Equita Council Tax Probs

lollypops29

Hi there everyone

Really hoping somone can point me in the right direction please!

A few years ago i fell into arrears on my council tax, Not proud of it but am undoing my embarrasing mistakes from the past.

The debt was passed to equita. I have been sticking to an arrangement of £100 paying on time each month for a year now, I was due to pay my final payment in January plus an extra £58 to clear the debt totally. Upon calling equita in january, i was told they had no account open in my name, address, phone numbers etc. It was a lengthy call with equita refusing to take payment from me as i had no account with them. I eventually resigned and put down the phone. I called back twice in february again to try and make my payment ( after slogging my guts for a year, i was looking fwd to making the very last payment), again i was told there was absolutely no account registered and they could not speak to me or take payment.

At this point, due to a previous confusion over the actual amount owing, i thought maybe they had backed down and just knocked off the £100 i didnt feel i owed! wishful thinking.

I have had no contact until two weeks ago i received a letter demanding the balance immediately. I contacted them, by the way, all my account details had now been found, and explained that i had tried to pay on numerous occasions and was willing to pay but couldnt do so until middle april.

I have since received a hand delivered note from a bailiff demanding not only the outstanding £158 but also £160+ in bailiff charges and a form with my car reg on. I am proposing to pay the £158 directly to the council tomorrow, but i really dont feel the charges are warranted. I have sent an email to the local council detailing everything, asking for their input etc but i just wondered if someone could clarify where i stand on this and what my options are.

thanks everyone xx

bottleofred

Hi lollypops,

I'm sorry, I've no idea how to deal with this, but I'll bump it up the page and hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can help. I'd definitely harass the debt collector by telephone though. If the Bailiffs do turn up for that small amount, don't let them in.

Good luck

Red

RAS

Hi

If the bailiff has levied on your car, then you need to pay the charges. Go to the bailiff advice line for help on what they aRE ALOLOWED TO CHARGE. Otherwsie you risk losing the car.

hallowitch

I have since received a hand delivered note from a bailiff demanding not only the outstanding £158 but also £160+ in bailiff charges and a form with my car reg on

the bailiff has charged you an enforcement fee (or a van fee ) at the same time as the levy fee legislation does not allow this

a levy fee on a debt of £158 would be £27

do not speak to Equita on the phone unless you can record the call to say they they have a selective memory is an understatement
be aware that your council may not administrate there council tax as most local authority's outsource this work one of these company's is Capita who own Equita therefore to be on the safe side all letters to the council should be sent as a formal complaint and addressed to the head of revenues and a copy sent to the chief executive



subject access request Equita this will cost you £10 but will give you all info you need because it will include the phone calls you made to them when you tried to make the payment and them telling you you did not have a live account with them
you should not be penalised for there maladministration of your account

in the meantime send them this
Name
Address
Equita Ref: Account No: 123456
Council Ref No: 435672
Date
Dear Sir,
With reference to the above accounts, please provide me with a breakdown of all fees charged and payments made for the above account
This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - The reason for the fee.
c - The name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - The name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificated at.
e - The date of the Certification.
National Standards for Enforcement Agents state that if a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.
Please provide the information requested within 7 days of this E-mail /recorded delivery letter
Yours faithfully
Ripped off customer"

lollypops29

Thank you all so much for your replies.

Hallowitch, thank you, you have made things alot clearer for me, i will get letter off to them asap.

I will resend my correspondence to the council but address it to the appropriate complaints dept. Just for clarification purposes, I was going to pay the £158 today, on equita website, are the bailiffs able to then pursue me for just their charges? and also, my car is worth about £15000, would they be justified in taking the car to pay the bailiffs charges of £161.

Thank you again, living in fear of them knocking on my door again, its so frightening and humiliating, especially after adhering to all of their terms to get rid of this debt

lollypops29

Sorry to be a pain, but what is subject access and how do i do this? I know its prob really simple but its all new to me, thanks

Culex

lollypops29 wrote: »

Sorry to be a pain, but what is subject access and how do i do this? I know its prob really simple but its all new to me, thanks

It is a request for personal data held about one and it is made under the Data Protection Act 1998. The ICO has a readable page about it here.

dancingfairy

Don't suppose you've got a phone bill with their number on it to show you called them and when? It's clearly them panicking, knowing you wanted to pay the debt off and desperate to get some more money out of you or they are just completely incompetant.
Check National Debtline's factsheets as to what they can charge and when. Also check what form they have actually filled in - in may well be filled in incorrectly. Worst case scenario is you have to pay their legitimate fees if they have levied correctly but you need to do what Hallowitch says and she/he is the expert.
Best of Luck - the bailiffs are going to rue the day they ever messed with you
df

