court fines!!!!! some one help me pleeeeeze

massprillar

i am no fixed abode so get my post sent to my farthers house, we dont realy get on so i only go round once a month sometimes less and get my post in bulk.....

i have recieved a letter from the bailifs two of them actually, posted to my dads at two seperate times, obviously they have charged me for the calls round but my farther wasnt in at both times. the bailifs are taking charge of my court fines as they havent been paid....

i have been in reciept of job seekers since sept last year and have a letter that i have kept which stipulates that the courts will be taking £5 per week from my payments????

i rang the j.s.a people and they said contact the courts, the courts say contact the j.s.a. people and visa versa!!!! so i cant get this sorted and the bailifs just keep on coming!!! what do i do??? please help me :(:(:(

absent_dad

i have been in reciept of job seekers since sept last year and have a letter that i have kept which stipulates that the courts will be taking £5 per week from my payments????

Ah but have they been paying it? You should see deductions from your benefits. If there are non, then it stands to reason it isn't being paid., hence the bailiffs.

A court bailiff is a company acting on behalf of the court to recover the money. Even if someone was in, they very rarely knock, just post a letter to say they had called and you have now been charged for this...oh and you haven't paid your fines yet! Once they have been unsuccessful the debt will be returned to the court and an arrest warrant issued for you to appear in court. At which point a court enforement officer will try to track you down.

If you are NFA then this will prove difficult for the courts and may be considered not in the best interest of the people. ie, spend more money tracking you down than they will recover bearing in mind your ability to pay. If they do find you and you cannot pay they will put you in prison for 28 days. The courts periodically review warrants and decide what action to take. If no execution is possible especially after a couple of attempts the warrants are often withdrawn.

What has probably happened here is that your claim for JSA has gone dead and therefore the attachment of earnings to pay the court fine. The JSA payments were then re-established but not the attachment, hence you haven't been paying. As you have now defaulted on your agreement, albeit no fault of yours, you will have to have another court date to make them another offer. Which they may or may not accept.

Hope this helps

speedfreek1000

massprillar wrote: »

i have recieved a letter from the bailifs two of them actually, posted to my dads at two seperate times, obviously they have charged me for the calls round but my farther wasnt in at both times. the bailifs are taking charge of my court fines as they havent been paid....

As Absent Dad has stated you need to check if the JSA deduction is still in place 1st.

You may also want to get this post moved or start a topic on the debt free board http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

As they can advise you better on how to deal with this situation, as it's not really a benefits issue but a Bailiff and Debt Collection Agency problem now.

The aim of these people is to intimidate/scare you into paying them (that is their job) with nasty letters and phone calls. The reality is they have little or no powers and can be rendered harmless if dealt with correctly :T

If they are Court appointed they have more powers but these only apply to seizure of goods and entry to your home. Which is sort of a mute point unfortunately in your case.

I'm no expert so ask in there and also try googling Consumer Action Group which has letter templates and advice on dealing with this sort of thing.

Kimitatsu

You need to ring the court and speak to the court bailiff or fines officer. Ask them if they have requested that the money be taken out of your JSA - that is the only thing that will stop the bailiffs.

They can apply to the DWP for the amount to be taken from your benefits and will suspend all action provided they get some money from them. If however you are paying back other loans from your JSA and it will leave you less than £45 a week (think that is the floor limit) then the DWP will reject the request. If that happens you need to go to the job centre and ring the DWP from there and ask them to reduce the payments to the social fund so that you can pay your fines. Fines are a priority payment so they have no choice but to do that.

Rather than ring them, the courts have surgeries most weeks where you can go and have a chat with a court officer - they are very accomodating.

Kimitatsu

absent_dad wrote: »

i.

If you are NFA then this will prove difficult for the courts and may be considered not in the best interest of the people. ie, spend more money tracking you down than they will recover bearing in mind your ability to pay. If they do find you and you cannot pay they will put you in prison for 28 days. The courts periodically review warrants and decide what action to take. If no execution is possible especially after a couple of attempts the warrants are often withdrawn.

Not in my experience - a warrant may not be enforced but it is rarely withdrawn. What tends to happen is they are picked up from time to time, or they wait until another fine comes along and then deal with them all together. Even moving house doesnt work as the court systems will soon all be linked. Best to get it sorted now really.

Fire_Fox

I would send a recorded delivery letter to the bailiffs AND court AND Jobcentre Plus including a copy of your letter saying the money will be taken out of your benefits. You should also note to the bailiffs that your father's address is not your permanent address only your postal address and that they will be unable to levy on goods there.

Fire_Fox

speedfreek1000 wrote: »

The aim of these people is to intimidate/scare you into paying them (that is their job) with nasty letters and phone calls. The reality is they have little or no powers and can be rendered harmless if dealt with correctly :T

If they are Court appointed they have more powers but these only apply to seizure of goods and entry to your home. Which is sort of a mute point unfortunately in your case.

There are exceptions but licensed bailiffs are usually very professional and do not harass debtors into paying as you claim. If they do you can lodge a complaint and their license may be withdrawn. I think you are confusing licensed bailiffs with debt collectors who have certainly been known to intimidate and lie to people in order to get over the threshold, telling people to borrow money, ringing people repeatedly at work.