Help! Equita council tax debt!

LolStevo

Ok I'm going to email them now, I can probably afford £100 now as iv had some benefit gone in today and just got a small credit card to do the shopping so do I make this payment direct to the council or to Equita or shall I wait for them?

The letter I received a few weeks ago included a bailiff call out fee before a bailiff had even been! Are they able to do this? x

HappyMJ

LolStevo wrote: »

Ok I'm going to email them now, I can probably afford £100 now as iv had some benefit gone in today and just got a small credit card to do the shopping so do I make this payment direct to the council or to Equita or shall I wait for them?

The letter I received a few weeks ago included a bailiff call out fee before a bailiff had even been! Are they able to do this? x

Do not use a credit card to pay for the shopping. You may as well put the entire council tax arrears on the credit card to get rid of the bailiff but then you'll have the credit card company charging you extortionate rates of interest and how are you going to pay them back. You can't so it will make things worse in the long term.

As I said do not feel pressurized into paying something you cannot afford. Rent first, then food, then current council tax bill, gas, electricity, broadband, mobile all come way before paying arrears.

I would just tell them by letter you simply can't afford anything and wait for the debt to be returned where you can make a sensible agreement with the council.

They come across as all important and it's the end of the world if you don't pay but really it isn't. Don't worry about the arrears.

LolStevo

HappyMJ wrote: »

Do not use a credit card to pay for the shopping. You may as well put the entire council tax arrears on the credit card to get rid of the bailiff but then you'll have the credit card company charging you extortionate rates of interest and how are you going to pay them back. You can't so it will make things worse in the long term.

As I said do not feel pressurized into paying something you cannot afford. Rent first, then food, then current council tax bill, gas, electricity, broadband, mobile all come way before paying arrears.

I would just tell them by letter you simply can't afford anything and wait for the debt to be returned where you can make a sensible agreement with the council.

They come across as all important and it's the end of the world if you don't pay but really it isn't. Don't worry about the arrears.

Thanks!

Im about to put an email together for council and Equita explaining my circumstances, i hope its passed the council sooner rather than later its really worrying me when i know they cant do anything! Its just the thought of them sneaking round the back of the house or something when i have kids here!

HappyMJ

LolStevo wrote: »

Thanks!

Im about to put an email together for council and Equita explaining my circumstances, i hope its passed the council sooner rather than later its really worrying me when i know they cant do anything! Its just the thought of them sneaking round the back of the house or something when i have kids here!

They very rarely try any other door other than the front door but it depends on how your house is laid out and how easy it is to access your back door. Just keep them all locked.

LolStevo

Thanks again,

I have just emailed both the council and equita and said i dont want to deal with equita and will pay £50 through the council website then £30 a week again through the website.

When am i likely to receive another visit from the bailiff?

lindens

Have you sent them an SOA? Have you written them an actual letter?(paper and an envelope) I know you are panicking but you have received good advice above and seem to be ignoring it.

LolStevo

lindens wrote: »

Have you sent them an SOA? Have you written them an actual letter?(paper and an envelope) I know you are panicking but you have received good advice above and seem to be ignoring it.

Im not ignoring advice? I have sent by email, i believe that can be referenced to the same as a letter which takes forever. I will put the same emails iv sent in the post today too if thats required?

I am just trying to deal with it the fastest way possible

HappyMJ

LolStevo wrote: »

Im not ignoring advice? I have sent by email, i believe that can be referenced to the same as a letter which takes forever. I will put the same emails iv sent in the post today too if thats required?

I am just trying to deal with it the fastest way possible

An email is fine.

Why "the fastest way possible"? You've had months leading up to this. There's no need to rush things now. If they turn up you tell them you can't afford it and have an appointment with a debt advisor during the next week (whether you do or not is irrelevant).

They will turn up. There's very little you can do about that. You don't have to let them in and you really shouldn't. They'll make a levy on any car you might have so get rid of it but I'm assuming you don't have one. You can talk to them outside but never let them in. They will never ever force their way in but they will attempt to talk their way in so keep the door locked and talk through the window and no matter what they say keep that door locked. They don't need to use your loo that's just a ploy to get in. Although I haven't heard them use that for quite a while.

Do not pay anything through the council website. The debt is with the bailiff. If you pay anything you must pay the bailiff or ignore the bailiff and wait for the debt to return to the council. Do not try and rush things it won't resolve anything and may make it worse.

You are panicking there's no need to...just relax and wait for them to turn up again and tell them to leave once they arrive.

I have a debt too an old one. I sent an email asking for it to be returned to the client and this is what the bailiff sent back to me 5 days later....i.e yesterday...now I'll just wait for the client to contact me and I'll arrange something with them. Edit - Oh...by the way when they say warrant that means an arrest warrant to appear before a court to explain why I can't pay...it's progressed much further on that yours has.

We refer to your recent email dated the 18/7/15.

According to our records the warrant(s) in respect of this matter has been returned to our client, as shown below, with whom you should make contact for further information:

Yours sincerely

Customer Care Team

LolStevo

Thank you so much for your help!

DevCoder

HappyMJ wrote: »

Do not use a credit card to pay for the shopping. You may as well put the entire council tax arrears on the credit card to get rid of the bailiff but then you'll have the credit card company charging you extortionate rates of interest and how are you going to pay them back. You can't so it will make things worse in the long term.

Whilst I agree with the rest of your advice, could it to be argued that putting the debt onto a credit card would turn it from a priority debt into a non-priority debt?

Of course the fees being charged in the future by equita will have to be weighed up against the APR of the credit card (although if the OP has a bad credit file then the credit card is likely to be a a such (aqua etc) and has a high APR).

Still its worth crunching the numbers.