Why are the so hard on me?

poppyscorner

Sort of a query sort of a rant.

I very stupidly fell behind in my CT we werent entitled to CTB but we were entitled to ctc just didnt claim them due to past issues with that aswell now I accept full responsibility for falling behind I agreed an arangement with them last year where I pay £160 pm (more than double what I should pay but was needed to catch up) so we pay it and the letter that we got said will be finished Dec06 great just in time for maternity leave (I had a baby march and started ML in Dec) so as agreed we paid all payments till Dec.

In Jan 07 I got a letter saying that as we had stopped the payments we would get a revised bill it never arrived then in April 07 I got notification that they were taking me to court I fired off a letter stated exactly to the penny what I had paid in the last year and that showed that we had commitment to clearing the arrears.

I phoned the CT helpline at the local council they spoke to me like I was dirt on their shoes really bad and after half an hour of them demanding £470 from me which I did not understand why they wanted it as far as I was concerned I was paid up but they now said I wasnt. I eventually told them to eff off I shouldnt have but I was so cross.

Anyway I got a letter from the chief who said he was sorry I felt peed off and that they were willing to compromise they would accept me paying double again from the next year May 31st 07. They had been taking DD direct from my bank and I assumed that they would again two weeks went past the date and the money was still in the bank so I rang them and asked what was going on they said it was up to me to ring them and pay it I said well it needs to be DD from now on basically because I am terrible at remembering to ring and that was supposed to have been done dont get me wrong I dont spend the money (well not these days anyway) it just sits there in the bank.

Next month June I was underpaid by half I rang them to explain and told them I would be sending payment as soon as my pay was rectified and they seemed ok with that it was totally genuine I had to wait for chapps payment from employers.

In the time of waiting they first wrote to me cancelling my arrangement then another letter informing me that they had obtained a liability order against me for this years council tax 23rd May 07 (which I thought had been stopped I had the summons but then I wrote told them the arrangement and the chief led me to believe it had been stopped) and they were preparing paperwork for attatchment of earnings. As soon as my wages were sorted I went online made payment and wrote them an email telling them how unreasonable they were making a complaint they acknowledged the email then today they send me a DD application (as I had complained about the method of payment and I had already pointed this out to them) no accompaying letter just a slip saying with regards on it.

I am fuming yes I got myself into this mess but I am also making great effort to get myself out of it and they seem intent on taking a hard line with me I dont know why it isnt as if I am not making payments or have refused to make payment to them I have been stupid I admit it and have done so to the bigwigs but sometimes there demands are unreasonable so now the arrangemnt we did have is up to date but as they have said it is cancelled and they havent said any different I am assuming that this is still the case I am waiting for either the bailiffs to land as they seem to think they can claim the rest of the money even though it isnt due yet because they got their liability order just in case. Or for them to write to my employer and take AOE from me I feel really peed off and let down by them it seems that if you bother your backside to try and put things right they want to kick you in the teeth but I know loads of people who havent paid in years and nothing happens to them then dont even get me started on single persons discount fraud.

Someone we know was claiming this for three years fraudulently the council had no idea till they were getting divorced and the hubby (who also had no idea wife was claiming) contacted them to say he was no longer living with her so he was no longer liable for anything after the date they split only for them to ask what he was talking about she lives alone anyway


Sorry for the length of this I did warn it was part rant part query does anyone know why they are like this and another thing I knew I was behind but I dont think it was as much as they said like 2 yrs behind I cant possibly have been is there anyway of getting a statement from them to compare.

If you lasted this long well done

Thanks for any advice

Poppy x

CIS

I know it sounds harsh but from working in Council Tax recovery its often necessary for action to be taken to secure the revenue due. In this case they may have been awkward with how they played it, but legally, even if you set up a DD then you are responsible for monitoring and making up any missed payments.

You may actually be better off on an Attachment - it can often work out less than agreeing an arrangement as they know they will get the attachment payments whereas an arrangement is more risky.

Approximately, what is your net wage and I'll be able to give you a rough idea of what the attachment of earnings will be.

If they've said they'll go for an attachment then that its most likely what will happen. They will contact your employer and request all payments be made direct.

I knew I was behind but I dont think it was as much as they said like 2 yrs behind I cant possibly have been is there anyway of getting a statement from them to compare.

You can ask for a statement of all monies paid and the actual liability for the period so that you can compare it.

poppyscorner

Thanks for your reply CIS my wages are just under £1000 per month.

They have written to me again and this morning I have received two arrangement notice things.

I think this comes from my complaint to them but these arrangements are completely unreasonable and no way can I afford what they are asking I was just about managing the other payments.

Just to break it down a bit when I initially contacted them last year they said that I had three accounts to pay off for three different adresses I was told that they were being paid into and this year they said I still have two accounts my payments were £139 pm to my big one which includes this years counciltax and 10pm to my smaller one (an old account) now I canmanage these payments I struggle but they have to be paid.

This morning they send me new arrangements and they are £167 for the bigger one and £20 pm for the smaller one so they have added £40 ish in total for me to pay each month.

I really dont know where I am going to find the extra money to pay it and I am really annoyed that they have done this.

