Have Centrelink Forgotten My Debt?

billy3000 on 19/01/2018 - 18:59
Last edited 19/01/2018 - 19:00

so i received the dreaded robo debt please explain your mismatched income from the ATO letter in August last year for payments i received in 2012, I supplied them with information that satisfied their query but i sent them too much damn info (the PDF from my previous employer detailing payment amounts was for 12 months and they only asked for 3 months.. my mistake.

they assessed based on the information i provided and found a discrepancy and i had a debt of $1500 odd. i saw this amount appear on 'money you owe' on mygov/centrelink site, I then asked for a review and they reduced the money i owe to zero while the review took place. roll on a couple of months and the review subsequently failed.

Im ok with this..if i owe, i owe.. and will pay it. thing is it's been nearly 2 months since i got the letter saying my review failed and the mygov/centrelink site still says i owe no money.

do i just do nothing and wait for them to get their act into gear? not all that keen on being sent to a debt collector, i assume they would actually send me letters before this happened?

do i have some moral obligation to call them and ask for my debt to be reinstated! i can imagine the shock the call centre worker would get if that happened haha.

anyway.. what do you ppl think?

TL:DR
centrelink forgot to reinstate a $1500 debt and its been a cpl months.

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Comments

  • smuggler on 19/01/2018 - 19:17
    -4

    You're effectively stealing from the Australian Taxpayer by not paying it back.

    Just be honest and tell them. Cough up the dough or karma will come back to bite you in 10 years time.

    • Bullion78 on 19/01/2018 - 19:24
      +13

      If Karma was a thing why doesn't it ever seem to catch up with the biggest culprits of misappropriating public funds? Politicians

    • Ocker on 19/01/2018 - 19:26
      +13

      Stealing is a ridiculous overstatement - if the Government got its act together then this thread would not have even been started.

      Fact is that they have cut the Centrelink staffing to the bone, their systems are hopelessly outdated, and they expect us to pay the price for their ineptitude.

      Sorry but hat doesn't cut with me.

      My stance is that if I owe them money then I am more than prepared to cough up - but don't expect me to do your work for you.

      • Samsungnote10 on 20/01/2018 - 08:24
        +1

        Exactly.

        I was out of work for little while recently and applied for unemployment benefits. I was still in the system from years ago and all my assets were still in their system.

        I applied and got approved for benefits albeit it was only for 4 weeks in the end.

        I got a letter saying my payments had been suspended even though I hadn't received anything due to too many assets.

        I call them up and they say the shares that bought 10 years ago worth $800 is now worth $6million dollars

        To be honest I hadn't checked the shares. And I checked and they're worth $600

        I call up centrelink and they boast that they have the latest ATO technology and data and there is no way it's wrong.

        Turns out over the years the shares had been consolidated, taken over, renamed etc etc and the number of units had changed multiple times over the years.

        So in ten years with the latest technology they didnt pick up on any of the changes and decided to pick up on it just now . And they still insisted that they were worth 6million
        They asked me to resubmit documents all 40 pages worth.

        And after resubmitting it they acknowledged it was all wrong.

        What a joke

    • retiredfeline on 19/01/2018 - 19:47
      +4

      That's harsh. AFAICT OP is not trying to get of the debt if any, just wants to know if need to do something preemptive to avoid penalties. My take is govt should sort out their own mess instead of OP wasting time trying to get through to them. OP is lucky not to get hit by a charge that cannot be defended against.

    • alchew on 20/01/2018 - 23:15

      What a ridiculous statement that OP is stealing. Why would anyone volunteer to pay more tax to the government than what they already have, it’s not like the government responsibly appropriates the funds that it receives, it just squanders all the tax money that we give to them. If they forget this debt then good! Less money for them to squander

  • Ocker on 19/01/2018 - 19:18
    +19

    I would contend the ball is in their court and wait until they contact you.
    After all, why ring them and spend (at least) an hour on hold just to try and sort out their mess?

    • billy3000 on 19/01/2018 - 19:20

      yes my thoughts as well

  • billy3000 on 19/01/2018 - 19:20

    I think stealing is a very long bow to draw here.. thanks for your feedback never the less.

    this was actually a reply to @smuggler (interesting nickname considering the theme of their reply)

    • [Deactivated] on 19/01/2018 - 22:54
      -4

      You know you owe the money right?
      So, why avoid paying it?

  • Eeples on 19/01/2018 - 19:23

    Yes, their systems are hopeless.

  • Chochkee on 19/01/2018 - 20:50
    +3

    Their system is very slow, but it's fool proof. It may take them a year to reinstate it, but if you rightfully owe them money, then they will get their money. They don't have hundreds of thousands of staff doing it, hence the issue, so it will take time. Also, hiring loads of staff (cost) to capture debt is redundant.

    I was on centrelink around the same time 2012. I too had to resubmit income 6-8 months ago. Contacted them, wanted the issue cleared. Told that I might not owe any money at all, haven't heard anything since. Max i'd owe the superannuation (few hundred) I forgot to declare from income…

    • Almost Banned on 19/01/2018 - 21:10
      +1

      ^ This.
      The system can be slow and painful, but it is inexorable. Eventually it will catch up to you.
      Now, there is a chance that when it does it might get waived or reduced, but eventually something will happen.
      I wouldn't be pro-active about chasing them up.

      • Chochkee on 19/01/2018 - 22:28
        +1

        They are also very hard to chase. Haha!

  • holdenmg on 19/01/2018 - 20:51
    +6

    Maybe they have waived it?

    Enter Witness Protection and get on with your life, Señor Sanchez.

  • Halo375 on 19/01/2018 - 22:02
    +3

    You’re not doing anything wrong by waiting for them. Live your life, grow the funds you have and when the time comes (say when you’re applying for parental leave or something) centrelink will wake up and correct your account. Until then don’t worry about it - but try to keep $1500 in savings as you go through life.

  • barbarella on 19/01/2018 - 23:00

    Speak to them…ask what the situation is…get it over so you can relax

  • BobD on 20/01/2018 - 07:21

    Hold off until they ask for it. If you pay now then they may not be able to relate it to the previous debt. The possibility is then that they still may want their money later.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/01/2018 - 07:25

    They never forget, they will bill you at the most inconvenient moment, I'm sure.

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