You should lodge a dispute or get legal advice if you think your debt is in error.
Has given me severe anxiety and depression. No way possible I could owe this amount let alone pay it back. They say one debt of 34000 is from a 6 month period in 2015 where they overpayed me.
Moderate stress
Bad credit rating
Unable to obtain any credit/loans etc
After I cancelled my payment they paid me extra money, I was actually entitled to it but they tried to say it was a debt they also tried to pay me money I was not entitled to and refused to stop the payment (even though I was asking them to stop the payment before it happened).
I kept getting phone calls, a number i didn't recognise, 3-4 times a week. When i answered it would be prerecorded message, an American accent telling me I needed to contact some legal firm, when I called the number, i'd get another pre-recorded message.
It was blatantly a scam so I ignored the calls, I received a letter in the mail dated about a month earlier saying I had about a week to pay off my 851 dollar debt before centrelink would take legal action.
It was really stressful because looking through the payments, it didn't actually add up.
Centrelink contacted me in 2018 claiming I owed $1950 due to misreporting my income while on Newstart during the 2014/15 financial year. I disputed the debt but lost so had to repay the full amount.
Centrelink has sent me a letter today stating that:
“We are refunding money to people who made repayments to eligible income compliance debts. Our records indicate that you previously had debt/s raised using averaging of ATO information. We no longer do this and will refund the repayments you made to your nominated bank account.”
Hell yes!
I had been working as a vet nurse for around 7 month (casual work) while still on Newstart (2015) centerlink gives you 1000 points so when you do find work you provide your income amount from paid employment and they deduct some of your payment you get from Newstart.
Well each fortnight I gave centerlink my income information and logged out.
(Information I provided to centerlink was correct to the cent amount).
I continued worked and notified centerlink I no longer need to be on centerlink and they stopped payments. (About 2 months into my job).
Over $20,000 debt dating back to 2012. In that time I was working casual, doing courses and also homeless.
I had 2 children to worry about.
All my tax returns where taken from me and any FTB.
I had a breakdown in 2016.
I have lived with stress since the start of all the debts coming in, 9 in total !
I did not actually get a robo debt but they sent me a letter saying I might have been over paid which immidately caused me a huge amount of anxiety as I find them hard to deal with at the best of times. I have anxiety and depression but I knew that I tried by best every fortnight to do the right thing.
They insisted I go back to every employer of the last years and get all my old payslips. I had to spend many days and hours emailing and contacting people to try to get all the stuff.
The first time I received a demand for payment was in 2017.
I commenced repaying $150 per fortnight in 2017 to repay a debt that I did not and could not be explained.
Each tax year my tax return was taken and applied to the "debt".
After I received another the following year I questioned again "how could this happen?"
I refused to pay so they placed interested on the debt and sent me off to deal with Dun & Bradstreet who also refused to provide evidence of the debt.
The threat has made me feel sick
I was driving home from work and they rang me up and told me that I have a day at first
they said that I didn’t declare my earnings for gave me for different dates all over $2000 and they pressured me and said if you did not sign or give us any information regarding evidence that you have worked we will make sure you pay the step back
they called me into a very small position where I had to sign into a debt agreement to pay the smallest amount I could pay
their absolute animals and scam artists
They told me I owe $9000 as I didn’t report my income correctly and I should not have claimed maternity leave and single parent payment. I was also told not to bother appealing as I had no hope of getting anywhere as 100% of cases get rejected. I was told I can not prove my case.
I was embarrassed, stressed and many other emotional stages I went through.
I wasted a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of it by contacting my previous employer and explaining it to them also was very embarrassing and I felt like a criminal.
I have 3 kids and $7000 is a lot of money that could have been used to help with hospital stays, food, medication and much more.
I was hit twice by the RoboDebt scheme.
The first year they stated I owed money from an employment role in 2008.
I was working as a Cadet getting Study Allowance alongside my Salary — Centrelink calculated that I earned $8000 in 8 weeks. What a laugh!
I am a single parent who could only dream of earning that kind of money.
They sent me a debt letter of $3600.
I have paid that despite the fact that I knew I did not owe it, I did not want the stress and anxiety — just working to make ends meet as it is.
I am a single mum and due to this debt have a record so it's hard to find work now.
I live in a private rental home and do not work so it is very stressful.
I have paid money to it since 2014 and all lump sums in July have gone on it.
It has made my life hell, anxiety levels have flaxuated, makes it hard to be happy for my children.
I was torched in the interview and threatened jail if I didn't own up to the debt.
I felt scared and alone.
In 2014 when I was heavily pregnant with my first child and while my husband was out on a deployment, I have received a 30 thousand dollar debt from centerlink, saying they have over paid me, when I was in my hairdressing career back in 2009/2010.
I have spoken to them about it, they needed evidence of it being wrong, unfortunately I could not find any of my payslips, so I just left it and for a long time I struggled with stress and anxiety and working out how to pay this debt.
I'm still paying it off till this day and have 3 children.
These debts have affected me mentally, physically.
They have contributed to my levels of anxiety rising I have more frequent episodes with PTSD and Anxiety Depression.
I have had relationship breakdowns. Unwanted thoughts.
I am a single mum of 3 girls.
Have paid $5863( + the interest) back of this debt,
only to be hit with another $3915 + $1818 in August 2019!
Have not received any tax refund back over numerous years, as it goes back towards repaying the Debt
They have taken it all!
#@$%
NOT HAPPY
My sister, who is a single mother of two young boys received a bill for $20,000 and another for $1,700.
These debts have arisen from 2011 until now. No mention of how the bill got so high.
She was informed one fine related to her youth allowance, and the bigger to her parenting payments.
She is anxious, stressed, depressed and struggling to pay her bills. They 'kindly' removed the recovery fee, but have made no moves to our knowledge to go back over her bank statements or make any moves on her appeal.
I found out I had a debt when my tax return was garnished in 2018.
My partner and I had just had our first child, I also moved house (rent more expensive than my last), and I started a new job (paying less than my previous job), suffice to say, we were under a heck of a lot of pressure, both emotionally, physically and financially.
I had a small tax return of about $500 I was expecting - enough to just help a little with the expense we had just had to wear.
I broke both my legs and was in a wheelchair for months and I work as a chef I had to prove I wasn't working, and told me that I declared that I made $0 that year which is a lie gave me $5500 debt I asked for evidence several time with no success.
Might I add I've work all my adult life first time I really need centerlink then I worked my arse off to be able to walk again and earn my money just to get back to work.