Politics Centrelink

[Messenger]

Hey just so everyone is aware...

If your debt is under 10 thousand dollars there is basically nothing a creditor can do to you. Same goes for debt collectors.

They can ask for the money back, but a cebtrelink debt is unsecured and once a debt collector has purchased it there is no way for them to get the funds.

For an amount that small you can flat out just tell them "sorry im not paying it, you should just write off the debt or take me to court" and demand any correspondence between you and the debt collector be in writing.

Just an FYI. Debt collectors sound scary but they can be stuffed with pretty essily. They would have been licking their lips at going after centrelink customers though, the parasites. Knowing most centrelink recipients arent well educated or resourced makes them an easy mark for standover tactics.

The debt collectors would not have seen this as a pot of gold; the profile of those people with actual debts is such that there is a poor chance of receiving full payment. I suspect they got their wedge from the Commonwealth up front.

 

[JackOutback]

Don't the collectors 'purchase' an an agreed amount of debt from the government (much less than the actual debt)? Then the government gets some money and the collectors make a profit on anything over the purchase price?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

The debt collectors would not have seen this as a pot of gold; the profile of those people with actual debts is such that there is a poor chance of receiving full payment. I suspect they got their wedge from the Commonwealth up front.

Actually, those with actual 9as oposed to fake) debts are not likely to be full time Centrelink recipients any longer. They are liekly to have other inc0omes, under-reported some years ago. Yes, there will be long term unemployed and recent unemployed. There will also be a large number who were unemplyed for a few months and have been in work for a few years by now.

And the 10% added to all debts, real and fake, allows for quite a lot to be passed on the the agencies while government still makes a profit. Add to those fake debts that never get disputed because people just pay, or have no access to documents going back seven years in some cases in order to dispute the claimed overpayment.

 

[Maggie5]

Don't the collectors 'purchase' an an agreed amount of debt from the government (much less than the actual debt)? Then the government gets some money and the collectors make a profit on anything over the purchase price?

Read somewhere that Dunn and Bradstreet received a $20.5 million contract and two others $2.5 million each so they got a fair chunk upfront.

 

[Gough]

If they get their 10% on top too, budget estimate of $4.1 billion saved, I wouldn't mind 10% of that.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

If they get their 10% on top too, budget estimate of $4.1 billion saved, I wouldn't mind 10% of that.

I doubt they get all 10%, some of that would go into consolidsated revenue. The 10% gets added even before it goes to an agency.

 

[Gough]

I doubt they get all 10%, some of that would go into consolidsated revenue. The 10% gets added even before it goes to an agency.

Still not a bad bandwagon to be on. I wonder which Liberal Party doner can be connected to this company?

 

[NSWCROW]

 

[GreyCrow]

The debt collectors would not have seen this as a pot of gold; the profile of those people with actual debts is such that there is a poor chance of receiving full payment. I suspect they got their wedge from the Commonwealth up front.

I will disagree. It seems to be that most of issues surround people who started work and declared income. If they are still working then they can afford to pay.

If they are no longer working then yes the capacity to pay will be an issue.

 

[Hawk Dork]

I will disagree. It seems to be that most of issues surround people who started work and declared income. If they are still working then they can afford to pay.

If they are no longer working then yes the capacity to pay will be an issue.

A lot of people who did a little work and were still on the dole who got the debt collectors sicced on them ?
They may not have a job now, it might have been seasonal

A friend drives a cement truck in the middle of nowhere, when there is no work, he goes on the dole and so does his wife, when there is work they dont and sometimes when there is only a few jobs for the week they get a part payment.
Its a week by week proposition
I havent seen him for while but I bet he and his wife will get a letter
They live hand to mouth and would struggle

I will try and find out in the next few weeks

 

[GreyCrow]

A lot of people who did a little work and were still on the dole who got the debt collectors sicced on them ?
They may not have a job now, it might have been seasonal

A friend drives a cement truck in the middle of nowhere, when there is no work, he goes on the dole and so does his wife, when there is work they dont and sometimes when there is only a few jobs for the week they get a part payment.
Its a week by week proposition
I havent seen him for while but I bet he and his wife will get a letter
They live hand to mouth and would struggle

I will try and find out in the next few weeks

No doubt. I was more replying to the notion that full time u/e would be hit with these claims. It seems it is targeted at those who reported income over the last 6 years. ie not the ''profile of such people who are able to repay'' etc.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Pretty straight forward visit. I sat with the bloke for 15 minutes, answered a couple of questions. He sent my claim off and I left. 45 minutes all up.

Had a 'here we go' moment early on but got it straightened out pretty quick.

Him : If she's going to school in Victoria and living with her grandparents then she's not isolated.

Me : I could send her to boarding school in Perth at a school with 1,000 other students and she's isolated. There are no secondary school options where we live.

Him : Fair enough. We don't get any of these applications through here.

He was good about it.

The question from here is, will they accept the application? I've already had an email confirmation from them some months prior that grandparents can be classed as private boarding.

