Advice regarding Equita and Council tax please

Mia215

Today I received a letter from Equita regarding unpaid council tax that dates back some time.
We fully understand that we owe the money and have ourselves to blame for getting into this predicament.
The money owed dates back to 2008/2009. We managed to clear 2010 and paid the whole amount owed for 2011 last month (the council advised to pay 2010 & 2011 and leave the 2008/2009 amounts to go on a payment plan). At this time the council told us that if we paid 2011 off before the 2012 bill arrived (which we did last month) they would set up a monthly plan for the 2008/2009 that we could pay alongside our bill for this year. However, this has not been done and the letter from Equita arrived this morning! The council now say that we have to speak to Equita, they can no longer help. I called Equita and asked to set up a payment plan, as this is what the council said they could do. They advised the minimum they could accept was £261 per month, as it has to be cleared within 12 months. They also said that in order to do this a baliff would need to visit our home to set the arrangement up. They have put the account on hold and someone will ring within 10 days to set up the meeting to get the arrangement in place. So here come my questions............ I have read that you should never allow Equita into your house. So is there a way to set up an arrangement without them visiting us? Is it a good idea to even pay Equita rather than the council? I have heard lots of bad things! Also £261 is a lot to pay each month on top of our normal bill for this year. Is there no way Equita would accept a lesser amount, or would we end up getting into trouble with them by trying to make other arrangements? Any advice would be appreciated.

RAS

Hi

It is more than likely that you have been overcharged fees for the previous bills, because equita bailiffs front load fees and do not remove them if you pay them unnecessarily.

Did they ever enter your house or levy on your car?

Mia215

Hi

They have never entered the house, just put the letter through the letterbox. Nor have they ever put a levy on our car.

All previous bills have been pai to the council. We have never dealt with Equita before at all.

RobertoMoir

Equita want to visit your house so that the bailiff can come in and levy on your goods, allowing them to
a) add more fees - they're in it to make money after all.. or legitimise fees they've already added.
b) easily proceed to removing your goods should you fail to pay (or be even a day late paying).

Neither of those things is good for you.

They will tell you they need to do this - this is their own internal procedure, there is no legal requirement to do this, nor I suspect any instructions from the council saying they have to do this. So you should tell them that you're willing to pay, but you will not let them into the house. Be aware that they will then just levy on your car instead if its outside and they can see it and read this guide to what powers the bailiff has to gain entry to your house and/or levy on goods.

As for paying it off within 12 months, I believe that councils do push for this these days, but at the same time its pointless to pay amounts you cannot afford and run up more debt.

dancingfairy

I wold write a nice polite letter to Equita saying that you understand you owe x amount for council tax arrears (check it doesn't include excessive Equitafees ) that you are willing to set up a payment plan for such and such a month but you have read up onyour rightsand as suchyou willnot be letting Equita into your home under any circumstances.You should make it quite clear that you will pay and you are not refusing to pay. You should copy this letter to the council as well. You should pay by standing order each month (not direct debit especially if there is a third party firm involved such as Equita).
You should aim to get shot of this debt as quickly as possible (not least because youdon't want to be dealing with bailiffs for any longer than necessary) but you should point out in the letter that your council tax for this coming year is your absolute priority soasnot to incur further charges. Come up with a payment you can afford and stick to it.
You will likely to have to stick to your guns in the face of Equita because let's face it they want to charge as much infees as they can. Eventually they are likely to get bored and either accept the payment plan or hand it back to the council but even if you hear nothing from them or the council you should continue to pay this debt off until it is done. Preferably you should pay the council direct if possible under your account number but old council tax year code.
df

hallowitch

Keeping your car well away from your house for the foreseeable future is a MUST
Its not unheard of for bailiffs to drive past a house (when they are in the area) and note the reg of any car sitting on a drive or parked directly outside without leaving a notice of seizure of goods and inventory
Its only when the debtor queries the fees that they find out a levy has been put on there car

there are several reasons for the bailiff doing this one being the fees they charge the other being if the debtor doesn't know about the levy they cant contest it (the car might be on HP, not belong to the debtor or be of little or no value )


are Equita saying you have pay 12 payments of £261 thats £3132
Have you confirmed with council the amount that was passed to Equita for collection ?

If the outstanding amount is correct then the bailiffs will be going all out for a levy and hopefully a default (thats why they have tried to set the repayment amount high) the bigger the debt the higher the fees they can charge

councils don't administrate there own council tax they outsource therefore there is every possibility that the back office provider your council use is Capita Equita are part of the Capita Group of company's

You should find out what company administrates your council tax

do not phone Equita the council or the bailiff unless you can record the call
everything must be done in writing by e-mail any e-mails sent to Equita should also be sent to the council to be put on record for future reference

as said there is no point in agreeing to an amount that you cant pay at the end of the day if all you can pay is £100 a month thats what you offer be very very clear of the date the payment will reach there account there is big difference between to be paid on the 1st of each month to be paid by the 1st of each month and make sure you state by standing order only