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CIS

rio2010 wrote: »

Hi,

New to this and just looking for some advice.

I owe about £1000 to my local council for last years council tax. I have had Rundles and co post a letter through the door demanding full payment. I have recently become unemployed and i am currently in the process of signing on for universal credit. No idea how much i will get. Rent £550pm and other bills slipping due to no money coming in (i live alone).

I rang the enforcement agent to explain i had lost my job and didn't know how much universal credit payment i would get. His fairly short response was 'nothing i can do, full payment needs to be made. I can give you an extra week'. Then yesterday i got a text saying pay in full by 1pm today or our enforcement team will attend to remove goods at or after 2pm.

I've done a bit of research and the general opinion is don't deal with them, don't let them in and contact the council. Is this correct and how do i go about agreeing a realistic repayment directly with the council.

As an extra worry i also have Bristow & Sutor posting enforcement notices for a different council from a couple of years ago (£1500) :-(

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

An enforcement agent has to have access to goods to be able to take control of them - this means that they have to have peaceful entry to get to them.

Regardless of whether you are getting universal credit or not you need to be claiming council tax support - this has to be done from the council and doesn't require that you are in receipt of universal credit.

I would also suggest looking at the Section 13A discretionary relief.


The council are within their rights to refuse to accept a payment arrangement from you and allow the enforcement agent to continue the case - there is nothing which forces the enforcement agent to accept a payment arrangement.

If the enforcement agent returns the case to the council then the council do gain the option to apply for a committal hearing however this rarely used when the overall number of liability orders is considered.

leanne_matt

Hi just wondering if we can get any advice regarding amigo loans.my partner borrowed 10000pound last November.he pays 427pound a month back but I've noticed only 100pound a month goes off the actual debt and I'm assuming the other 327 pays off interest!!I'm shocked and disgusted.not only is this a large amount to pay out each month but for such a small amount to actually be paying toward the loan itself!!as many people may or may not know you have to have a guarantor for an amigo loan so if he trys to enter any kind of debt management plan to try and cut the huge interest it will affect the family member who is the guarantor.is there any way around this??just want to get it paid off as quickly as possible.

Former_StepChange_Patience

Good morning.

Thanks for getting in touch.

I’m sorry to hear you’ve recently lost your job, I understand how distressing it must be for you at the moment especially with the letters from the enforcement agents.

If the household bills are slipping and you’re struggling to cover your living costs an option may be to look into getting an advance payment from the Universal Credit, this might help in the short term but they will look to reduce your ongoing Universal Credit payment until what was borrowed is repaid. You can find out further information about this here: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/apply/get-advance-payment/

As you mentioned, with enforcement agents collecting for council tax they can’t force entry and can only look to remove goods if they’ve been able to peacefully enter the property.

Contacting the council to explain your situation would be a positive thing to do, but it is very much at their discretion whether they will be willing to take the debt back from the enforcement agents.

You may have to try to come to an arrangement with the enforcement agents directly or pay what you feel you can genuinely afford. Until you’ve been able to look at your options you can try to make a payment online through their website to show acknowledgement of the debt and situation.

An option may be to also contact StepChange to create a budget and help work out an affordable amount to offer towards the council tax arrears. You can create one online here: www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

I hope this helps.

Patience

rio2010 wrote: »

Hi,

New to this and just looking for some advice.

I owe about £1000 to my local council for last years council tax. I have had Rundles and co post a letter through the door demanding full payment. I have recently become unemployed and i am currently in the process of signing on for universal credit. No idea how much i will get. Rent £550pm and other bills slipping due to no money coming in (i live alone).

I rang the enforcement agent to explain i had lost my job and didn't know how much universal credit payment i would get. His fairly short response was 'nothing i can do, full payment needs to be made. I can give you an extra week'. Then yesterday i got a text saying pay in full by 1pm today or our enforcement team will attend to remove goods at or after 2pm.

I've done a bit of research and the general opinion is don't deal with them, don't let them in and contact the council. Is this correct and how do i go about agreeing a realistic repayment directly with the council.

As an extra worry i also have Bristow & Sutor posting enforcement notices for a different council from a couple of years ago (£1500) :-(

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Former_StepChange_Patience

Hi there

Thanks for your post, I’ll help as much as I can.

