Council Tax arrears PLEASE HELP ME

dancingfairy

Oh and please get help if you are feeling that bad - do whatever you need to - phone the Samaritans, phone the doctor (out of hours if necessary), just make sure you stay safe.
At the end of the day it is only money - they can't have what you haven't got - it's like trying to get blood out of a stone. Your health and family are far more important than money and don't speak to any debt collectors on the phone as some will use any oportunity to bully you and threaten anything they can to get money out of you - don't listen to them - get proper free advice and don't be scared - debt collectors generally have as many rights as the paperboy (ie not many).
You will survive.
df

savingmummy

You can do a SOA here .

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

This really does help and lets you see whats in and out and what can be changed x

dancingfairy

Have you got any friends that can help - just to make sure the bills are getting paid - anyone you trust to sit down with you once a week or something?
df

Ames

Have you applied for all the benefits you'll be entitled to?

dancingfairy

Your priorities money wise should be mortgage(or rent), council tax, food, electric/gas, clothes etc ie the essentials in life. Pay these first and anything left can go on debt repayments.
Any unsecured debts come way down the list of priorities (even if they think that if they scream loudly they should get paid first) - if all you have spare is 1 pound a month then that's all they can have.
df

dancingfairy

National Debtline factsheet:
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax

broadpaws

hi ali

great advice from CIS, I also work in this type of department and the advice is good. in the meantime pay as much as you can, you will want thecouncil to keep the debt in house, and if you are paying regulary they are more likely to do this, if you don't and they put it out to bailiffs you will incur bailiff fees and these can add up, in summary when is your court date, as sioon as it has passed get back on the phone to the council the next day and make an arrangment, if you have been paying regulary in the build up, this will add weight to keeping "in house" however if you default they will likely pass out to bailiff - you will not want this - so start making payments as much as you can NOW, call them the day after court hearing and make a GOOD offer to clear the debt and then stick to it, beware do not overstretch the offer because it is important that you can clear arrears but are able to keep up to date with 2010 liability when it begins in april.

if you have anyone who could help with a lump sum or to clear the debt now is time to ask for help - can any1 help??

bp x

dancingfairy

Like Broadpaws says the council will push to get it cleared before the next year starts in April -1 to get it off their books and make their figures look good and 2 - to make sure that when April comes that you will be able to pay next years and not have to pay off arears as well - having said that you may need to get your local councillor involved - if you really can't pay it all before April then you may need to get them to intervene on your behalf - when the councillors call the council workers will respond a lot lot quicker.
df

alison999

Yhanks for al the advice, its a bit late now so will reply to all the points tomorrow. I just want to sleep so I can forget about it all.

My parents have finished paying their mortgage now, so I know that they have money inc. savings but I dont want to burden them with this. They live 50 miles away and worry about me enough as it is. Plus my dad would go mental that Id got myself in this situation in hte first place and I dont know when I would be able to pay them all this back.

Im going to do my best to pay it though, I DO want it cleared by april but sometimes its easier said then done.

On the same day I got this letter I also got a CCJ for nursery fees from November. I was hoping I could hold this guy off for a bit but now I have to pay him just over £500 its all come at once (my fault, i know) and my head is spinning.

Im planning on writing him a letter but I wanted to pay my council tax off with all the money I had, but now he has this CCJ on me he could get the baliffs on me too

**Upsy_Daisy**

I just want to reassure you that you will not lose your children over a debt - social services do not want to take children away from their parents. They won't remove children even if their parents are hell bent on killing them (see Baby P case)

Not that I am in any way suggesting you are of course, but please get that stress factor out of your head - it will not happen

Try to turn up at court if it goes to court and at least see the duty solicitor, better still get advice beforehand e.g. CAB

Try to contact C Tax by email rather than by phone - ast least you then have a paper trail

UD