Due in court for council tax (Now with my Statement of affairs)

Doooford

Good morning all,
In a bit of a pickle due to missing a couple of council tax payments, I'm finally on top of my payments for everything and have majorly restructured alot of things in the last 3 months but now I have a demand for the rest of this periods council tax in one go! It equates to £500+ and the court date is 14/11/08. I have been given the option to make a monthly offer of payment and am looking at taking this option but wondered if anyone had any idea what a sensible amount was and if there was any guidance available as I can't seem to find any.
The form only asks for my monthly take home pay and what I would like to offer, I am planning to offer in the region of £100 a month, but as my take home pay is quite high (£1500+) I wondered if this would count against me?
The yhing that this form doesn't take into account is that all of this money is accounted for and is paying off other debts. If making the offer up to £120 or something then I could probably stretch to it, but ultimately I really don't want the offer to be rejected as I really can't find £500 before the date!
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am going to call the council tax office later to see if they can shed any light on offers as well.
Many thanks in advance.
Doooford :undecided

newmum1

I think the best thing to do is offer what you can actually afford to pay at least then you are being realistic and not setting yourself up to fail. Also give them a call as if you are putting in an offer they may cancel the court date. good luck

moneymare

Doooford wrote: »

Good morning all,
In a bit of a pickle due to missing a couple of council tax payments, I'm finally on top of my payments for everything and have majorly restructured alot of things in the last 3 months but now I have a demand for the rest of this periods council tax in one go! It equates to £500+ and the court date is 14/11/08. I have been given the option to make a monthly offer of payment and am looking at taking this option but wondered if anyone had any idea what a sensible amount was and if there was any guidance available as I can't seem to find any.
The form only asks for my monthly take home pay and what I would like to offer, I am planning to offer in the region of £100 a month, but as my take home pay is quite high (£1500+) I wondered if this would count against me?
The yhing that this form doesn't take into account is that all of this money is accounted for and is paying off other debts. If making the offer up to £120 or something then I could probably stretch to it, but ultimately I really don't want the offer to be rejected as I really can't find £500 before the date!
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am going to call the council tax office later to see if they can shed any light on offers as well.
Many thanks in advance.
Doooford :undecided

Won't be taken into account, as Council Tax is seen as a priority debt. Providing the offer you make clears the balance within this Financial Year, then you shouldn't have a problem, but I stress the word 'shouldn't' !!!

Doooford

Thankyou both for the good advice, I did wonder about the financial year thing, I think in that case I will write a letter and enclose £100 for this month and then work out what the monthly payment will be to clear this before april which I think is about £150.
I think you are right though , the key is probably just having a word with them and then seeing where to go from there.
Also, I'm moving out next month, so this amount will be reduced by 3 months or so, don't know how that will work out, doesn't really matter though, the main thing is obviously not ending up in court.
On a side note, This court order states that it is a 'Liability Order'. Is this the same as a CCJ and will it affect credit ratings and hamper my credit check when I rent my next property?
Thanks :beer:

Jesthar

Hi Doooford,

Moneymare is right - Council Tax is seen as a priority debt, and takes precedence over other debts. If your offer will get it all paid by the end of the financial year, you hopefully should be OK, I think.

One other thing, have you ever posted up a Statement of Affairs? If you haven't the link is here:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

and if you use the 'MSE' button in the 'Format Results' section near the bottom, you can just paste it in here for people to make suggestions for savings. No worries if you don;t ant to, though.

~Jes

moneymare

Doooford wrote: »

On a side note, This court order states that it is a 'Liability Order'. Is this the same as a CCJ and will it affect credit ratings and hamper my credit check when I rent my next property?
Thanks :beer:

No - Council Tax Liability Order's are dealt with by Magistrates Courts and not County Courts - so it is not the same as a CCJ.

It is not recorded anywhere for financial purposes and is simply a matter between the individual and the council.