I dont really see what the difference is between AOE and arrangement at the end of the day they are the same amounts owed either way and I dont particularly want an attatchment of earnings as to me this would mean that I am unwilling to pay this debt voluntarily which is completely untrue I am willing to pay it and tbh I am looking forward to just paying half of this next year when the whole thing is cleared just dont know how I am going to manage now.

CIS

If its £1000 Gross than an AOE will be 12%, if its net it will be 7%, Another issue is they can run two AOE's at the same time, so if you have 2 summons they can run them either as one AOE or two.

With 2 AOE's running they will work out the 1st AOE, deduct it from your Net pay and then take the second AOE on the remaining balance.

I dont really see what the difference is between AOE and arrangement at the end of the day they are the same amounts owed either way

The reason we go for an AOE is that from a recovery point of view we are asking a 3rd party (your employer) to take the money at the risk of prosecution to themselves for not doing so, this almost guarantees the money will be paid whereas with an arrangement you are relying on the debtor paying - many will default immediately.


I would contact them again and ask to speak to a recovery officer - In my dept, and most will be the same, we will hold debts on some accounts to allow payments to be made where there are multiple debts. At the end of the day, we would rather someone pay us than have to come down hard and send in bailiffs, and if someone hasn't got the money your not going to get it any easier by trying to force them too hard.

dmg24

Having had endless problems with the LA over CTB, I do have sympathy for your situation. However, I do think you are best to go along with the AOE. As CIS said, it means they are guaranteed the money, and more importantly for you, it ensures that you don't hit this problem again.

Best of luck with getting it sorted hun, but I really would go for the AOE.

shelovestobuystuff

Change your bank account now!!!They will freeze your acount and then all your other direct debits etc will be in a mess!!!
They froze my assets for CT arrears of just over £30???
The only way they had my bank details was because I had started paying them the arrears in instalments by cheque(It was for years ago ,a little bill from before I moved house which I,and they, had forgotten about and I was fully up to date with the rest.)The sneeky blighters got my bank details from the cheque and froze my account:mad:
I had to pay court or legal charges on top of the £30+(think it was about £100 or so) and my account was frozen for 3 months until they sorted it out.They took everything from my account and I had to apply for it to be returned which took another fee,I think it was £5 for them to return my own money to me,there were some bank charges too for the pleasure of it being frozen..
The worst thing was my hubby had just paid a £5,000 personal cheque out of a loan into my account to cover house repairs and double glazing which were happening that week and I couldn,t get the money to pay for it:eek: .We had to take out finance with the companies at the last minute which cost us dear:mad: .
The council don,t take any responsibility for causing hardship or additional costs or fees because of freezing your assets either.We ended up out of pocket by many hundreds because of this sneeky council tactic,and all for £30 in arrears which they had forgotten about until I started paying it off my own back after going through old paperwork.

poppyscorner

Thanks for the replies CIS my wage to be exact is £933.27 gross pm and about £710.ish after tax and nat ins so what would it be ?

And do you know of any reason why they have upped my arrangement when that isnt what I agreed to I will continue with my old arrangement as that is what I did agree and as nothing has changed i.e they have had all payments due to them I cant see why they have done this.

Sorry for all the questions just you seem to know what you are talking about

Thanks Poppy x

CIS

£710 net would be an AOE of 5% = £ 35.5p/m so it would less than what your paying now.

And do you know of any reason why they have upped my arrangement when that isnt what I agreed to I will continue with my old arrangement as that is what I did agree and as nothing has changed i.e they have had all payments due to them I cant see why they have done this.

Have you checked with them to see that all payemnts have been received on time ?,usualy an agreement is only interfered with if there is a breaking of the agreement.

Change your bank account now!!!They will freeze your acount and then all your other direct debits etc will be in a mess!!!
They froze my assets for CT arrears of just over £30???

This cant be done in England, only Scotland.

poppyscorner

Thanks CIS I would much rather pay what I am paying now than an AOE and I still cant understand the logic of it think I might be having a blonde day but why would they do that if they are gonna get less from the action and £35.50 pm will take ages to clear the debt surely ? Then what happens next year will they do the same again it seems if they continue with this course of action I will be forever in their debt or am I picking it up wrong?

The payments two out of three have been late and this month July has been on time (it has to be paid last day of the month) the two late payments were may (waiting for them to collect by DD it didnt happen I rang them and they took card payment no change to arrangement then) and then June (as explained above wages were wrong I phoned to inform them and I was waiting for chapps payment and it was gonna be late said I could prove what I was saying if they wanted to see it they didnt and instead cancelled arrangement to pay and started to write silly letters threatening me) but all payments are now up to date I havent missed any just been late.

Thanks again Poppy x

CIS

Then what happens next year will they do the same again it seems if they continue with this course of action I will be forever in their debt or am I picking it up wrong?

They can only take an AOE in resposne to a Liability Order and only on the debt associated to that Liability Order - if there is more debt on which a Liability Order is granted then they can apply for another AOE.

shelovestobuystuff

Didn,t know that the freezing assets without notice was only in Scotland.Lucky me.Sorry for the panic then.