Overpayment

etymon

Hi there

Is an overpayment of SW (pension after death) accidentally paid an eternal debt owed or will I ever actually be entitled to spend it?! Informed SW of death one week after pensioner died, received email thanking me and assuring claim was stopped. Closed bank account pension was paid into. They kept... paying... the pension.... Even more astounding, no reply to my correspondence asking how much I owe them and how to repay them.

I have no idea how much of the bank account was pension overpaid but there was far more in the payment when the account was closed than I would have expected so I am nearly 100% sure they didn't close the claim. Thankfully I have correspondence showing I acted in utmost good faith to date.

I realise I could take a day off work and go up to the local office and see them about it but I am so annoyed with their lack of engagement that I really am tempted to say f&^k ye all I'm spending it! Especially when I hear about how quickly vulnerable peoples' payments are stopped without reason.

Anyone had this happen before?

TheBeach

Did you try ringing the pensions office in sligo?

etymon

No, called into an office in town (Pearse St) who told me to ring my own office in Navan Road who didn't pick up after maybe 20 calls throughout a weekday. Also 4x emails including my original email to stop pension and their confirmation that this has been done - no reply since.
Will call Sligo tomorrow - did not realise ought to call Sligo.

haveringchick

etymon wrote: »

No, called into an office in town (Pearse St) who told me to ring my own office in Navan Road who didn't pick up after maybe 20 calls throughout a weekday. Also 4x emails including my original email to stop pension and their confirmation that this has been done - no reply since.
Will call Sligo tomorrow - did not realise ought to call Sligo.

Sligo 1890500000 press 2 for pensions. You need to have the deceased persons PPSN
I don't know how you have access to a deceased persons bank account or how on earth you think that money has anything to do with you or why you would think you could steal it. It's not yours.

etymon

Thanks for that
I should maybe have said,
1. I am the executor and one of the beneficiaries of the estate
2. as such a certain amount of money was transferred to my account from the account the pension was paid into
3. I have no idea if they kept paying pension or not but I think they must have as I would have expected hundreds not thousands in the account
4. nobody seems interested in replying to my correspondence

I am not in the business of stealing money but I am a bit irritated that they can
(a) confirm in January that pension claim was stopped (within two hours of being notified)
and
(b) cannot re-confirm this despite correspondence, now two months since I have queried an overpayment
And I am left with funds I do not know if I can spend (edit: distribute to impatient beneficiaries).

I have just found an email address for overpayments, forwarded my correspondence, and just got an 'out-of-office' reply .... So am going to leave it for another few frustrating weeks.

haveringchick

Why don't you simply ring the number I already gave you during business hours on Monday and notify them of the death?
Why was this not done following the death?
I've rang Sligo to report a death literally dozens of times it takes about 10 minutes start to finish
A quick look at either welfare.ie or citizens information.ie tells you exactly what to do when a claimant dies
Every single cent paid into that account after the day of death is owed back to the taxpayer and DSP will persue the estate for it rigorously on the states behalf

etymon

haveringchick wrote: »

Why don't you simply ring the number I already gave you during business hours on Monday and notify them of the death?
Why was this not done following the death?
I've rang Sligo to report a death literally dozens of times it takes about 10 minutes start to finish
A quick look at either welfare.ie or citizens information.ie tells you exactly what to do when a claimant dies
Every single cent paid into that account after the day of death is owed back to the taxpayer and DSP will persue the estate for it rigorously on the states behalf

Bit harsh... You literally just gave me that number!
I did not know about the famous 'Sligo' as I pretty much immediately did an online query after the death (by looking at welfare.ie as you so rightly advised) which was replied to by an officer who wrote a very nice email thanking me and confirmed she had closed the claim... whether she works in Sligo or not is beyond the point.
But thanks for the threat of lawsuit and themes of righteousness. I am aware I may owe them money, hence this post and efforts I have made to query an overpayment.

PS Worth remembering that when you may have done something 'dozens of times', others may not have.

livemusic4life

etymon wrote: »

Hi there

Is an overpayment of SW (pension after death) accidentally paid an eternal debt owed or will I ever actually be entitled to spend it?! Informed SW of death one week after pensioner died, received email thanking me and assuring claim was stopped. Closed bank account pension was paid into. They kept... paying... the pension.... Even more astounding, no reply to my correspondence asking how much I owe them and how to repay them.

I have no idea how much of the bank account was pension overpaid but there was far more in the payment when the account was closed than I would have expected so I am nearly 100% sure they didn't close the claim. Thankfully I have correspondence showing I acted in utmost good faith to date.

I realise I could take a day off work and go up to the local office and see them about it but I am so annoyed with their lack of engagement that I really am tempted to say f&^k ye all I'm spending it! Especially when I hear about how quickly vulnerable peoples' payments are stopped without reason.

Anyone had this happen before?

Most payments continue for 6 weeks after the death if there are people dependant on the money, its to help with the cost after someone dies, i know my dads pension was paid for 6 weeks after he died

haveringchick

livemusic4life wrote: »

Most payments continue for 6 weeks after the death if there are people dependant on the money, its to help with the cost after someone dies, i know my dads pension was paid for 6 weeks after he died

Your dads pension was paid to your mam
The pension is only paid for 6 weeks to a surviving spouse, not adult children or siblings
Is someone was in receipt of Carers Allowance in respect of someone who dies, the Csrer continues to get the Carers payment for 6 weeks after death

MDwyer

honestly the only way to get this properly sorted i think is to ring the head office in sligo you could contact your local 20 times before it was sorted