Paying Mother-in-laws nursing home fee's

[rosiew]

I cannot get my head around this so i desperately need your help.
I pay weekly for my mother-in-laws nursing home fee's. This i have done since she went into the nursing home 2 yrs ago and never had a problem. Her pension goes into an account weekly and fee's are paid the next day, that said, i received a letter to say that she is in default so i telephoned them, they say that i should never have paid weekly as i am always going to be in arrears. I would have thought that wether you pay weekly or monthly it will ALWAYS add up to the same amount over the year. They try to blind you with figures and such but said they will look into it. Surely if the amount is £137.49 per week and that is what you pay them, how can we be in arrears. Please help

[RATTER15]

I think the problem is that they work on bills being paid monthly being 28/29/30/31 in a month but as you pay weekly you are only paying for 28 a month.

[wolf63]

Or they could mean that the amount is due in advance and that you have been paying in arrears.

Did you find out how much the arrears are in total? What period are the arrears for?

[RATTER15]

Sorry, I am reffering to days in a month.

[gingejbee]

You could ask them to put all their calculations in writing and take it to Citizens Advice, if you can't fathom out what's going on. You should also ask them why they allowed weekly payments in the first place!

[milly143]

It seems odd that they would wait 2 years to tell you if there is a problem. That's bad book-keeping.

[annie0000]

I guess it depends on whether they expect payment in advance or arrears. For example do they expect payment on 1st November for November fees? If so, if you are paying at the end (or even the beginning) of each week, then you are always going to be in arrears.

The monthly way for example £800 paid on first November
Weekly way - £200 paid 1st Week - £600 in arrears
£200 paid 2nd week - £400 in arrears
£200 paid 3rd week - £200 in arrears
£200 paid 4th week - up to date

[rosiew]

He was saying that the account at the moment is £700 and something in arrears but there is something like 3 weeks that i have paid that they have not deducted yet. He is going to look into it and send me a breakdown. Gingejbee - i will ask them that question. I still say that if you pay weekly (137.49) it should still add up. I am totally confused. Thanks all who replied so quickly, you cannot beat the answerbankers