Counil tax cleaned out my bank account

lifeslove

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place but I hope someone can help.
I went to the bank this morning to take money out to do some shopping and found there was none, my balance was showing as zero (thank god I didn't try to use my debit card instore). Anyway I called the bank to be told that the council tax had taken everything, the total being £348.90.
I won't dispute the fact I am in arrears and I have a tendancy to bury my head in the sand, I am already paying back a bill through arrestment of my wages. My problem is how the hell can they just wipe me out, it's a Saturday, I don't have credit cards, no access to any other money. I'm a single parent of 5 and need to do some grocery shopping ( I have 2 nappies left to do 2 small children) If anything shouldn't they have even taken half. I have tried calling the number the bank gave me for them, been engaged now for the last 3 hours as have CAB.
Any help would be appreciated, I have no one to talk to about this and find I am shouting at my kids because I am worried, frustrated and angry.

mountainofdebt

I think you'll find that the banks 'reserve' the money for any direct debits that are due to come out on monday so that's why it appears that the money for the dorect debit has come out today.

What was the agreement about paying back the arrears? Have they broken the agreement?

newleaf

Oh my goodness, what a mess. I don't know what can be done on a Saturday, but you have a big problem if you have no food & nappies for your kids. Have you a friend or neighbour who might loan you a few nappies at least? Is it worth asking Social Services if they can help? Surely they will not let children go hungry. There should be an emergency duty service for the weekend. On Monday you need to apply for a crisis loan and sort out some kind of arrangement re paying off your debt in installments. Sorry I don't know what else to suggest.

tesuhoha

I think its absolutely disgusting that theyve done that. I know its a bit like hindsight but think if you are in arrears with Council Tax, its a good idea not to have a direct debit arrangement with them. Its better to send them cheques when its convenient for you.. If you havent already got it and the facility is available it would be a good idea for you to register for internet banking and then you can control your account from home and you can cancel any direct debits that you are not happy about. I dont know what you can do except for ask the bank for an overdraft of a couple of hundred, this can be done instantaneously, just to tide you over for the next couple of days. Then if you cant get the Council Tax money back cancel the direct debit and next pay them when you feel like it. It doesnt do to get into too much arrears with them though as they are very powerful. Incidentally you should be able to apply for the overdraft on line if the bank is shut and then use an ATM machine.

LittleL_4

Oh hun that's awful! I honestly don't know what your best option is. Have you got any loose change or anything at all in the cupboards that you can toss together until Monday?

Re-nappies, don't supermarkets have some in the baby changing rooms. I'm sure I've seen them in the likes of Asda...

Gawd stay in touch hun and let us know how you're getting on?

Where do you live?

L
xx

lifeslove

mountainofdebt wrote:

I think you'll find that the banks 'reserve' the money for any direct debits that are due to come out on monday so that's why it appears that the money for the dorect debit has come out today.

What was the agreement about paying back the arrears? Have they broken the agreement?

There isn't a direct debit in place for them, I haven't made an agreement to pay this debt off yet and I know it's something I should have done, like I said head buried in the sand, it appears they have the right to just go into the account and take money, I just can't figure out how thay have my account details.
Don't thinkI would be able to get a crisis loan as I work part time and only get tax credits as a benefit, thankfully my child benefit goes in the bank on Monday but then my rent needs paid then also ( the money I had would have covered that) Apart from the council tax my finances are pretty much ok, all my other bills were being paid on time but of course now everthing will be affected by this, like a domino effect I guess...
Thanks for replying, at least I don't feel so alone now that I know someone else out there knows

Hoopylass

Im sorry to hear that they did that to my mum a few years back to the tune of nearly a grand!

Anniek1969

This happened to me about 5/6 years ago. They can take anything that's in your account but can't take anything from your overdraft. It goes into a seperate account and you'll get paperwork to sign to authorise the bank to pay it to the council. If you don't sign the forms it will lie in the account for 6 years I think it is and then the bank will put it back into your account, this happened to me earlier this year when £200 appeared in my account and it turned out that I had never sent back the paperwork.

As far as I remember there's no way of getting this money back, it left me with nothing as my wages had just been paid in. Luckily I had an overdraft and the bank raised this so I managed to cope.

It seems really unfair that they can do this, like you said you have nappies to buy and kids to feed but I don't think they really care. The amount they take from you in a wages arrestment is pretty high too, I had this years ago with my DH poll tax and we ended up with a lot of c/c debt as they were taking so much from him we were using our c/c to survive.

If you're already paying through wages arrestment I don't know why they would arrest your bank account. Keep trying to get through to them. I hope you get this sorted.

lifeslove

LittleL wrote:

Oh hun that's awful! I honestly don't know what your best option is. Have you got any loose change or anything at all in the cupboards that you can toss together until Monday?

Re-nappies, don't supermarkets have some in the baby changing rooms. I'm sure I've seen them in the likes of Asda...

Gawd stay in touch hun and let us know how you're getting on?

Where do you live?

L
xx

I'm in scotland. would you believe I cashed in all £19 in 1p and 2p only a week ago, my son wanted money for a new computer game and I told him if he counted out all the rubbish I had he could have it
Hmmm, might have enough money for pint of milk and of course would have to take the little ones into the tesco changing rooms while I was at it

tesuhoha

I knew they were powerful but I didnt know they had the right to do this.

newleaf

tesuhoha wrote:

I knew they were powerful but I didnt know they had the right to do this.

It's disgraceful.