Council Tax Debt

simonfr

Rightly or wrongly, my girlfriend has not been paying her council tax...... she is a single parent and all that, and food is more important than CT.

She had her bank account frozen last month, and the amount they wanted was £1800 pounds, and there was only about £200 in the account. They took the lot.
Now they have done the same again this month!!!

Direct Debits are bouncing, cant get money, and she has phoned the bank/sheriff officers to try to lift the arrestment.

Can they do this, one month after a previous arrestment without communication, and can they take the full amount sitting in the account?? I was under the illusion they can only take a %age of the amount in the account.

Ive told her to see the CAB for help, and to arrange a payment plan.

Any advice greatly received.

Simon :-/

zcaprd7

Is she not exempt, being a single parent and all that?

simonfr

No such thing as exemptions, she works 20 hours a week and gets working family tax credits.
So she gets a whopping 25% knocked off the tax. That makes it only £80 a month.....

Simon

zcaprd7

Hmm - I think council tax and mortgage are the two most important bills, even after food...

CAB will be able to help - I'm no expert but she may be better off not working and getting council tax and housing benefit - not great but maybe better than going to prison?

Debt_Free_Chick

As zcaprd says, Council Tax is a high priority debt, as councils have very wide-ranging powers.

Suggest she calls the National Debtline NOW - they're open until 9pm. Even if she has no other debt, they'll talk it through with her and tell her what to do. She will need to visit the council and arrange a payment plan with them. A visit is the bst way to do this, rather than phone or letter. But do what the National Debtline suggest

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/aboutus.php3#contactus

It sounds as though she might not have a good budget or might not manage her money very well. There's some useful stuff on the National Debtline site if you have a poke around. Especially the factsheets and self-help pack.

Also, on the main site here, Martin has loads of tips on reducing all bills, especially utilities, phone, insurance etc. Look at Money Tips on the menu on the left.

Good Luck

p.s. do get her to make that call ....

simonfr

Thanks guys, as i said rightly, or wrongly, she has this debt and its happening now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the moment her account is arrested, for the second time in 5 weeks, and she has no money as her card, cheques, switch bounces.

She works around her kid, so its part time, and gets maintenance and tax credits. Its a case of too many outgoings and not enough money. And she isnt extravagant either, asda cheap food and clothes and stuff.

So the original question stands.... can they take all the money, and can they do an arrestment so quickly after the first? Is there not some procedure or something?
I only ask in advance of her contacting the CAB. for advice, but as you can imagine, she is not very happy.

Also, this is her only debt...... all utilities, rent and bills are upto date, just so happens that the CT got left out...........

Thanks,

Simon

zcaprd7

Well - to my mind it sounds somewhat extreme, and I can only imagine it happens after several warnings - £1800 is a lot of council tax?

However Councils are right inflexible gets, are they even aware of the circumstances, for all they know she has been stashing the money she hasn't paid away?

The CAB should be able to negotiate on her behalf with the council - I'm sure some sort of repayment schedule would be in order?

If she didn't work she would probably get her rent and council tax paid for - I know its unfair but she is probably paying for someone elses council tax/rent because she works!

Robert_Sterling_3

It is a bit late for me to say this now but people with debts have to pioritise them and Council Tax is a High Priority.

Freddie_Snowbits

If you contact the Council or the Debt Chaser! you may be able to make an arrangement that you can afford. (Mr Freddie did this when South Ayrshire Council decided they had billed me incorrectly and wanted all of their money at once).

It is mostly dependent on whether you have been in contact with them over the last few months or not.

The unfortunate thing about this is that the debt does not go away, it actually increases with time, so the faster you act the better.

simonfr

Well, Scott and Co, the W*****rs that they are, employ the cream of the milk of human kindness.

They have taken the lot and wont back down, even the CAB office says they are fine folks and upstanding citizens... so gave her advice to make arrangements and to plan to foil there attempts for the next time, like changing accounts.
What really winds her up was she was trying to arrange with them, and before something was sealed, they arrested the account again!!

Doesnt help the fact that she has no money, however we do have a reporter coming from the tabloids, and we got a name from Scott and Co.

Its all fun, fun, fun.....

Simon

Spendless

Doesn't help for this time but sometimes people on low income can get help towards council tax. Don't know any details or if your gf would qualify, but what about asking this question on benefits board, to see if anyone knows if she's entitled to any help once all this is sorted.