Equita and missed payment

finch34

Hi I have an arrangement with Equita to pay £50 a month off of my debt which i have been doing without fail until last month. I was going away for 2wks and had planned to pay that months installment before i left. Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances i totally forgot until it was too late, I was already away. I planned to contact them as soon as i was able to so that i could explain and make the payment, afterall it wasnt as if i was deliberately missing the payment. I returned on Saturday to find a letter from Eqiuta stating: (slightly shorter version)

"Due to numerous communications and bailiff visits you have still failed to pay the outstanding £437.50. Unless it is cleared by return I will have no choice but to instruct my bailiff to call when they may remove goods to be sold at public auction. This will involve you in considerable further expense which will be deducted from the proceeds of the sale. However should you wish to avoid this action please contact our call centre to discuss the various payment options available"

The call centre was shut by this time and so I planned to make the call on Monday after I had been to the dentist. Unfortunatey I didnt get the chance as shortly after returning home I was paid a visit by one of their bailiffs. I was throwing rubbish in my dustbin at the time and therefore he had no opportunity to get near my front door as i stopped him up the path. He told me that he was here to collect the money owed. I explained why i had missed my payment and that i had been about to call his office, of course he didnt care. He said that he could give me until Friday to pay it and when i said that there was no way I could find £437.50 by then he told me that no it was actually £604.50 I had to find. He gave me no explanation as to why the sudden hike, he just said he would phone me on Thursday to see how much of the debt i was able to pay and to try to sort something out. With that he left. He left me with one of their standard Bailiff Removal letters with the new amount written on it. I decided to contact the call centre anyway but no one would discuss anything with me. They wouldnt even explain what this extra charge on my debt was.
Today I received another letter, this time from the bailiff himself informing me of his impending visit! This one does not state any amount, just that he will attend my property with a removal contractor. He was alone when he came yesterday and he was in a tiny white car so obviously wouldnt have fitted much in that lol

This letter was dated 7 June so based on the fact it took 5 days for it to arrive and the previous letter was dated 31 May and would have taken slightly longer due to the long bank holiday I figure the letter i received Saturday wouldnt have arrived much before Thursday if that, giving me just 2 working days to respond before they sent the wolves out. Not giving me the chance to send payment and for it to reach them anyway, nice.

Anyway I am hoping that someone can help me out with any information on what charges the bailiffs can apply to my account legally as a suddenly jump of £167 seems pretty unjustified to me. Also anything else i could do/find out before Thursday. I know this is a short amount of time but i would like to me fully armed with as much info about my rights etc before i speak to him again as i hate confrontation and get confused when put on the spot if i havent done my homework. I have seen on previous threads that people have been advised to contact the council involved to try to solve the problem, is it possible to do that this late in the game or am i stuck with Equita?

I am so annoyed both with myself for missing the payment although it was a genuine mistake, and with Equita for not allowing the opportunity to sort it out before sending the bullies in. For the first time in ages i had finally sorted my finances out, all bills were being paid on time, my only debt was with Equita which was being dealt with and I didnt feel as if i was living on a knife edge. For once i wasnt dreading the postman calling and now due to this one payment which was to be slightly late, it wasnt even as if i was planning on skipping it totally in fact i was going to pay this months at the same time even though it isnt due til the end of the month, I feel as if im back to square one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated xx

mildredalien

Ugh what a nightmare!

I'm not an expert about bailiff stuff but didn't want to read and run, and I seem to remember a couple of things from this board - firstly that they can only charge a set amount for house visits etc. (which is way less than £167!) and they cannot enter your property if you do not let them. Lock all your windows and doors, park your car far away if you have one and do NOT let them in. Pretty sure only council bailiffs can actually force entry... There is a letter you can send to Equita to revoke rights to visit you in person and state that you will only deal with them via post from now on I think.

I hope someone with some more experience can help more!

finch34

I have just checked the certified bailiff register to see if the bailiff that attended my property was registered with Equita and found out that a Robert Upton as his name is written on the letter (or Bob as he wrote in brackets on the hand delivered one) is not registered but a Ronald Upton is. In fact there is not a Robert (Bob) Upton on the register anywhere. Does anyone know if this information is useful or am ui clutching at straws. Ronald Upton is registered as being with Equita from Aug 2011 to Aug 2013.

finch34

ok managed to find him but he isnt registered to any employer

adi_clarke85

You haven't said what the debt is for. Council tax has different fees to parking for example.

I've never worked at a council that has used Equita so don't know for certain but most bailiff companies have an online area where you should be able to have a look at original debt amounts, payments made and dates, fees added and dates, maybe post them here and someone with experience in that certain area can check them for you.

hallowitch

nobody will be able to give you the correct advice you unless you tell us what debt Equita are enforcing

if its council tax i will be Happy to advice you

hallowitch

I'm going to assume this is for council tax (as a rule Equita don't allow a payment plan for parking tickets)


Usually if Equita are the bailiffs of choice Capita administrate the council tax for the local authority Equita are part of the Capita group of company's

all correspondence should be done by recorded delivery letter or by e-mail any letters/e-mails should be sent to both the council and Equita

because there is no company name on the bailiff register it means the bailiff is self employed

most councils don't allow there bailiff firms to outsource the collection of council tax (use 3rd party enforcement )your council will have a service level agreement /contract with Equita which may include a part that says they cant outsource enforcement


The enforcement of council tax debt it governed by The Council Tax (administration and Enforcement )Regulations 1992

If this self employed bailiff Is collecting this debt on behalf of the council (not Equita) he should have written authority from the council
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/613/regulation/45/made
regulation 45
5) The person levying distress on behalf of an authority shall carry with him the written authorisation of the authority, which he shall show to the debtor if so requested;
ask him to show you proof he has the authority to collect this debt if he cant produce it tell him to leave your property
if he does show you proof try and capture a picture of it and him on your mobile
http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/docs/Enforcement_Agent_Charges.pdf
bailiffs fees come under regulation 45(b) schedule 5 charges connected with distress
1st visit fee for attending to levy" (where no levy was made. ) £24.50
2nd visit fee for attending to levy" (where no levy was made.) £18

NO FURTHER FEES CAN CAN BE CHARGED UNLESS THERE HAS BEEN A LEVY ON YOUR GOODS

the levy fee is charged on a sliding scale and would depend on the amount outstanding against the liability order at the time of the levy

If there is a levy on your goods and you have a payment agreement in place that you fail to keep to they can charge an attendance to remove fee this is reasonable costs

hallowitch

just to add for there to be a levy on your goods the bailiff must leave a notice of seizure of goods and inventory listing the goods levied

if there is no levy on your goods and you have a car please move it away from your home asap

if there has been a levy on your goods the goods levied must cover all bailiff fees to include removal fees storage fees auction fees and a portion of the principle debt for the levy to be lawful

none of the goods levied can be on HP


this may also be of interest to you regarding the lack of information about the fees charged
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/bailiffs-enforcement-officers/national-standards-enforcement-agents.pdf


page 7
Enforcement agents will on each and every occasion when a visit is made to a debtor's property which incurs a fee for the debtor, leave a notice detailing the fees charged to date, including the one for that visit, and the fees which will be incurred if further action becomes necessary. If a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.