Ok, I got my answer to the above last week.

My claim was rejected because my daughter was deemed not to be geographically isolated. Hmmmm, the closest secondary school to us is 135km away, one way.

I've sent them an email asking where they deem her nearest secondary school to be. The town I'm in does have a primary school. There are at least 20 other families in this town that send their children to boarding schools in Perth and Esperance and are in receipt of the payment that I'm seeking, most of them with multiple children too.

I'll just have to keep plugging away at them I guess.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Ok, I got my answer to the above last week.

My claim was rejected because my daughter was deemed not to be geographically isolated. Hmmmm, the closest secondary school to us is 135km away, one way.

I've sent them an email asking where they deem her nearest secondary school to be. The town I'm in does have a primary school. There are at least 20 other families in this town that send their children to boarding schools in Perth and Esperance and are in receipt of the payment that I'm seeking, most of them with multiple children too.

I'll just have to keep plugging away at them I guess.

Yay, I had a win. Sorted.

I rang them this morning, I was on hold for an hour, I actually though I'd been forgotten about and was going to hang up when she came back on line. The lady that I was speaking with wasn't able to help me, not her area of expertise, but she knew who could, it was just a matter of being able to get hold of someone in that section to help me. She promised me I'd get a call back from them. True to her word, I received a call within the hour, they apologised for the error in rejecting my claim initially and fixed it.

They're the best Government department eva and I don't want to read anymore about you meanies rubbishing them.

 

[Maggie5]

Yay, I had a win. Sorted.

I rang them this morning, I was on hold for an hour, I actually though I'd been forgotten about and was going to hang up when she came back on line. The lady that I was speaking with wasn't able to help me, not her area of expertise, but she knew who could, it was just a matter of being able to get hold of someone in that section to help me. She promised me I'd get a call back from them. True to her word, I received a call within the hour, they apologised for the error in rejecting my claim initially and fixed it.

They're the best Government department eva and I don't want to read anymore about you meanies rubbishing them.

Great work, however maybe you should be pleased those meanies made a lot of noise so that they did attend to your issue faster.

 

[hale]

They're the best Government department eva and I don't want to read anymore about you meanies rubbishing them.

Hmmm, I see Centrelink's latest tactic is producing the desired results already

 

[NSWCROW]

" Age of Entitlement " indeed

 

[Maggie5]

Friend of mine company went into liquidation early May, she was eligible for aged pension but was hoping to work for a few more years.

Submitted her application for aged pension on 15 May, (still looking for work and has managed to gain a job that has given her 30 hours of casual work) and every week receives a text from Centrelink stating your application has progressed. She logs on to see nothing has changed.

Went in last week and was told still being investigate. Fortunately she is not dependent on the pension but the concession card would be helpful as has been diagnosed with a blood disorder and spending a small fortune on specialists and tests.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Friend of mine company went into liquidation early May, she was eligible for aged pension but was hoping to work for a few more years.

Submitted her application for aged pension on 15 May, (still looking for work and has managed to gain a job that has given her 30 hours of casual work) and every week receives a text from Centrelink stating your application has progressed. She logs on to see nothing has changed.

Went in last week and was told still being investigate. Fortunately she is not dependent on the pension but the concession card would be helpful as has been diagnosed with a blood disorder and spending a small fortune on specialists and tests.

If she's only working 30 hours, she should just ring them, she has a full 10 hours per week to wait on the phone.

 

[Maggie5]

If she's only working 30 hours, she should just ring them, she has a full 10 hours per week to wait on the phone.

Sadly only 30 hours in total over the whole period (is using her savings) but she has a couple of job prospects from interviews so hopefully won't need Centrelink.
She is very good at what she does.

 

[Power Raid]

gotta love government incompetence

it's time to privatise the operation of centrelink to separate the conflict of interest and provide customers with more power.

 

[Number37]

gotta love government incompetence

it's time to privatise the operation of centrelink to separate the conflict of interest and provide customers with more power.

As if the government wants to give the unemployed more power.
Under-staffing social services is a means of making it as hard a possible for the 'customers'.

 

[Power Raid]

As if the government wants to give the unemployed more power.
Under-staffing social services is a means of making it as hard a possible for the 'customers'.

that's why it needs to happen

is there an ombudsman for centrelink?

 

[Gough]

I'd assume if Centrelink was to be privatised the only way you could get someone to buy it is to convince them it could be run at a profit which would be interesting sell.

 

[Power Raid]

I'd assume if Centrelink was to be privatised the only way you could get someone to buy it is to convince them it could be run at a profit which would be interesting sell.

why do you think that?

 

[Maggie5]

As if the government wants to give the unemployed more power.
Under-staffing social services is a means of making it as hard a possible for the 'customers'.

Privatisation hasn't helped in dealing with Medibank. No email service now and have to wait some time on the phone.

Can just imagine if someone took over Centrelink, you would need to pack lunch and sleeping bag whilst waiting for an answer.