So about a year ago I was a victim of domestic violence and estranged from my parents during the summer I was doing my A level Exams. I went to the council who redirected me to a charity that works with the council to house under 25s.
The charity helps young people by finding someone who has a spare room and can offer some guidance or support for the young person. They also help you apply for universal credit which I did as well as going to the job centre. The key worker I was appointed to also insisted very aggressively at each visit that I must quit my job otherwise I wouldn't get any help which I was very upset about.
I stayed with a nice lady although a stranger who I grew fond of while I completed my exams and waited to find out if I was going to university. Both the charity and universal credit were aware of my relatively short term need of assistance. But after talking to the people at the job centre and and other people beside my key worker I was told that I never needed to quit my job and it was false information, I was very upset by this.
I also received a reduced payment because I had worked two months prior to asking for financial assistance. This meant I had £50 to live off for a month, half of which would be paid to the charity who made me quit my job and half to my phone bill. As you can imagine I was pissed off. But as soon as I got my next monthly payment I stopped eating 30p noodles and paid the service charge to the charity in full.
I paid the charity a weekly service charge but I tended to pay it monthly for convenience (as you couldn't do it online or via the bank, always in person and they issued the reciepts) I tended to overpay. A week before I was leaving they told me I had overpaid and would pay me next week. I went to collect the overpayment and they said I owed them money (like 7 quid).
I didn't pay it because I didn't believe them and I had the receipts and I showed them but they continued to deny it. When I showed them reciepts I was very rudely shouted at: "Look at you, you were homeless and crying when you came to us and now you're rude and ungreatful". I was very upset as this was said in a room of about 20 people and I didn't want to relive the memories of having no family or friends around while coming back from an exam to break down in tears and tell them I'm homeless after sleeping on night buses.
In addition I learned from the woman I lived with Amy who had worked with them for over ten years that they make many financial mistakes and owed her money also. When I pay rent I pay it to the charity directly from universal credit and the charity is supposed to allocate this to Amy on a weekly basis, they did not do this for about three months (almost the entire time I was there) and paid in the last two weeks of me living there.
When I had moved to my new place at university the charity called me (another woman not my key worker) and said I have a debt in my name that I must pay immediately. They said I owed them council tax and must pay it to them. I don't trust them at this point and I'm also not eligible for council tax. I called the council and I don't owe them any money and I'm not eligible for council tax. So I called again and told them this, my key worker happened to be on the phone and said it's not a debt in your name just that Amy was very upset as she received a council tax bill and said out of good will I would pay the charity half and they would pay half.
I distinctly recall Amy telling me one of the benefits of working with the charity is that you don't pay council tax. I stringed this together and realised the charity had made another financial error by not registering Amy as a carer when they should have (thus the late payments to Amy and her council tax bill). I refused and told them this financial error has nothing to do with me I have no debt in my name or council tax bills as confirmed by the council. My key worker than asked which advisor I spoke to and insisted she needed to talk to her. I didn't remember the advisors name. A flood of emails ensued with essentially the same conversation as had over the phone. My position had not changed. They keep calling me over the year and I haven't answered.
About a year later I've received a text from ccscollect with a reference number and my name. I click the link and it's to pay a debt, It's a debt collection service for the local area in which the charity operates.
Perhaps I was foolish for being curious but I put the reference number, my name which they already have and the post code (for Amy's address not my current one because I suspected it was them). The next page said they had stored this information and asked for my bank details and the exact amount the charity had asked for me to pay. I didn't. They have texted me again.
I am tempted to email my key worker and request they stop harassing me for money they owe Amy.
What should be my next course of action? And will this affect affect my future finances like taking out loans or mortgages, or anything like that?
Submitted April 16, 2018 at 07:29AM by bleudreads https://ift.tt/2JNiGiI
