Go to top of page

Centrelink admitted my "debt" was THEIR error, stole my tax refund anyway

Debt amount: 
$109
Date debt issued: 
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Period debt occurred: 
October 2013
Has your case been referred to a collection agency?: 
Yes
Payment Type: 
Newstart Allowance
Appealing Debt?: 
Yes in process
Tell us about your debt and how has this affected you? e.g. anxiety levels, financial and accommodation stress: 

I got my debt letter in October, before all the bad press started and phoned Centrelink. I actually got through relatively quickly and gave my details to a young man who checked their records and eventually advised me that it was the Centrelink system that was at fault - they had misallocated payments or something and the dates they were chasing me for incorrect payment were actually after I had signed off Newstart and started work, so they hadn't even paid me for those dates (one of the days was a Saturday!). He then told me that I had to go online at mygov.gov.au and change the details myself. I asked him if he could just correct it, what with it being their fault and their system, but no, apparently they couldn't possibly fix it, I had to do it myself.

When I went on to MyGov there was nowhere where I could reallocated payments as the Centrelink man had told me, but I found an option to request a review, which I did. A few days later I got a letter saying that I still owed them the $109. I went back online but now there was no mention of the debt at all, nothing.

A few days after that I started getting SMS messages that looked exactly like bad Phishing attempts, so I ignored them. Further SMS and letters arrived from Dun & Bradstreet and I responded to one by telling them about Centrelink admitting responsibility for the error. Unfortunately I also submitted my tax return around this point and soon got notification that the debt had been deducted from my tax return. Cheers Centrelink!

How do you feel about the way the Government has handled this process?: 

Appallingly!
My debt was only a small amount and I've held off complaining/challenging because I don't want to spend hours on the phone and filling out more forms. But I'm tempted to kick up a fuss now, on principle.