next 10 weeks... But that's what happens.

I might ask to go back to being deducted after July. Least I'll get it back at tax time. I don't expect to get any more CSA for a while. The only reason this has come through is because a few years tax returns were put in. If I get any in the future, I'd say it'll be for the same reason & I doubt it'll be what I should actually get for the year. But as long as I'm not losing too much each fortnight, I really should do it that way to save myself the stress.

Ok, I'm trying to work this out for myself. I can't handle waiting around for centrelink to decide to cut off my payments :/

Back when I was being deducted & not receiving, I'm sure I was only losing about $40 for every $220 I should've been getting in CSA.

But a friend of mine seems to be losing dollar for dollar (3 kids, receives CSA only for oldest).

If I'm supposed to lose dollar for dollar I will owe centrelink $6000... Not the $1500 max I thought.

I know it's my fault & that I've royally screwed myself up. But I need a heads up. I need to know where I'm at & what I've got to look forward too.

If it is dollar for dollar, I'm wondering what is the point of fighting so hard for CSA in the first place? I see the governments reasons. For the father to take care of his responsibilities, rather than them. But when it just seems to cause more trouble than it's worth , why should I bother pushing him to pay?

Ha ha the fun never ends in my life! Oh well, I'm hoping to apply for a full time job in the next month or so... At least then I'll have guaranteed, long term income (as long as I can pull it off... I don't have a lot of confidence in myself, but it can't hurt to try!)

It's not dollar for dollar your friend is losing. It just appears that way at the moment

If you are supposed to have 50 a fn deducted (as an example) for 26 fn for your normal entitlement, but you get zero deducted for, say, 20fn. You are a thousand dollars "behind". If you then receive your "normal" entitlement, you have 6fn to deduct your 50 per fn, (normal) plus the thousand dollars you are behind - so another 167 per fn - so your total deduction just to catch up is 217 per fn for the balance if the year. Just to catch up. Then you have arrears so you actually have to factore in a bit extra as well for every fn through the year

Now, with the method if calculation you are using, the system also looks at your most recent payment (for you, being 6k) and assumes you will get that again next month and every month til the end of the year, so it will likely cut your payment drastically, possibly completely. Next month when you get nothing, it will all be recalculated based on you getting nothing and the system assuming you get nothing each month.

It is messy. That's the risk with that method of assessment. And you aren't going yo be able to anticipate payments. In advance. You just have to wait for the letters to come in. And you need to budget around it by not spending the child support arrears. Technically speaking you have been overpaid every fortnight this year so even though it feels like you are getting child support arrears and should be ok to spend it as you would have previously if you got it fn by fn, you have to be careful with it while your FTB is sorted - otherwise you will end up in a big financial mess

Ok, I've got you now. Lol if the system goes down over the next 2 months, blame me.

So I assume this will affect my carers as well?

No. It will only impact FTBa ( and technically only ftba and rent assistance but because of the adjustments that happen FTBb will also be reduced)

Ok, so my rent will still be covered. That's a relief. It comes out of my carers.

And I pay government rent, so no rent assistance...

Can't wait til next financial year, when this is all over & done with! There's little chance of me being here again, but I'll be making sure it doesn't happen again.

I was just checking my payments over the Easter period... I haven't received anything via post or online letters about my FTB yet, even though I received the payment a week ago.

But it looks like my next FTB payment has dropped... by only a bit over $100 a fn. That doesn't seem right? I'm not silly, I know that's not enough to cover what I'll owe them by the end of financial year... Well that drop would about cover half what I estimate I owe. And what about the whole system going into shock & cutting me off?

Certainly not letting myself count on this. Hope they put the info online soon so I can try work out what's going on. The only reason I have right now for them dropping my payments is the CSA payment...

You won't get a debt letter as such. Just a letter advising you of change to payment amount

Ok, I'll wait til Wednesday next week, 2 days before payment, before I'll rely on that one. See what happens from there.

Thanks again for your help BG.

Yeah good idea to wait. It will only be impacted if info received from CSA is accurate. If they ripple over part of the payment rather than al, of it, it may not have been fully impacted. But then it may be that it's come across and it's all accurate already. Hard to say without seeing all the background info and making sure it's accurate :)

Hmm... I hope they've sent the right info through. Would that be included in the letter? The amount they have me recorded as receiving?
There are only around 5 ftb payments left for the financial year. That will be lucky to be a 3rd of what I'll owe them :/ Least I have supp payments to square what ever is left after June 30 I guess.

Keep in mind that you get an amount of child support that doesn't impact your FTB (around 2900 for you with four kids) and then you are impacted by fifty cents for every dollar. So out of your 6k, the first 2900 ish doesn't hurt your payment. Then only half of the remaining amount (3100 ish) so 1550 would be what you lose from your FTB for the full year.

It sounds like this is what you have calculated if your are factoring a loss of $100 a fortnight over five weeks as a third of what you think you should lose. It is possible that the CSA hasn't sent across full amount at once if you haven't yet received it all.

The other thing is that mandatory adjustment to your payment doesn't occur until the day info is received by centrelink so it may not apply to your full payment this fortnight.

I calculated it the same as earnings. $150 a fn, then 50c in every dollar. It was a little less than that. I also had a bit more than they told me in my bank somehow. But it was all paid in one lot. I was expecting to owe around $1500.

Last Friday, til next FTB payment is almost a full fortnight. So if it is less, it should only be a little less, because I'm only 4 days into this fn IYGWIM? Without the cut off I was expecting to lose close to 300 a fn. If my FTB had been cut, there'd be a fair chunk, or more already paid back. If I'd lost 2 fn payments, I'd be pretty close to square. If I'm to assume they wouldn't reinstate payments at the reduced rate & back pay me once its noted that this isn't regular?

Maybe the payment after (may 2) will make more sense. At least I've found out what could possibly happen & am prepared for the worst...

Being prepared for the worst is always a good way to be!

Well ftb went in today. Still only that 100 less.
I guess I'll expect to be down a bit when I get my supp payments? At least I will have paid a good chunk of it back by then.
So confusing!

Recieved a letter today with a list of my future FTB payments. & from July 18 they're supposed to be going back to normal, as long as my circumstances stay the same.
There's nothing listed as money I owe, so I'm wondering if that was it? Though, I expect that could change after July 1.
I'm happy with this outcome so far! I was certainly expecting the worst!

Maybe they are factoring in that you'll have had reconcilliation done by then and any leftover debt will have been taken out of the top up?

Any further overpayment will come out of your reconciliation amounts

I did expect that. Just didn't expect any notifications/changes until they knew reconciliation would happen & exactly what would happen.

From 1 July, no matter what happens, you have a clean slate. So they can notify you of changes as nothing you received this year will impact you next year at all. Continuous adjustment stops etc. so yes, you have a clean slate unless you end up with a debt after reco