Harassment from BPO Collections

abbas5001

Hi all,

My mother has been pursued by BPO for a debt for over 1 year now so I will try to be brief and give you the story.

Around April 2012 my mum received a letter saying she owed £338 for a debt to Glasgow City Council. but we thought it was a scam so binned the letter and another that turned up a month or two later. I did write a 'prove it' letter to them but did not receive a direct reply to this.

In August 2012, they got a hold of our house number and started phoning for my mother. English is not my mum's first language so I deal with all of her affairs and I asked what the debt was about but I was told to find out the details I would have to contact Glasgow City Council.

I phoned GCC who told it was for unpaid council tax at a property we stayed in for a short time in 2006-2007 - I was shocked it had taken them this long to even raise the issue. Anyway the council tax they are asking for is from April to Sept 2007 - but we moved out of that property in May 2007 into a different local authority. The lady also said my mum had 2 'accounts' with GCC and one was in a surplus, so she would move money across to bring down the deficit to the other one. She said she would write to the landlord and letting agent at the time to confirm we were not living there but it was over half a decade ago so the landlord at the time does not even own the property anymore (I think).

I got a letter from our current local authority, East Renfrewshire, stating my mum paid council tax here from May 2007 onwards and sent that to GCC and BPO as some sort of proof but they claim not to have received it and I have lost the recorded delivery receipt.

We didn't hear anything in ages then in April 2013 they started sending letters and making threatening calls and demanding payment, stating if no payment was made immediately then the "final stage" of sheriff officers being informed will happen. This has been stressing my mum out greatly and when she receives these calls she panics and thinks the bailiffs are going to come round immediately and her name will be tarnished.

I spoke to BPO and said I disputed the council tax as we did not stay at the property at the time and they referred me to GCC again. I spoke to someone at GCC who was not helpful and said it doesn't matter a person can pay council tax on two, or numerous properties. I explained that my mum isn't wealthy or a millionaire, but someone who (at the time) was in receipt of housing benefit, and that housing benefit from GCC was stopped when she moved property and she informed them to stop the benefit as she was moving.

I also asked the letting agent at the time to send a letter of support to BPO and GCC which they did but in the last 2 months we have been receiving calls from BPO once a week constantly asking for money and trying to intimidate my mum. My mum is normally in the house as I am unfortunately working 70-80 hours a week in the family business so haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to sort this out.

They have been phoning almost every day this week so my mum asked them to call back this evening when I would get home so I asked them to stop phoning and send any correspondence by post. I also said she will not be paying as she is not liable for this debt but they are so manipulative they have said your mum accepted liability a few days ago and promised to make a payment on the 27th of August so our arrangement with her is broken but I spoke to my mum and said that is not the case. As I said English is not her first language so it can be very easy to ask leading questions to manipulate a person into saying "yes" without understanding what they are saying yes to.

My apologies for such a long post but I would really appreciate any advice on what to do next. I simply told them to go ahead and take their further action as the letting agent and a few other people have told me BPO will not actually do anything and just keep threatening people to scare them into paying.

fatbelly

abbas5001 wrote: »

My apologies for such a long post but I would really appreciate any advice on what to do next. I simply told them to go ahead and take their further action as the letting agent and a few other people have told me BPO will not actually do anything and just keep threatening people to scare them into paying.

In a sense you've answered your question and put the ball back into their court.

If you need to battle this further you will have to get someone at GCC to investigate this with a bit more interest than they have done previously. It is true that someone can pay council tax at two or more properties simultaneously as an owner but not as a tenant. Hope you kept a copy of the East Renfrewshire letter. You must keep a paper trail and send things recorded.

It may be possible to get mum's local councillor to assist you if this will simply not go away.

The other thing in your post that is incorrect is BPO's assertion that your mother acknowledged the debt over the phone. Even if she did say yes in the wrong place and even if they did have a recording of this (both things in doubt) this does not count as acknowledgement - as it is neither 'by payment' nor 'in writing'. However, the law in Scotland is different from England/Wales and so it appears that there is not a statute barred angle here yet - it's 20 years for council tax!

[Factsheet | Liability for debts & the Prescription & Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973

ampafc

My advice would be to pay what you owe, and move on.

In cases like this, it is almost always the case the the money is owed, yet for some reason people think they do not have to pay it, simply because it happened a long time ago.

Sorry but this seems like a classic example of a thread on this forum - people trying to escape their debts.

harrys_dad

ampafc wrote: »

My advice would be to pay what you owe, and move on.

In cases like this, it is almost always the case the the money is owed, yet for some reason people think they do not have to pay it, simply because it happened a long time ago.

Sorry but this seems like a classic example of a thread on this forum - people trying to escape their debts.

Have you actually read the original post? Check the timeline.

asmwp

ampafc wrote: »

My advice would be to pay what you owe, and move on.

In cases like this, it is almost always the case the the money is owed, yet for some reason people think they do not have to pay it, simply because it happened a long time ago.

Sorry but this seems like a classic example of a thread on this forum - people trying to escape their debts.

Not exactly helpful comments, support and advise, not judge.

dancingfairy

I would be writing to the council, with all the evidence you have. I'd be making a letter of complaint (if only so it gets dealt with by someone senior). I also be stating that you wish any debt collectors/bailiffs are recalled whilst the matter is being disputed/resolved.
df

abbas5001

Hi,

for those interested this has finally been resolved.

I went to CAB who got through to someone and they phoned for us, eventually the operator found a letter i had sent back in 2007 advising GCC i was moving and to end any benefits they were paying my mum

My mum had said she was happy to pay whatever i owed for the overlap period where we did stay there (They were charging her from April-Sept but she moved out mid-May). In the end they said she was owed just under £100!

fatbelly

Well done!