Culex

hallowitch wrote: »

do not speak to Equita on the phone unless you can record the call to say they they have a selective memory is an understatement

Are you sure you did not mean that it is a euphemism for them having a unique and personal misunderstanding of the very concept of veracity?

be aware that your council may not administrate there council tax as most local authority's outsource this work[;] one of these company's is Capita

Otherwise known as Crapita - google "Crapita" and you'll see why! Tales like this are hardly unusual.

who own Equita therefore to be on the safe side all letters to the council should be sent as a formal complaint and addressed to the head of revenues and a copy sent to the chief executive

And also to one's local councillor and/or the local leader of the opposition party, which may prevent the matter being quietly buried.

There is also the Local Government Ombudsman if the complaint about maladministration remains unresolved.

hallowitch

Dear Sir/Madam
Council tax ref no
Equita ref no
Address
Date
Data Protection Act 1998 Subject Access Request

Please provide full and complete copies of any and all data you hold which relates to me and my entire history with Equita I have enclosed the statutory maximum fee of £10.
For the avoidance of doubt, take note that the enclosed cheque is payment for the fee relating to my Subject Access Request only and not a payment of any other kind or to be used for any other purpose. If you do not require a fee in order to process my Subject Access Request then kindly return my cheque. /payment

For your convenience I have detailed below a list of what I require, although this is not an exhaustive list by any means and is just an example of some of the information I require with regard to any accounts I may have had or may still have with your company.

Computer screen notes relating to my account
Computer screen notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account Internal and external
Internal and external messages or notes relating to the conduct of my account
Internal messages or notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account
Recordings of any telephone conversations, whether internal or external, relating to my account
Copies of any e-mail's, or other electronic communications, whether internal or external, relating my account
Copies of letters relating to my account
A detailed statement of account showing a breakdown of all costs charged, showing in each case the reason for the cost and the actual cost against that item
Copies of all reviews conducted relating to my account
For any cost which relates to a bailiffs attendance fee, kindly state the date and precise time of the attendance and the name of the certificated bailiff making each attendance with the name of the county court where the relevant bailiff obtained his or her certificate
Copies of all paperwork created as a result of any and all bailiff visits ever made to me along with details of the results of each visit
Copies of any and all documentation issued to me or left at my property after each visit was made including details of the date and precise time of the visit and the charges incurred; this must include the name of the bailiffs who attended

I trust that the above is clear and should you be in any doubt as to your obligations as a Data Controller, then I would advise that you consult your corporate counsel.

As detailed above, I have enclosed the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply
If there is any specific information relating to Enforcement by your contractors that you can’t produce please provide with the reason why this information is not available to you

Yours faithfully
(You’re Name)

the problem you have is that Equita will argue black is white as far as there fees are concerned

Equita will take there fees first from any payments made to them (and yes they can levy your car for this debt )

What i suggest you do is make the payment to Equita £158

then send a letter of Formal complaint to the council(find out from council web site who the chief executive and head of revenues is and address it to them by name) informing them that that you fully intend to send Equita SAR (subject access request) to confirm that you tried to pay this in January and after a lengthy phone call they informed you that you had no live account with them you also phoned in Feb to be told the same Equita have now sent out a bailiff for the outstanding balance that you previously were told you did not have he has levied on your car and charged you fees of £160
you have paid the £158 outstanding council tax and you request that the council put there contractors on hold until they the council fully investigate your complaint and that any loss whether its financial or goods will be vigorously defended by yourself against xxx council and Equita


do you know how much the liability order was for

add £42.50 and thats all you should have paid to Equita

phone the council and ask (before you pay Equita)
how much Equita have credited to your account
the date of the last payment they made

the amount outstanding against the liability order
if no outstanding amount date the liability order was paid in full


always send recorded delivery and anything you send the council send a copy to Equita and vice versa (lol don't send the council £10 but send a copy of the SAR you intend to to send to Equita)

hallowitch

At this point, due to a previous confusion over the actual amount owing, i thought maybe they had backed down and just knocked off the £100 i didnt feel i owed! wishful thinking.

can you explain this

I have been sticking to an arrangement of £100 paying on time each month for a year now, I was due to pay my final payment in January plus an extra £58 to clear the debt totally.

how many liability orders are they collecting against because £100 a month for 12 months is a lot of council tax for one liability order unless you live in a posh area

my car is worth about £15000,
is your car on HP /finance