Benefit clawback, now facing bankruptcy

deepindebtor

Hi,

I had some finance problems for a number of years.

I ran up a council tax debt and I was also out of work, then I went back to work.

It turns out that at some point I was being paid benefits for my council tax and even though everyone was made aware that I was back at work, they kept paying the benefits and me being in such a bad financial state, I never noticed I wasn't being billed.

Now, flash forward almost 10 years and I get a letter, out of the blue, asking me for £1,500.

I speak to them, ask them why did they not tell me sooner, I was not contactable, this shocks me as I have stayed in the same area paying council for my new address for the last x years.

Then I get another letter telling me they are going to make me bankrupt.

I sent an email offering payment of £50 a month, I am on a low income right now and £50 a month is a fair chunk of my income, but I want this cleared.

They did not reply, I feel they are being unfair in the way they are treating me.

Now please people, leave your judgements aside, no saying I should have done this and that earlier, it was a very difficult time and a lot was going on, so the situation IS WHAT IT IS, the facts remain, I never hid from them, I want to pay them, but they seem to want to make me bankrupt.

What can I do? Who can I complain to if the council are not listening?

rogerblack

deepindebtor wrote: »

Hi,

I had some finance problems for a number of years.

I ran up a council tax debt and I was also out of work, then I went back to work.

First question is - were you entitled to council tax benefit at this time - if you were out of work, you would usually be.
You can ask them to consider reconsidering recovering it, due to this.

Phone, or write a letter, emails may go astray.

CIS

What can I do? Who can I complain to if the council are not listening?

You need to contact the council directly and discuss it with them - at this stage there is no requirement for them to agree a re-payment arrangement with you.

I speak to them, ask them why did they not tell me sooner, I was not contactable, this shocks me as I have stayed in the same area paying council for my new address for the last x years.

Just because you were in the same area does mean that they were able to determine that you were the same person - did you give them your address and make sure your council tax was correct when you left the original property ?

They did not reply, I feel they are being unfair in the way they are treating me.

Bankruptcy isn't a cheap option and they will use as a last resort. Look at it from the councils point of view - a person has owed monies for nearly 10 years, they will have issued at least 4 notices before attempting bankruptcy proceedings and will have almost certainly used at least 1 bailiff company as well.

mynameistallulah

When is this debt from DID? It seems you were in the same position in 2008, did you get that resolved?

deepindebtor

I think part of why I am annoyed is that I have never hidden from them and its very strange that they might have employed various resources to "find" me, but there I was sitting just a few doors away paying rent and council tax.

In fact it was the council themselves that moved me due to bad neighbours. It shouldn't have been difficult to find me.

And now I get this out of the blue and they seem hell bent on being unreasonable.

Can you see where I am coming from?

mynameistallulah

deepindebtor wrote: »

I think part of why I am annoyed is that I have never hidden from them and its very strange that they might have employed various resources to "find" me, but there I was sitting just a few doors away paying rent and council tax.

In fact it was the council themselves that moved me due to bad neighbours. It shouldn't have been difficult to find me.

And now I get this out of the blue and they seem hell bent on being unreasonable.

Can you see where I am coming from?

No, I can't. You know that you have to pay CT, and it is your responsibility to ensure that you do.

Now when is this debt from?

CIS

In fact it was the council themselves that moved me due to bad neighbours. It shouldn't have been difficult to find me.

They may have moved you but did you contact the council tax dept and the benefit section to advise them you had moved ? . The legal responsibility for notifying them falls on the liable person/claimant.

deepindebtor

This is where it gets complicated. The council said they would take care of everything.

They managed it with my rent account ok. The arrears were paid back on that. I have to assume they did the same for the council tax.

Remember, at that point in time there were no arrears on it. That didn't happen until it was clawed back as far as I am aware.

I certainly have no means of paying the whole amount. If I am made bankrupt then bang goes my business too as I am self employed.

And ANY hope of them getting something out of me, unless its 20p a week from the dole money.

I just hope they see sense and let me make these payments. I don't want the debt either. I thought I had zero debt with them before I moved.

And all those years I had money coming in and never knew there was a debt. Its quite gutting, probably on both sides.

HappyMJ

deepindebtor wrote: »

I think part of why I am annoyed is that I have never hidden from them and its very strange that they might have employed various resources to "find" me, but there I was sitting just a few doors away paying rent and council tax.

In fact it was the council themselves that moved me due to bad neighbours. It shouldn't have been difficult to find me.

And now I get this out of the blue and they seem hell bent on being unreasonable.

Can you see where I am coming from?

I can see where you are coming from....Now...What is your net worth? Are you worth the council spending money on to go bankrupt or are they just wasting their money. If they spend the money for you to go bankrupt then you don't have to spend it saving you quite a lot and the council don't get any money ever. I'd say it's just a threat...an empty threat...but if they want to spend money on a bankruptcy petition and your credit is rubbish anyway then let them. All your debts are written off and you are free to start life again owing nobody anything. You might find you are better off for it.

deepindebtor wrote: »

This is where it gets complicated. The council said they would take care of everything.

They managed it with my rent account ok. The arrears were paid back on that. I have to assume they did the same for the council tax.

Remember, at that point in time there were no arrears on it. That didn't happen until it was clawed back as far as I am aware.

I certainly have no means of paying the whole amount. If I am made bankrupt then bang goes my business too as I am self employed.

And ANY hope of them getting something out of me, unless its 20p a week from the dole money.

I just hope they see sense and let me make these payments. I don't want the debt either. I thought I had zero debt with them before I moved.

And all those years I had money coming in and never knew there was a debt. Its quite gutting, probably on both sides.

Which one is it self employed or job seeker? They can get £3.55 a week from your JSA.

Your business would not be destroyed by going BR. You can continue to work self employed.

CIS

And ANY hope of them getting something out of me, unless its 20p a week from the dole money.

£3.55 per week if arrears are taken from your JSA - if you do go bankrupt the arrears are effectively written off (unless they can recover monies from your estate) .

They managed it with my rent account ok.

Because it would have been the housing department which moved you.

mynameistallulah

deepindebtor wrote: »

This is where it gets complicated. The council said they would take care of everything.

They managed it with my rent account ok. The arrears were paid back on that. I have to assume they did the same for the council tax.

Remember, at that point in time there were no arrears on it. That didn't happen until it was clawed back as far as I am aware.

I certainly have no means of paying the whole amount. If I am made bankrupt then bang goes my business too as I am self employed.

And ANY hope of them getting something out of me, unless its 20p a week from the dole money.

I just hope they see sense and let me make these payments. I don't want the debt either. I thought I had zero debt with them before I moved.

And all those years I had money coming in and never knew there was a debt. Its quite gutting, probably on both sides.

So are we talking about the same debt, the one that you were aware of in 2008?