Council question Mum's right to single occupancy discount

ailuro2

Hey, I don't need to be reassured, I'm not the one whining about the council contacting my elderly mother when I brought it on myself.

I'd have thought that most bank accounts do require that you tell them of any change of address - why haven't you done that?

If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.

I had no idea you wanted to be thought of as some kind of gin swigging playboy, you came across as far too uptight for that style of life.







ps Yes, I am winding you up - did you leave your sense of humour when you moved?

fwiw I like the Scottish Government's way of doing things, uni fees paid for and our elderly taken care of.:p

pps Please feel free to quote this as much as you like, and of course put words into my mouth and assume I care about it.;)

Oh the joy of time off work and sitting idly chit chatting on fora, or forums if you prefer....

droopsnout

Once again, thanks to all polite and reasonable posters who joined the debate.

I probably won't be able to come back here to read and reply. I have tried to reply to almost everyone politely. I must admit to being exasperated by one or two who just have no idea whatsoever and appear to be on another planet.

Could I just ask people to read the words I write, and not jump to conclusions? Whatever you think of the fact that I left the UK, or consider my mental state to be, the debate I started (and I didn't imagine the response would be so polarised) is about how authority should address people in the UK, and what information it should have access to.

Regarding fraudsters, perhaps Daily Mail (!) readers will be happy if I say, "Lock 'em up!" As they should be. No question. Clear enough?

Have a good weekend. I'm off on holiday. (No doubt there are some who will criticise me for that, too!!)

olly300

ailuro2 wrote: »

Well somoeone HAS to say it -

you brought it on your elderly mother by having a current account and a savings account registered to her address even though you admit you EMIGRATED to France.

Check the small print of your account, I think you'll find you need to be resident in the UK to hold most UK bank accounts.;)

No actually you don't.

You need to be resident in the UK to open most bank accounts. (Other EU countries also now have that requirement due to the money laundering directive.)

Some also require that you have a UK address to send letters to, others are only require you to have a UK address for the first few years of having the account open.

Once the account has been open for a long time and you are using it correctly, the majority of financial institutions don't give a stuff where you are.

In fact I had a bank and a different credit card company who where both very happy to send any statements and letters to my foreign address because I was a UK citizen and former UK resident working aboard.

The only thing the banks tend not to be happy with is giving people who reside overseas with new overdrafts and loans.

However if you already have one and are paying it back they tend to leave you alone.

I also know people who have gone off for a few years aboard, and like the OP, have sent the bank and credit card statements to their parent(s) address. Again the companies have no problem with this particularly if you have mentioned you are doing this.

ailuro2 wrote: »

Stop whinging about it - maybe it's time you took your mother over to stay with you if she is so old and frail that she cannot cope with a standard letter form the council double checking she is there on her own.

I'd suggest you close the accounts and have your other mail redirected too, in order to prevent this happening again.

I think you should check facts first before writing.

OP, councils are very rude when it comes to Council tax letters because of the way the government bill was written making it a criminal offence not to pay up or to claim what you are not entitled to.

Everyone I know who has problems with council tax bills has had similar strongly worded letters.

The departments will apologise to you if you complain. Alternatively if they consistently refuse to then you just complain to the Finance Director of the local council.

I have had my council apologise for me via email twice due to mucking up the calculation of my bill and telling me to ignore letters sent. This was after I complained about how they insisted on spelling my name incorrectly twice when I already had given them the correct spelling three times in writing.

However TV licensing is a joke.

Not paying the license is a civil offence, and as the organisations concerned known this the only way they can get what they want is by bullying people.

ailuro2

droopsnout wrote: »

Have a good weekend. I'm off on holiday.

Thanks, enjoy your holiday, hope the weather is kind.

seven-day-weekend

I live in Spain, but am in the UK at the moment and have recently opened a bank account and got a new credit card, and yes, they do know I live in Spain. In fact the credit card was offered to me when I went into the bank about something else.

They have both my addresses (the UK one and the Spanish) and it's up to them which one they want to use. When I opened the account at Nationwide, all they were interested in was the address on my driving licence (which is my English one and before anyone starts it is legal to use a UK licence in Spain).

No fraud or evasiveness committed and in fact maybe it might be nice if people got their facts straight before accusing someone.

ts_aly2000

ailuro2 wrote: »

Well somoeone HAS to say it -

you brought it on your elderly mother by having a current account and a savings account registered to her address even though you admit you EMIGRATED to France.

Oh what a load of rubbish!!

Have we REALLY REACHED the age where we can't have a birthday card/savings statement/letter sent to someone else's address?

Is this the level that the State has now reached?

This is OUR country!! Believe it or not we're not all dishonest. Frankly I can't believe that you're even blaming the OP. You're saying that this is the kind of country that you want to live in!!??

It's unacceptable! It's wrong! It's immoral! And it's everything that makes me want to leave you all to it. Enjoy the aggressive drunken hell hole that you live in. And when you realise it and complain, there'll be a string of people ready to tell you how unreasonable you're being.

We live in a society which has ALOT wrong with it. And it's not about people having post delivered to other people's addresses.

EdInvestor

It seems fair to say that the increase in monitoring and intrusiveness by officialdom in the UK is mirrored by an increase in people abusing the taxpayer by claiming benefits they are not entitled to,etc.

One would not want to stop officials from investigating and cracking down on abuse.At the same time there will always be some honest people who are personally upset by an inquiry, albeit a routine one, and see language that some read as 'firm' as intimidating.

As an honest taxpayer, DS's Mum should perhaps be encouraged to see the inquiry not as as a threat, but as an effort by the council on behalf of council taxpayers like her to make sure that their money is not being wasted.

Errata

I guess a lot depends on how a letter is worded. 'Please confirm that you are the only occupant of your house which entitles you to a 25% reduction on your bill' is a different kettle of fish to a letter worded 'We have reason to believe you are not the only occupant of your property. Please advise us of this is incorrect'.

John_Pierpoint

ailuro2 wrote: »

Well somoeone HAS to say it -

you brought it on your elderly mother by having a current account and a savings account registered to her address even though you admit you EMIGRATED to France.

Check the small print of your account, I think you'll find you need to be resident in the UK to hold most UK bank accounts.;)

Stop whinging about it - maybe it's time you took your mother over to stay with you if she is so old and frail that she cannot cope with a standard letter form the council double checking she is there on her own.

I'd suggest you close the accounts and have your other mail redirected too, in order to prevent this happening again.

Welcome to little England.
It is probably less than 100 years ago that we were required to carry passports?
You probably have not noticed that the new red passport makes you a citizen of the European Union, where most of your laws are now being made.
If you have to be English to open a bank account, God help our couple of million new immigrants and the billions held in London by foreigners, some in benighted places like the Congo & Somalia.

ailuro2

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Welcome to little England.

I'm in Scotland.:p

I believe people new to this country have to wait a while with some banks before they qualify to open even a basic bank account.

I know family of mine struggled to get a mortgage on their return to Blighty because they hadn't been resident here, even though the husband of the couple earned a hefty salary working for the EU!