Swirling in and out of debt

debttornado

Hi,
Tealady, I sent a copy of my original letter to the council, they acknowledged it but that was it. I will send copies of any correspondance to the bailiff to the council, but I don't think they will do anything.

Georgie4, unfortunately I can't check on the bailiff as I have no idea who he? is - they never visited our property and all letters just came through the bailiff company's head office.

debttornado

Things have not been particularly good.

Had somewhat of a disaster with council tax on top of a reduction in OH's pay.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1568269

However, I have now:

• written to Rossendales requesting a full breakdown of the fees and amounts owed.
• written to the bank challenging the amount they say I owe and pointing out that the account may also have been missold.
• written to the council about 09/10 CTax and asked for payments to be spread over 12 months.
• written to gas and electric asking to spread arrears and to send out DD form so payments can be regular.

Tomorrow I will speak to one of the debt charities about the CTax arrears.

OH still hasn't quite got the idea of priority vs non-priority debts, but I think I will just have to keep plugging away at him. I pointed out that the amount we currently owe means that 3 councils could, in theory, make us bankrupt - that seemed to shut him up a bit.

I've put spare books on Amazon, but nothing has sold yet. Can't get a second job as my current one takes up all my time and is pretty stressful., OH's is pretty full on too. I will have to explore other ways of sorting out this mess.

debttornado

Right, very busy day again!

I spoke to Payplan who confirmed that pro rata payments to each council would be the best idea - not sure if we will go the DMP route for everything yet or at all.

I'm working on our SOA at the moment.

Received 2 letters from the bailiff (Newlyn), one of which stated that they would start bankruptcy proceedings against us if we didn't pay. Funny that, the total owed to them is £350 so it is under the threshold. So I have written to complain to the council and to the bailiffs. I've also PM'd Herbie about it.

All rather stressful but gradually feel that I am getting back in control.

tealady

Hi I would still contact your local Councillor and tell him/her you want them to investigate.
It might be worth contacting your local paper as they may be interested in a "Council v ratepayer" story.

skintjenny

golly you certainly are having a bad time with those baliffs!
im not very helpful with these kind of things but good luck with it all, you seem to be taking lots of action (and doing lots of letter writing!) and im sure you will manage to sort it all out in the end.

debttornado

Hello all,

Tealady and Skintjenny thanks for your encouragement, it certainly helps. I seem to be keeping Royal Mail in business! I have asked the council to investigate and have sent a copy of the letter to Herbie21. A big thanks to her, she is a real star!

The PPI on my loan is being investigated, hopefully in my favour. I should find out next week.

Nothing else new today, so it is just a matter of waiting for payday so we can start making big dents. I will look forward to updating my totals.:T

debttornado

OH's payay so £345 off the CTax horray - apparently Newlyns will get back to us once they have investigated our complaint! In the meantime they said they are coming on Sat. As we have now cleared them I say 'bring it on!'

Off to update my sig!

tealady

Keep it up! Sounds as if you are doing really well. When you have a mo I would check out the "Old Style" board as well, there are people on there who can have a champagne lifestyle on a beer money budget.
Also don't forget cashback websites when you are renewing things like insurance or changing utilities.

debttornado

Thanks Tealady. I have been on quidco for my renewals so am waiting for about £80 in the next few months.

My current council have said that I can pay this year's tax over 12 months :j , but only if I clear my arrears from the previous year in 2 payments of nearly £600 :mad: . That would mean £800 pm - it just can't happen and I think they are living in a dream world if they think that anyone could do this.

I am going to work out the pro rata arrears payment and send letters to the 3 councils. It will be less than they want, but at least we will be offering something. In the meantime I will make a token payment to each council.

I'm finding that some councils are really rather unhelpful. My current one sent a summons before the end of the tax year, said make a payment arrangement and it will stop the action going ahead, then took the action anyway.

debttornado

Right, as planned I have made token payments of £10 to the 3 councils I have arrears with. I will draft a letter proposing pro rata payments, they will all get a share of £400 I think, but I have to check my figures as I want to keep up with the current bill and don't want to over commit.