I understand how difficult it must be to see your partner make these repayments, for a small proportion to go towards the actual balance. With guaranteed debts, same as payday loans and other ‘high risk’ debts, the interest rate is typically set a little higher than your bank or building society might offer.

You’re right, if your partner makes a reduced payment to the debt through a repayment or insolvency solution this would affect the guarantor and their credit file too.

If the payments are affordable and if you can, it might be worthwhile trying to pay extra to clear the loan to reduce the amount of interest your partner pays overall.

You could also potentially look at alternative means of borrowing, such as a local credit union. You can find out further information here: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/borrowing-money/types-of-borrowing/loans/credit-union-loans/

However, if the payments are difficult for them to make, I would suggest that they seek impartial debt advice and speak to the guarantor about your concerns.

You can create a budget online here www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx if you would like to anonymously have a look at your partner’s options to deal with the debt.

I hope this helps.

Patience

leanne_matt wrote: »

Hi just wondering if we can get any advice regarding amigo loans.my partner borrowed 10000pound last November.he pays 427pound a month back but I've noticed only 100pound a month goes off the actual debt and I'm assuming the other 327 pays off interest!!I'm shocked and disgusted.not only is this a large amount to pay out each month but for such a small amount to actually be paying toward the loan itself!!as many people may or may not know you have to have a guarantor for an amigo loan so if he trys to enter any kind of debt management plan to try and cut the huge interest it will affect the family member who is the guarantor.is there any way around this??just want to get it paid off as quickly as possible.

creepingthyme

Hello,



I have an IVA which was due to end later this year. Recently someone offered to pay it off for me, so I established an acceptable offer amount and the money was transferred via my son's account. I thought then that I was free of the IVA. Between when I first established the amount and when the payment was made, I turned 60 and received a letter telling me that I could take a works pension, which I was not expecting as I thought I had to wait until I was 63. I took part of this as a lump sum and afterwards paid back the person who paid off my IVA (£3200). I have just received a request from the IVA people for access to my account to do a review and on researching this find that I am not free from the IVA until I receive a certificate. Does this mean that they will take my tax free lump sum or is there anything I can do to avoid this? I would have delayed receiving it until the original end date of the IVA if I had realised it had not ended.

Thanks for reading,


creepingthyme

StepChange_Rachael

Hi

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

Pensions aren’t normally taken into account in IVA’s unless drawn down on during the IVA. Then any lump sum can form part of the IVA, so yes it’s possible this might be taken into account as IVA’s are legally binding and the IVA officially ends once you receive the certificate.

As far as I’m aware as you’ve already taken the lump sum there isn’t anything that can be done to reverse this.

I’d suggest speaking with your Insolvency Practitioner to see how it could impact the IVA being that the creditors had already agreed to a lump sum offer to finalise the IVA before the lump sum was taken from the pension.

Thanks
Rachael

creepingthyme wrote: »

Hello,



I have an IVA which was due to end later this year. Recently someone offered to pay it off for me, so I established an acceptable offer amount and the money was transferred via my son's account. I thought then that I was free of the IVA. Between when I first established the amount and when the payment was made, I turned 60 and received a letter telling me that I could take a works pension, which I was not expecting as I thought I had to wait until I was 63. I took part of this as a lump sum and afterwards paid back the person who paid off my IVA (£3200). I have just received a request from the IVA people for access to my account to do a review and on researching this find that I am not free from the IVA until I receive a certificate. Does this mean that they will take my tax free lump sum or is there anything I can do to avoid this? I would have delayed receiving it until the original end date of the IVA if I had realised it had not ended.

Thanks for reading,


creepingthyme

creepingthyme

Hi Rachael, thank you for your advice, I will do that :A



creepingthyme

StuckInside

August last year I handed in my notice at work and started a PGCE (teacher
training course). Before I started on the course my mental health took a
severe dip and as I started teaching practice I ended up having a
breakdown where I attempted suicide.


On the advice of my psychiatrist & course tutor I left the course with the
intention of starting again next year. Because I had already completed
part of the course the University (Warwick) charged me for the first fee
instalment. Stupidly, I think probably because the whole experience of
the course was stressful, I ignored their letters and they referred it to
a solicitor to collect the debt. I advised the solicitor that I have no
income at the moment and no savings and offered to pay the debt at £10
per month. The solictors ignored this request and sent my information to the County Court who made a judgement against me for the debt. I advised them that I had asked to pay by instalments and they referred me to Forms N245 and EX160 which would request a variation in their order. Ive sent these back to the County Court.


