AMBARVALE pensioner Carmen Razza said she was “mortified’’ when she received a letter from Centrelink advising that she owed them more than $3600.

Mrs Razza, 70, receives the aged pension and rental assistance and works at least 15 hours a week in customer service.

She said she was notified in November that the debt was due to a discrepancy in her 2010-12 statements and that she had under reported her income.

“They say I earned more than I reported but I have always reported honestly,’’ she said.

“They think that I mistakenly reported my net wage rather than my gross wage.’’

Mrs Razza said she was paid a different amount each fortnight depending on the number of hours she worked.

“Centrelink should have told me straight away because it’s six years ago and I can’t remember,’’ she said.

She said she was reluctant to approach her employer about the matter because the company had recently been sold and a new management was in place.

Mrs Razza said she had no choice but to pay the money back to Centrelink.

She has been paying $40 a fortnight but last week Centrelink reduced the repayments to $15 a week.

Mrs Razza said she continued to discuss the matter with Centrelink staff and hoped her matter would be referred to its appeals board for review.

Macarthur Federal Labor MP Mike Freelander became aware about Ms Razza’s situation when she contacted him.

“The government is putting pressure on the most vulnerable people, not multinationals and that’s just wrong,’’ he said.

“Part of the problem (in Mrs Razza’s case) is it (the years in question) occurred so long ago.’’

A Federal Department of Human Services spokeswoman said the organisation would be happy to get a customer service officer to look into Mrs Razza’s case and offer follow-up support and talk her through the appeals process.

Centrelink’s automated debt recovery program, which compares Centrelink and Australian Taxation Office records, has issued 170,000 notifications since July last year.

The program has been criticised in media reports amid claims incorrect debt notices had been sent to hundreds of welfare recipients.