Please help, massive council tax arrears! SCOTLAND

nat21luv

pinklipy wrote: »

I didn't realise it was a priority untill now

Its as much a priority as food, I dont get how you didnt know that? Before you fob us off with 'Im young', Im the same age as you and I have known Council Tax existed before I even moved out at the age of 16. I think the truth is, you pushed it to the back burner every month so you would have extra dosh available for your spending sprees.
'Well Christmas savings this year are already out of the window as already have over spent hugely'
I am not a troll, but this does bug me. You have a child, you have another on the way, you've just been told of a £13,000 debt and your still spending?!! Do you not think a roof over your childrens head is more important than Christmas presents?

pinklipy

Thank you eagerElephant for your post as hopefully some of the other posters will read it also and realise that council tax is veiwed differently in Scotland than in England.
I have spoken with the council this morning and he said they have sent out a whole load of letters to lots of people owing thousands in arrears as big as mine all in the last few weeks, they are in a position to accept proposals if they deem that the debt is paid of in a reasonable amount of time, what is classed as reasonable? As my proposal will take just over 3 years to clear the £13000. He also said to be quick as it looks better so I am going to hand in my proposal today as can't get an appointment with CAB.

Nat21:
If you read eagerElephants post it might make you understand it from my point of view. Obviously I knew council tax existed but from my previous posts it was never made to be an issue or I wouldn't be in £13000 worth of debt over 10 years. I only received the letter on thurs so have already spent ££ on Xmas which i wouldn't off had I known this was coming.

Cherryjack

well done pinklipy :-) hope things are on the up.. your doing the right thing facing this head on. We all make mistakes, it happens ..but we can learn from them (in fact there is a debt board with lots of us that have gotten into trouble with finance.. its all about positive steps forward

freebyfifty

Morning,

I am still shaking my head at your naivety over CT but you know what.......we are all bit naive about some things (mine was cc debt) or good at sticking our heads in the sand and putting things to the back of our minds and not dealing with them or we wouldn't on this forum

I'm glad you've been in touch with the council and I'm glad you have a proposal for them. It'll be hard but you'll get there.

pinklipy

Oh, meant to ask.....
Are the council in a position to ask me to send in bank statements etc? Are they allowed under data protection or is that why they use SOA instead?

Thanks in advance :-)

pinklipy

Thank you cherryjack & freebiefifty xx

barbarawright

You might want to consider whether you really need to spend £600 on your 4 year old's Christmas presents. Remember that council tax goes to pay for children's education - it could be you in a few years time complaining about howly poorly resourced his/her school is.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/48672345#Comment_48672345

elsiepac

Thank you for posting that link barbarawright, certainly says a lot!

Well...... I am actually extremely shocked at how little some of you manage to spend on your kids at Xmas, I don't know how you manage it at all. Iv spent roughly around £500 on my 4 year old so far and have about another £100 to spend so in totall £600, and that includes me cutting back from previous years. I also do not include clothes as Xmas/birthday presents as I don't really see that as presant to a 4 year old, just my opinion.
Have about 10 nieces/nephews who all get about £10-£15 each apart from 1 who is very special and gets £100 on her. Other family members are all around £20 (7 of them) then my sister who is about £100. In saying that though I spend very little on myself throughout the year. As children we had a fortune spent on us but we have turned out well and in no way spoiled. I also was of the belief that you get your kids practically everything from the Argos catalogue or where ever else at Xmas as you can't say no. We also will spend the same at birthdays and at Easter maby around £150.

This is nearly £1000 on Christmas alone!!! And then you spend the rest throughout the year! And yet you've been in arrears with your CT for ten years?! AND this is you cutting back?!

I'm sorry, but I've just lost all sympathy.

Doesn't matter that you "didn't know" council tax was a priority.

You had the money, you just chose not to spend it on the priorities.

How irresponsible. I'm quite shocked.

LC

pinklipy

That's also why iv put that next year will be different and Im not going to have the same budget as before. I have always been in a payment plan with my council tax though, it's not like iv been evading it and been in hiding for 10 years.
Believe me I have learnt my lesson and I never asked for sympathy in the 1st place- why would I. I have no other debt so spending £600 was manageable and clearly if I had got this bill 2 months ago I wouldn't have spent £X on Xmas but I'm already finished Xmas shopping.
I have already changed in the last few days alone, I spent half the amount I normally would on food shopping today and spent £0 over weekend and took my daughter to park instead of soft play.
I have put my proposal into council so just a waiting game now.

Tixy

Hi

Hopefully your proposal will be accepted.

I would suggest starting another new thread in this section of the forum (debt free wannabe) with your statement of affairs, using the link people have already posted. That way people can help you find areas you can make cutbacks. People will be able to spot if it looks like you are spending a lot in certain areas and suggest you shop around for other providers etc, and people will be able to give you hints and tips on what you need to cut down on and how to do this. Start a new thread with your figures and and be commited to making changes and people will do their best to help you.

Regarding your xmas presents - I'd suggest you have a serious think about what you could return to the stores to get a refund on. Your 4 year old won't have a clue whether you've spent £400 or £50 on presents as they simply don't have that grasp of money. Surely you could return a couple of hundred quids worth of stuff?, which will be money you are certainly going to need in the next year.