NotMyDebt Stories
We are collecting stories on the site because we think it's important to have a way to people to add their voice to this issue by sharing their story. It's puts a human voice to the issues with using technology and automating systems and providing a blanket solution without providing staff and people that can right wrongs and help people when there is an error.
Please share your story with us if you have a Centrelink debt story that you believe has been issued in error or due to a fault in the system.
As frustrating as it is, persist with the appeals process, and know others are behind you.
Stories are 100% anonymous
Very stressed! financially and emotionally- I already have significant debt from being unemployed for 5 months after finishing full-time University studies that were not subsidised.
I received my 1st letter from Centrelink, claiming that I had under-declared my earnings by $220 for the 2011-12 tax period. I rang them and they said unless I could provide them with payslips or other evidence to the contrary, then I owed them $780 (including the collection fee).
I started my employment after feeling recovered enough from my depression, and anxiety after doing a few work for the dole programs and reported what I earned correctly (as far as I know)....my mind was all over the place at the time and I told that to my employment consultant but they said I would be fine and centrelink would notice if I was ma
Centrelink didn't even notify me, no letter or electronic mail, it was the debt collectors who informed me, I thought I was going to faint. I was angry Centerlink hadn't informed me but I started paying it because I wasnt about to shoot the messanger.
this isn't so much about the affect of my debt on my life but the lack of care that the Government is showing. I just spent 35min waiting to get through to centre link. Didn't some one say that it on average it takes 12min? A minister?
The process has created high anxiety, low self esteem and I feel threatened. My eating habits have deteriorated, my confidence is shot, and I am withdrawing from society due to feeling I am not believed and I feel shamed. And all this over the Xmas break.
This has impacted on my family immensely.. A 4000 debt to be paid by December 19...
We were overpaid FTB due to an ERROR / mistake by Centrelink and received a letter from Probe.
We didn't know we were not entitled to the payments as apparently the rules had been changed by the government but somehow someone didn't make the changes to stop us from receiving the fortnightly payment?
I am in my 15 weeks of pregnancy who stay sick most of the times , and paying $650 is just not as easy as they think for people with normal income ., i received a call from collection agency and the representative threatened me to enter into an immediate payment arrangement or she will put default on my credit history and do wage garnishing an
Back when I was just receiving newstart I would often think I should just kill myself cause I can't afford to live. I hate this feeling however familiar it is. I asked centrelink numerous times to change my reporting day so I could declare off my payslip.
I was honest and changed my income estimate and was sent an owing notice. At the same time I lodged a carer's allowance for my Autistic son and after many hrs on hold I was told that I have to wait around 2 mths for a carer's allowance, yet my son has specialist appointments now! And that's why I had to get a job.
According to CL a "glitch" in their system has generated a Child Care Benefit debt from 8 years ago which has now been referred to a debt collector. This issue is now sitting with a Senior IT person to fix this "glitch". I am told I must pay and when the problem is fixed they will reimburse me.
I apparently owe $5000 from 2011-2012. I have no records from this time and would have great difficulty in tracking down the records that Centrelink is asking for so I have been forced to enter into a repayment plan at $221 a month for several years. I may have been overpaid. I honestly can't remember.
It is just so stressful. I've spent over 3 hours on the telephone with centrelink staff and they have not been able to identify where or why the debt figure is what it is, yet they are more than happy to send me too a debt collection agency. It's just not fair.
I am a 30 year old male who has to pay child support for two children and trying to study at university.
I almost got evicted from my rental property. My rent a fortnight is $600 and my Centrelink payments (I am currently off work due to a work related injury however my payments from Workcover have ceased) are $653 a fortnight. They automatically started deducting $80 from my payments so I did not have enough money to pay my rent.
I has cause a great deal of extra stress for me because i live in a country town and theres next to no jobs, so i am already struggling to cope with living costs and not being able to get work
Some of us should all start up a class action for negligence , in particular for economic harm, for those on current Centrelink payments and whose monies are being deducted for repayments for the incorrectly applied debt.
I am a single parent, have been working part-time and periodically since my son was 7 months old, and full-time for 15 years prior to having him. I have been contributing taxes for 22 consecutive years. I put myself through uni part-time whilst working full-time without any government assistance whatsoever, not even a free bus pass...
At the start of every financial year i had to estimate how much i would earn for the year i always over estimated and at the end of every financial year after my tax was done centrelink said they owed me money now i am being taken to court for fraud centrelink say i wasnt entitled to the money to say i am stressed is an under statement
Stressed have anxiety as it a big debt for someone who doesn't get taxes taken out of my pay alway report correctly
Firstly, let me start by saying that I have worked most of my life and only had a few months off due to health reasons. I am a very honest person and have always declared everything truthfully. I recently (Dec 2016) received a email stating that I need to confirm my employment income information.
I was a full time student, working minimal casual hours for one employer for the entire period when I was a student. For some reason, my previous employer had me on their tax records for 12 months after I had resigned so the Centrelink system sees that as being employed in two different places whilst I was studying.
I was living in the UK and working as a teacher when my mum got a letter addressed to me saying that they were keeping $3512 from my latest tax return as my Centrelink had allegedly been overpaid when I was a uni student.
So, I received a phone call last week from a debt agency telling me that I owed Centrelink nearly $9000. I thought it was a spam call so I ignored it. But they kept calling, then they couldn't speak to me about the matter because I couldn't confirm my debt.