Council Tax Direct Debit not taken - a big bill this morning

jeffdjeff

BoGoF wrote: »

You weren't after 'some advice' you were hoping somebody would be able to tell you you didn't have to pay it.....come on be honest. No matter how many accounts you were juggling you must've noticed you had extra money each month.

Just think of the interest you've earned on the money.

No, if you read the original post it was advice on whether paying it in instalments is fair. This had been stated numerous times, but for some reason a lot of replies seem to think we're trying to get out of paying it, I don't know why.

noh

jeffdjeff wrote: »

Really, do you have a single account?

Like YB I have 13 current accounts and would notice if the balance was £100 adrift of where it should be.

jeffdjeff

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Of course I do!

You can access your partner's/wife's online account? I suspect that's in violation of the bank's online policy but good on you

daveyboy27

I'm afraid Yorkshireboy from my experience local Councils are not. I have worked in Council Tax and if a DD is returned, that's it. You just get a failed date. As far as I recall we were not allowed to try again without permission of the account holder. Even if we had the details, as it generates a failed cost.

Reminders and bills can sometimes be supressed for whatever reason. You say you have got yearly bills, so that suggests they have had your correct address all along. I guess you informed your Council as soon as you moved in and told them where you moved from.

It's worth asking why you were not getting more letters. Ask if any were ever returned to them gone away. This sometimes occurs with flats in particular rather than houses. The account may have been placed on a gone away status, which would have surpressed any mail going out. As I'm guessing there was no evidence to say that suggested you had gone, the account may have changed status and you got bills again. That's one possilbe explanation. Another is that the Royal Mail once returned a document as inaccessible or gone away, which produced the same affect.

Addressing the 1p bills. These are usually routed out by efficient councils and cancelled before the print run, so not to waste money.

jeffdjeff

noh wrote: »

Like YB I have 13 current accounts and would notice if the balance was £100 adrift of where it should be.

How about your partner's/wife's account?

jeffdjeff

daveyboy27 wrote: »

I'm afraid Yorkshireboy from my experience local Councils are not. I have worked in Council Tax and if a DD is returned, that's it. You just get a failed date. As far as I recall we were not allowed to try again without permission of the account holder. Even if we had the details, as it generates a failed cost.

Reminders and bills can sometimes be supressed for whatever reason. You say you have got yearly bills, so that suggests they have had your correct address all along. I guess you informed your Council as soon as you moved in and told them where you moved from.

It's worth asking why you were not getting more letters. Ask if any were ever returned to them gone away. This sometimes occurs with flats in particular rather than houses. The account may have been placed on a gone away status, which would have surpressed any mail going out. As I'm guessing there was no evidence to say that suggested you had gone, the account may have changed status and you got bills again. That's one possilbe explanation. Another is that the Royal Mail once returned a document as inaccessible or gone away, which produced the same affect.

Addressing the 1p bills. These are usually routed out by efficient councils and cancelled before the print run, so not to waste money.

Yes, the council have had our address from the begining, sent out an updated bill after my wife phoned them which showed the direct debit dates etc, sent us annual bills...we're curious how it happened really and whether other people have had similar letters this morning. As mentioned but to re-iterate, we are after advice on whether paying it in instalments would be fair (not as some posters seem to think that we can get away without paying anything).

YorkshireBoy

jeffdjeff wrote: »

You can access your partner's/wife's online account? I suspect that's in violation of the bank's online policy but good on you

The question was "do you have a single account?" I said I had 13 accounts. One of them is a joint account, to which I obviously have access. Ergo, there is no "violation".

I presume you've suitably lambasted Mrs Jeff for her part in all this?

daveyboy27

installments would be acceptable to clear the debt over 10 months.

jeffdjeff

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The question was "do you have a single account?" I said I had 13 of 'em. One of them is a joint account, to which I obviously have access. Ergo, there is no "violation".

I presume you've suitably lambasted Mrs Jeff for her part in all this?

No, I didn't notice either so am equally at fault! I am curious as to how it happened though. it seems bizarre, is there a loophole where you could set up a direct debit for council tax, cancel it and then hear nothing for 3+ years, I would have thought alarm bells would be going off after 1 or 2 missed payments !

jeffdjeff

daveyboy27 wrote: »

installments would be acceptable to clear the debt over 10 months.

thanks for the advice