At my wits end - Bailiffs

sadiejp

Ok dont know where to start I am in serious financial hardship I earn a take home pay a month of £1000. I have a 15 year old daughter and receive apx 300 a month through tax credits & child benefits. i have had a visit from the bailiffs ( I was out) I have rang their office to arrange payment of the outstanding council tax of £3848.69 and have been told after much debate that the Min they will except is first payment of 643.69 then 5 monthly payments of 641.00, I simply can not afford this as i have rent of 420.00 a month and then car finance of £108 (needed to get to work) car insurance other household bills and an abundance of debts that I am juggling. I feel sick am not eating and worried sick has anybody else been in this situation or can advise what to do?

Tixy

Hi

How many years council tax does this relate to?
It might stil be worth trying to contact the council to see if you can come to an arrangment with the regarding repayments.
If not then you'll have to negotiate with the bailiffs but they cannot make you pay more than you can afford.

Firstly don't let them in your house for any reason (they may say they only way they can accept a repayment plan is if they do a levy first of your goods - don't let them). Don't given them you card details to make a payment (they may take more than you have agreed).

How much can you afford a month?
How much are you paying other debts - if the other debts are consumer credit (i.e. credit cards, loans etc) then really you should drop payments to then to just a token payment whilst you pay off the priority debt of council tax.

This factsheet is worth a read http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax - and recommends you pay the council not the bailiff, and write to the bailiff to say that is what you are doing.

HappyMJ

sadiejp wrote: »

Ok dont know where to start I am in serious financial hardship I earn a take home pay a month of £1000. I have a 15 year old daughter and receive apx 300 a month through tax credits & child benefits. i have had a visit from the bailiffs ( I was out) I have rang their office to arrange payment of the outstanding council tax of £3848.69 and have been told after much debate that the Min they will except is first payment of 643.69 then 5 monthly payments of 641.00, I simply can not afford this as i have rent of 420.00 a month and then car finance of £108 (needed to get to work) car insurance other household bills and an abundance of debts that I am juggling. I feel sick am not eating and worried sick has anybody else been in this situation or can advise what to do?

You will need to give them a statement of affairs but be careful. The debts you have will have less priority than the council tax debt. So if you have minimum repayments on credit cards of £200 per month they'll insist you stop making those repayments and pay them the £200 instead. If you need some advice then use the services of CCCS or a similar free debt charity. Go through the debt remedy on the CCCS website https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx to get an idea of some figures to use for the SOA. Give them the highest figure that CCCS recommends so that you are not pressurized into making cuts to an already tight budget. For example if you spend £300 a month on groceries CCCS will allow £400 or more so tell the bailiffs you spend £400.

If you can prove the debt cannot be paid in a reasonable timeframe then the bailiff will return the debt to the council. If you genuinely cannot afford to pay anything then not much else will happen until your situation changes.

AndyLGR

Also its important that you dont forget to make sure all windows and doors are locked if you have to go out. Make sure no one else who lives in your house will let them in either.

chappers

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

How many years council tax does this relate to?
It might stil be worth trying to contact the council to see if you can come to an arrangment with the regarding repayments.
If not then you'll have to negotiate with the bailiffs but they cannot make you pay more than you can afford.

Firstly don't let them in your house for any reason (they may say they only way they can accept a repayment plan is if they do a levy first of your goods - don't let them). Don't given them you card details to make a payment (they may take more than you have agreed).

How much can you afford a month?
How much are you paying other debts - if the other debts are consumer credit (i.e. credit cards, loans etc) then really you should drop payments to then to just a token payment whilst you pay off the priority debt of council tax.

This factsheet is worth a read http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax - and recommends you pay the council not the bailiff, and write to the bailiff to say that is what you are doing.

As a quick add on the council cannot refuse any payments you make to them, but whether they call off the bailiffs is another matter and in reality they probably won't.
Tell the bailiffs that you are paying the council direct and they will probably refer the debt back to the council, but may still chase you for their fees.