Council Tax Advice, broken Repayment plan

arthurdaley_2

Hi Thanks for reading.

Advice on what to do would be apreciated.

My situation have £140 of council tax arrears from previous year, I am really struggling finanacially, have agreement from previous year outstanding balance which i am repaying and have kept to there agreement.

However the problem is this years current agreement.

replayment plan is £72 on the 1st of each month, had a large money taken out my bank account which i forget about so am unable to make the payment of £72 this month. i dont get paid till the 31st of June and will be able to pay the £72 for June and July's £72 as well + previous years agreement.

what should i do, i telephoned the council office to see if i could pay less this month and pay more for the rest for the rest of the year they declined this a couple of weeks ago.

I could get the money together have no borrowing oppertunity of friends or family, it would be taken items to cash convertor type shops. obviously dont want to do this as this costs me more money but would stop any demands for the full amount.

should i just call the council offices on Wednesday and see what they suggest.

or as i have broken this agreement will they just demand the full amount.

Suggestions please.

rising_from_the_ashes

Basically, try everything to stick to the repayment plan as CT is one of the priority debts - if they have already declined to let you pay more over the rest of the year, I'm afraid I would be concerned they would demand full payment if you fall behind again.

Do you have any things you could E*bay? What about cutting back on groceries for the rest of the month (if you go to the Old Style board with a list of your cupboards, you'll get load of suggestions on how to use them up - the min you'd need to buy to make meals etc).

rising_from_the_ashes

It might be worth sticking up a Statement of Affairs (link at the top of the board) to see if any savings could be made anywhere.

sistafromanothermista

I would definately post SOA for everyone to look over for you. Is it possible for you to go down to the council on Wed and speak to someone?

thatsean

SOA is a good idea. Breaching a payment plan for CT is very bad - they aren't obliged to offer them at all.

If you can raise the funds to clear one of the accounts I suggest you do so. The fact that you have arrears from more than one year suggests that there are budget issues that you need to address as a matter of urgency.

[Deleted User]

I would call them and ask, at the end of the day you will loose nothing by doing this. They seem very reasonable, allowing you to pay last years this year, my Council do not do this.

If you have done this type of thing before or have missed payments, I would expect them to send you a Summons. I know this sounds really bad, but this is a step they take to ensure that they can take money from your wages/ benefit as an attachment of earnings.

The only problem with this above is that they kindly attach the Court costs, even if you don't actually get to Court.

I found that even after the above stages, a nice email and complaint to the Director of Revenues and Benefits helped and my charges were removed.

Having said all of the above, as others have said the Council are not to be messed with. If you can not pay anything else and just pay them it's best, they are very heavy handed and I would never miss a payment again.

If you really can't pay then when you get the Summons they may accept an arrangement at that stage, or some prefer to do this in Court. But at that point they will realise that you cannot pay in full and you will end up paying X amount per month again. Either via wages or via your normal payment methods with the option to take money direct from your wages if you fail to pay.

Hope you get things sorted, I have had some great advice here. It's not easy and not often quick, but time really does tell!

CIS

replayment plan is £72 on the 1st of each month, had a large money taken out my bank account which i forget about so am unable to make the payment of £72 this month. i dont get paid till the 31st of June and will be able to pay the £72 for June and July's £72 as well + previous years agreement.

You may get some leeway on the arrears but the council would be very unlikely to move on the current year as they'll have billed under the statutory billing and will want to continue this route through reminder and summons etc if monies aren't paid as due.

As above though the only way to find out is to ask them.

dancingfairy

Hi. It depends on exactly what has happened to this years council tax. Is the 72 pounds your normal monthly installment as on your bill? Is it a special arrangement with the council or has it gone to a liability order already?
If it is just an informal agreement and it hasn't already gone to a liability order then it may make more sense if you can pay this years installment and pay less towards last years arrears. This is because if you mess us this year then you will end up with the cost of the liability order, plus possibly bailiff costs and it will cost you more in the long run. Last years arrears on the other hand aren't going to get bigger if you can't pay them as much as you agreed.
Go to the council offices tomorrow and try and speak to someone senior. Explain that you would rather keep on top of this years payments and that due to a bit of a mess up you haven't got as much as you thought. Hopefully the council will see it is in your best interest to keep to this years and pay a slightly smaller amount towards the arrears.
I'd also get that budget out and double, triple check it so you don't get caught out again in future - it'll be better to make an arrangement that you can stick to for the arrears.
df