need some urgent council tax help

vintagegirl

wonder if anyone can help me,
I pay my council tax of £117 monthly on the 30th of the month.

i now had a letter in from Stirling PArk advising that i owe them for the rest of the year and they are adding on 10% for debt collection costs.

After i phoned the council they advise its because i was £2.14 short for aprils payment as the first one should have been £119.14

so for this they are leaving it with debt collection and charging me £93 in costs.

im waiting for a supervisor to contact me, Is there anything i can do?

BadBehaviour

I sympathise... it's clear you failed to pay that negligible amount due to a mistake... it's not like you missed the whole payment... seems ridiculous to me that they would involve a debt collection agency for 2.14 stupid pounds.

savingmummy

I`m almost certain the supervisor will ask for your monthly payments as usual and to ignore the dca letter.

dancingfairy

The problem is that you are billed for council tax up front and are allowed to pay in installments. Because you defaulted on that the whole year is due.
Do you know if it has been to court and a liability order obtained or have they just sent it to debt collectors? My understanding was that councils normally obtain a liability order through the courts and then send it for enforcement.
One would hope that common sense would prevail in your situation. If you don't get any joy from a superviser then I would put your complaint in writing to the head of council tax or the head of revenues (Whatever they are called in your area).
You can also try speaking to your local councillor who are normally keen to be re-elected and who have the power to make things happen.
Come back and let us know what they say. I'm sure you can get further help if needs be.
df

vintagegirl

ITS THE FIRST DEBT LETTER Ive had,

so no its not at court.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

Can you please confirm that you're living in Scotland? I'm assuming that you do given that Stirling Park are involved. If 10% has been added to the balance it's also likely that there is now a court order in respect of the debt. This is known as a 'summary warrant' - you do not usually get prior notification of this happening. It is vital that you try and negotiate affordable payments to try and prevent further action, it could be possible for 'dilligence' action to be brought against you - this could include money being taken from your bank account or wages. If there is a summary warrant it may be possible to apply to the court to pay the debt by instalments. If the court agrees it would prevent further action being taken against you - unless you breach the instalments.

It appears that the council has moved very quickly to taking further action, it also seems unfair that they have done so over a few pounds. Do consider making a formal complaint about their actions. You may also take your complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman: http://www.spso.org.uk/

We have a very useful fact sheet which outlines the collection procedure for council tax in Scotland, you can find it by clicking here.

I really hope that you find this information useful.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

BadBehaviour

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello there,

Can you please confirm that you're living in Scotland? I'm assuming that you do given that Stirling Park are involved. If 10% has been added to the balance it's also likely that there is now a court order in respect of the debt. This is known as a 'summary warrant' - you do not usually get prior notification of this happening. It is vital that you try and negotiate affordable payments to try and prevent further action, it could be possible for 'dilligence' action to be brought against you - this could include money being taken from your bank account or wages. If there is a summary warrant it may be possible to apply to the court to pay the debt by instalments. If the court agrees it would prevent further action being taken against you - unless you breach the instalments.

It appears that the council has moved very quickly to taking further action, it also seems unfair that they have done so over a few pounds. Do consider making a formal complaint about their actions. You may also take your complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman: http://www.spso.org.uk/

We have a very useful fact sheet which outlines the collection procedure for council tax in Scotland, you can find it by clicking here.

I really hope that you find this information useful.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

My late MIL ended up having hundreds in arrears and the Council (in London) didn't act that quickly! I am sure they let at least 6 months pass before selling the debt on.