Although I replied to them within the time limit they had already referred the matter on to High Court Enforcement Officers to collect the debt. I wrote to them requesting that they took no further action until I had received notice back from the County Court regarding the variation of order.

Because I have no income and no savings and am now drawing on an over
draft, and I have a payday loan and credit card debt, I decided last week that I needed to sort out my debts once and for all. In order to do this I completed the Step Change online questionnaire and received advice and a budget from them (Ref:W48701155). I advised the High Court Enforcement Office of this and said that I was taking steps to deal with my debt , that I was at the beginning of the process but that I would be intouch as soon as soon as I have heard back from the County Court regarding my request to pay by instalments. My letter was sent to them before their deadline date.

Yesterday a bailiff came to my flat to collect the debt. I was not at home
but he left a letter telling me that he would come back tomorrow (Friday).
He also said that the debt had now increased to £6000 because of his services.

I feel like my mental health has taken a complete turn for the worst again. This morning I self-harmed and keep having very intrusive thoughts of suicide which are upsetting me a lot.

I just don't know what to do and would appreciate your advice as soon as
possible. I know I should have gone to Warwick University back in
January but feel that since it was referred to the solicitor all my letters
have been ignored and I'm on this huge roller coaster that's not going to end.

Many thanks.


Anna

Former_StepChange_Linsi

Hi Anna


Thank you for your post and welcome to the forum.



I’m sorry to hear about the impact this debt has had on your mental health. We’ll certainly be able to help with the debt side of things.



I’d also recommend you speak to your GP or an organisation such as Mind or Support Line for help dealing with the intrusive thoughts you’re having.



The number for Mind is 0300 123 3390 and the number for Support Line is 01708 765 200.


As you’ve already started using our Debt Remedy tool I’ve sent you a private message to talk about this in a bit more detail.



All the best,


Linsi

StuckInside wrote: »

August last year I handed in my notice at work and started a PGCE (teacher
training course). Before I started on the course my mental health took a
severe dip and as I started teaching practice I ended up having a
breakdown where I attempted suicide.


On the advice of my psychiatrist & course tutor I left the course with the
intention of starting again next year. Because I had already completed
part of the course the University (Warwick) charged me for the first fee
instalment. Stupidly, I think probably because the whole experience of
the course was stressful, I ignored their letters and they referred it to
a solicitor to collect the debt. I advised the solicitor that I have no
income at the moment and no savings and offered to pay the debt at £10
per month. The solictors ignored this request and sent my information to the County Court who made a judgement against me for the debt. I advised them that I had asked to pay by instalments and they referred me to Forms N245 and EX160 which would request a variation in their order. Ive sent these back to the County Court.


Although I replied to them within the time limit they had already referred the matter on to High Court Enforcement Officers to collect the debt. I wrote to them requesting that they took no further action until I had received notice back from the County Court regarding the variation of order.

Because I have no income and no savings and am now drawing on an over
draft, and I have a payday loan and credit card debt, I decided last week that I needed to sort out my debts once and for all. In order to do this I completed the Step Change online questionnaire and received advice and a budget from them (Ref:W48701155). I advised the High Court Enforcement Office of this and said that I was taking steps to deal with my debt , that I was at the beginning of the process but that I would be intouch as soon as soon as I have heard back from the County Court regarding my request to pay by instalments. My letter was sent to them before their deadline date.

Yesterday a bailiff came to my flat to collect the debt. I was not at home
but he left a letter telling me that he would come back tomorrow (Friday).
He also said that the debt had now increased to £6000 because of his services.

I feel like my mental health has taken a complete turn for the worst again. This morning I self-harmed and keep having very intrusive thoughts of suicide which are upsetting me a lot.

I just don't know what to do and would appreciate your advice as soon as
possible. I know I should have gone to Warwick University back in
January but feel that since it was referred to the solicitor all my letters
have been ignored and I'm on this huge roller coaster that's not going to end.

Many thanks.


Anna

howie94

Hi all

I’m currently looking at contacting all my creditors with an expenditure form, the question I’m asking when submitting to individual creditors can they check my credit file to see all my creditors information and amounts owed or can they only check and see the information they hold on me just for the account in question that I currently hold with that creditor ???

Kind regards in advance..