Need help with payment order

ethranes

Hi all,

I'm in debt from a few different directions, can anyone suggest the best way to go about clearing it, here is the debt as follows. I have £800 in savings that I'm ready to put toward this debt, my question here is where is it best to put that £800?

Debenhams credit card = £470 at 24.9% apr
Halifax balance transfer card = £1670 at 0% apr 4 years remaining

That is my unsecured debt situation, the more pressing issue that I'm trying to resolve is my council tax arreas.

Coucil Tax Arreas = £3535
2017 = 1600
2016 = 1500
2015 = 400

[Deleted User]

Council Tax is the priority.

Then the others by rate.

sourcrates

Hi,

Forget Debenhams, forget Halifax, they are both non priority unsecured debts, that can wait.

Your priority is the council tax arrears, get this paid off ASAP.

There are numerous horror stories on this and other forums about county court bailiffs making life hell for people who have fallen behind on their council tax, some of them are real nasty pieces of work who dont always follow the rules.

I would urge you to get the council tax paid back as a matter of urgency, as you really dont want to meet these guys.

ethranes

Thanks all, about the council tax, I'm currently overpaying it at the moment, have been for the last few months. I've been paying £150pm. I'm going to up this to £200 pm from next month to clear it sooner, as well as make a one off payment of the £800.

Should I get in touch with my local council to discuss this increase in payments, or should I carry on without communication, I have never spoken to them about the debt before. Will me explaining the situation and showing the increased payments help with reducing the risk of seeing a bayliff. Or should I keep my mouth shut and keep paying

sourcrates

ethranes wrote: »

Thanks all, about the council tax, I'm currently overpaying it at the moment, have been for the last few months. I've been paying £150pm. I'm going to up this to £200 pm from next month to clear it sooner, as well as make a one off payment of the £800.

Should I get in touch with my local council to discuss this increase in payments, or should I carry on without communication, I have never spoken to them about the debt before. Will me explaining the situation and showing the increased payments help with reducing the risk of seeing a bayliff. Or should I keep my mouth shut and keep paying

As long as your paying them, as agreed, you should be ok.

The time to worry is when your not paying them.

National_Debtline

Hi ethranes

ethranes wrote: »

Thanks all, about the council tax, I'm currently overpaying it at the moment, have been for the last few months. I've been paying £150pm. I'm going to up this to £200 pm from next month to clear it sooner, as well as make a one off payment of the £800.

Should I get in touch with my local council to discuss this increase in payments, or should I carry on without communication, I have never spoken to them about the debt before. Will me explaining the situation and showing the increased payments help with reducing the risk of seeing a bayliff. Or should I keep my mouth shut and keep paying

Arguably, if you are currently overpaying and bringing these historic arrears down, there may be no need to change the existing arrangement. The tricky bit, however, is working out whether the council have actually accepted it - if not, they could be about to escalate recovery for all we know.


Do you know whether any of your council tax debts have been the subject of Liability Orders? These would have added legal costs to the amounts owed, typically £60-£90 per debt. The council would have to have obtained one of these orders for a debt before they could lawfully pass it to bailiffs for recovery.


You would be entitled to expect the council not to escalate these debts if you now increase your payments further still and send them a note summarising what you are doing.


Dennis
@natdebtline

ethranes

Thanks Dennis,

I haven't seen any information about liability orders, I assume that I would have had something in writing, also as far as I can see on my account online for council tax, there don't seem to be any additional charges that have been added as of yet.

I think my best course of action, is to use the savings I have to clear £800 of the council tax debt, update my standing order to £200 per month, wait until they have received that first payment of £200, and then get in touch to let them know what has happened.

If they send the bailiffs on me after that, well, what can I do aye.