Council Tax Summons

wonganumpty

Morning.

Yesterday i received a 'summons for non payment of council tax'.
Not sure how, because this is one bill i try to pay on time, but it seems i may have missed one or two payments this year.

I had just made a payment online the day before.

What do i do now? I cannot afford to pay what i owe in full, £413 plus costs, but would be happy somehow to spread the payments and also set up a direct debit with them.

I'm not happy about the costs mind you!!

What should i say in my letter?

Cheers x

cynicalgit_2

Some authorities allow you to reschedule the missing payments across the remaining instalments.
I would grovel over the phone explaining your situation,they're usually fairly sympathetic.
The letters are sent to try and get you to pay asap!!
Phone asap.
Good Luck

agrinnall

CT is one bill that I would always pay by DD (while making sure that the account has enough money in it at the appropriate time) and put the responsibility for ensuring it is taken on the council.

jamesd

Phone them, tell them what you wrote here, ask what more you need to do to save both you and them the hassle of the court. My local council will rescind a final notice if you get two months in hand - current one and next one. Don't know what they do once a summons has been issued, that plus costs I expect. They don't want the hassle and costs of pursuing you in court, just to know that you're going to get back to paying them regularly. So communicate with them and get that set up.

dancingfairy

I think it varies council to council and possibly will come down to whether you get a sympathetic employee on the day.
Your best bet is to phone them and grovel as said above. Generally I think councils are more amenable to setting up a payment plan when they have a liability order as they know that if you then fail to pay then they can send in the bailiffs or attach your earnings etc.
You need to find out how many missed payments you have. Was the last payment a bit late? Can you afford to pay the whole amount over the remaining months ie Nov,Dec and Jan? If not you can also ask whether they will let you extend into Feb and Mar?
Also offering to set up a Standing Order or Direct Debit might go down well as then you won't forget.
Best of Luck
df
Edit: worst case scenario is that it go to court and you end up paying about 80 in court costs but they should then allow you to set up a payment plan. I doubt they will send in bailffs etc if you are paying. It's done in the magistrates court so won't affect your credit rating.
You may find this factsheet here from National Debtline helpful if it goes to bailiffs but hopefully it won't get that far http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax

wonganumpty

Thank you all for your replies.

I am really terrible on the phone, i get all worked up and forget things etc, so i sent them an email instead.

I basically apologized a few times and said i would happily set up a direct debit to avoid this happening again in the future etc.

I'll let you know how i get on.