Just had a Big Scare

poppycracker

Hi all

Just wanted some moral support... Started this job in November last year neck deep in debt but determined to get out of it. Flat is a tied flat so rent free - (great I hear you say, whats this girl's problem?). Problem is, due to my (and the OH's) tendency to bury our heads in the sand where bills are concerned, we didn't tell the council we were here..... bad mistake....we've just had a final bill through for last year's tax (mid Nov - end March). They want £692.65 off us as soon as possible. We asked them if they could take it in installments but they said no. Fair enough, I don't want you to think that I'm disputing this.

My problem is that we don't HAVE £692.65 right now.

When they were finally told we were here, they sent us a bill for £220 a month........ so we applied for council tax benefit. Must have just scraped the threshold because they've taken about £220 off the bill so now it's only £199 til March next year.

I've put aside the payment for August in my budget for next month, and every month after that, so we can cope with this years tax, but where am I going to get the money to pay the arrears from???? Any ideas?

Sell things seems to be the order of the day..... the car, the extra freezer that we have for emergencies, and the chest freezer that my mum bought me for my birthday and that is still sitting in her house are all in the local paper.... I've put £127 worth of stuff on Amazon so if everything sells I should clear £100 from that. Thing is, we've only been here 7 months so we haven't got all the junk that other people seem to collect.

I've managed to scrape an extra £200 out of the budget (we're going to get an electric bill soon so have to keep some money aside for that, all the rest of the bills are DDs) but that's it if none of that stuff sells.

I've tried Quidco, myshoppingrewards, cashbin, freefivers and got nothing from any of them. I never have any money to buy things from their sponsored shops or sites so never get any money back.

As to money, we get £866 a month joint wage and OH can't get another job at the moment because he is not well. He is going to the jobcentre on Monday to see if he would be elegible for some sort of benefit since he only gets paid for about 15 hours a month here. I'm going to ask my manager if we can swap jobs so that I can go out and find another job. OH would be able to if he was fit, but I can't at the moment since I'm the 'manager' here.

Sorry for the big long rant, but I'm fed up with arguing with the OH about money and wanted some advice from you lovely lot.

LookingAhead

Hi there poppycracker.

My immediate thought is "They can't take what you don't have" and I would be surprised if it came to bailiff action that quickly.

I think you need to get professional advice from (probably) the Citizens Advice Bureau about this because I can't believe many people have £600 odd quid at their disposal.

If you are willing to pay something decent each month, not just a couple of quid token gesture then I feel they will pursue total non payment from others before getting really tough with you. This is the impression I get from a friend of mine who works for the local council where I live.

But I am not am expert and I guess all councils are different.

Get proper advice pronto....and stop panicking. You can sort this out without it coming to a horrible conclusion. It's not worth falling out with your loved one over....

Hugs.
LA x

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

Just a few tips. Check the Discount Codes and Vouchers section every day - you'll save a lot.
Switch from brand name stuff to the shop's own brand.
Cut down on car travel - and don't ever go to the newsagents! They charge double the price.
good luck!

Janey51

Hi poppycracker. We were in this situation a few years ago...not that we didn't tell the Council, just they never got the bill sent out after we moved in. We knew it was coming but had heads in sand like you.
I don't know if different councils have different policies on collection but ours was quite understanding. Maybe you got an emplyee on an off-day.
Our Council at first wanted £100 a month. I suggested £50 and after a bit of sighing, they accepted. As LookingAhead says, make a sensible offer.
Don't forget to mention that your OH is ill. My OH was on JSA at the time. Try phoning them back and maybe you'll get lucky.
By the time they got a court order you could have made a couple of payments anyway.

poppycracker

Thanks LookingAhead and Revenge for the support....

Just a few tips. Check the Discount Codes and Vouchers section every day - you'll save a lot.
Switch from brand name stuff to the shop's own brand.
Cut down on car travel - and don't ever go to the newsagents! They charge double the price.
good luck!

I do, I do and I don't! And the car has been sitting in the carpark since April when it failed its MOT!

Thanks Janey as well. We did offer £50 a month, but that was turned down flat... I'm going to the Council Offices on Tuesday with this month's payment so will talk to someone then. It might have been the OH, he gets a bit abrupt when he's ticked off. I'm much calmer, but HATE talking to people on the phone so will go and do it face to face.

Thanks so much! I'm feeling much better already

wannabedebtfree_2

I would phone the council again, and say that there is no way you can pay them that much in one go, offer them a decent monthly amount (say £100) and tell them all the ways you are trying to raise money to pay it off quicker, they will know that you are trying, and they can't expect more than that, they can't take what you haven't got!!

xxx

ben500

Best advice I can give you as you are an active moneysaver is check the following threads out, if you don't already apply these activities to your moneysaving routine you will be able to chop your grocery budget to bits and make some profit as well.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=216374

Read the first page to get the idea then read the last two or three pages to view current opportunities.

Here is the thread it refers to

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=216379

Again read the first post and then refer to the end of the thread for current activities and opportunities.


Another massive saving to be made by deploying this method.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223474&highlight=tesco+coupon+policy

HTH

kwisstan

You need to contact your local Councillor also. I'm one for where I live and I can usually put a bit of extra pressure in the right places. If you are new in their patch, they will usually to please you (extra votes!).

If your council, like mine, has outsourced the collection, then face to face is always best as the phone means you are talking to someone miles away - i find they tend to have a different attitude to the people who live in area. I can't see the logic of chasing you for the extra money, when you've offered to pay in installments.

saubryn

I owe a lot of council tax from back in my student days, and I found that the letters tend to be the worst case thing. I went down to the office in person, explained my situation, and they were very reasonable.

If you take down a budget, and explain that you do want to pay it off, they'll probably give you a reasonable payment arrangement.

Good luck!

poppycracker

Thanks everyone for all the advice and support, I'm going to the council myself and will let you know how I get on

poppycracker

Well, if anyone's interested, here's an update....

I went along to the Council Offices yesterday and got it all sorted like that!!!! We're going to be holding our collective breath and eating beans on toast til March, but we won't owe anything when next year's bill comes around so I'm really happy with that.

On the bad side, OH had to go back to hospital on Monday with heart and blood pressure problems so it doesn't look like he's going to be able to take on another job. I've posted a thread in the benefits forum with some questions about that, I hope there's some nice knowledgeable person there who'll give me a hand like you lovely people did the other day.