Doooford

That is great, I've just paid for the agency fees for a flat at £330 pounds, only after did I read that a CCJ would basically mean that the fee would be lost.
It was only just now when I got in I thought, sheeeet, what if this isn't counted as cleared!
Moneymare, the fact you took the time to write that has really had a dramatic reduction on my blood pressure. Thank you so much! :A

Doooford

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 13
Telephone (land line)................... 7.5
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 35
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 24
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1022.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg Loan.......................6308.77...176.8.....7.66
Credit Card....................7997.63...147.......17.49
Loan...........................3277.79...80........11
Overdraft......................500.......14........0
Total unsecured debts..........18084.19..417.8.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,022.5
Available for debt repayments........... 777.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 417.8
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 359.7

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,084.19
Net Assets.............................. -18,084.19

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

Other things to note are, that I'm moving house this month and because of that I now need to buy a car to get ot work. I have just found out that I am going to lose my job in February and am a bit worried due to the amount of outgoings I have I really need a well paid job just to get by!
I am also about to become a father, so I am also about to take on another massive expense. Not sure what to do, I really need to reduce my monthly payments, even if I'm in debt for the next 10 years, at the moment I just need to know that I can get by, and maybe ride out the time I am without work. My credit rating is very poor, no CCJ's but a hell of alot of late payments (every month without fail for months and months).
Any help would be appreciated!

[Deleted User]

Grocery shopping could be cut a bit and entertainment has to come last - at least pay your other monthly important bills like CTax first. Also, could you reduce your mobile to PAYG?
Congrats on soon to be a father! Check out entitledto and make sure you receive the right benefits - child benefit, child tax credit/working tax credit etc and any other benefits you may be entitled to - help with rent/CTax (!) etc.
Also, check out the snowball calculator (someone will provide a link) ans it will help you sort out how to clear your debts each month in the best way. It also gives you an incentive to set a debt-clearing budget each month and stick to it - as you see the amounts you could pay back lower your debt quick!
The good news is you have a surplus, but I advise making a note of everything you spend one week/month and checking where that money goes, then you can budget properly and trim costs here and there. If you could find out where that surplus goes each month and then chuck it at your debt, it would help greatly before little one comes along!

Jesthar

Hi Doooford,

Will your rent go up or down in your new house? Or council tax?

Obvious targets are your grocery budget, and definitely your entertainment budget - you may need to be more hermit like for a few months in order to make a start on your debts before baby and new job arrive!

Bear in mind that a car is going to be a reasonable chunk out of your budget with Tax, insurance, petrol, MOT and maintenance, so try and ensure you get something with is cheap to tax and insure, and preferably economical too.

Sorry to hear about the job, make the most of the three/four months you have to job hunt. Also, as purple said, check for any benefits you can claim once Baby No 1 arrives! (congratulations!)

In the meantime, you need to be throwing whatever you can each month at your most expensivbe (highest APR) debt - link to the snowball calculator is here: http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx - it will help you work out what to pay off first. Definitely start a spending diary, and if you're careful you could have knocked over a grand extra off your debts before you change jobs.

Hope you job hunting goes well!

~Jes

dancingfairy

Okay dokey let's have a quick go through this then:


Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50 can you arrange to pay over 12 months when you are caught up for next year to make budgetting easier.
Electricity............................. 25 seems pretty good - make sure you have everything turned off when not needed, everything off standby, low energy bulbs, insulation where possible, turn off lights when not in the room etc.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 13
Telephone (land line)................... 7.5
Mobile phone............................ 35 how many is this? 1 mobile? see if you can get this reduced if at all possible - phone up and ask if they can lower it to 25 a month or something. Worth a go anyway.
TV Licence.............................. 0 um no t.v ? if paid for already need to budget for next years.
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0 no internet? need to budget for this as well.
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 how many for? if for 2 could defninitely trim to 150 or less with a little effort. See MoneySavingOldStytle for hints and tips eg batch cooking ,taking sandwiches to work, buying BOGOFS , shopping at markets for fruit and veg etc, etc.
Clothing................................ 35
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 24 what's this?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15 what's this?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 you need this
Life assurance ......................... 0 you probably need this if you are starting a family?? shop around and go through Quidco.
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 200 this is absolutely huge - what do you spend it on? need to think how you can enjoy a good social life without shelling out so much - post what you like doing and I am sure you will get some suggestions on how to do things cheaply.
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 might be prudent - even a small amount would help.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1022.5

On paper you have a fair surplus so you really need to work out where that is going and get it chucked off your debts- possibly the ctax is the best to go for. Definitely get the spending diary out and see where all the spare money is going.
Also don't forget to allow for car insurance/petrol/mot/parking etc etc when you get a car - you may not be able to afford one and may need to look at getting public transport or car sharing or getting a job nearer to your new home.
Anyway enough rambling from me. Best of Luck and hopefully you will soon be on the road to receovery
df x