Scott and Co debt repayment

Feyre

Me and my husband are in a higher amount of debt over our council tax bill and have to deal with scott and co now.

My husband is not home at the moment and unemployed . I am here on a visa so not eligible for any benefits and he at the moment isn't either. My wages is the only financial income we have and there is nothing we can do about that for the moment.

I earn £950 a month and have to pay rent, energy and phone/Internet with that at the moment.

I messaged Scott and Co and offered the maximum I can pay monthly for the moment, £15 and also told them that we will increase the payment as soon as we can.

They refused and said £15 is too low . 
I got in contact with the CAB a day earlier but had to wait for someone to get back at me and they said it can take up to 10weeks. 

Since I was afraid they would freeze my account,which would make us homeless, I offered 50 which they accepted.

1hour later CAB got back to me and I was told that the £15 are fine and I should just tell them over mail I will pay that and do it regularly and they should be fine with that.

My husband said that when repaying a debt like this they cannot refuse any offer I make. I never had any debts and I am not from Scotland so I have no idea if this is true
Google search didn't help me either.

So I messaged Scott and Co yesterday and told them what CAB told me to do. That I will pay £15 monthly and use the pay now option on their webpage.

Today I got the reply
"You had made an offer of £50.00 per month which was accepted.  Your offer of £15.00 was refused. "

Now I am lost at what to do. I paid £15 in today.  I only offered more because I was afraid of them freezing my bank account or something. 

Do they have to accept the 15 or not? Do I have to pay the 50 now? 

I'm thankful for any advice here as I am struggling financially enough as it is.

sourcrates

Ok, firstly, Scott and Co cannot freeze your bank account, they have no power to do anything !!.

Bailiffs always demand an unreasonable amount when you can`t afford it, for this reason alone you should never get into a protracted conversation with them, email or otherwise, they are not reasonable people.

Although CT is a priority debt, just pay the £15 monthly that you can afford, it doesn't matter if they say its been refused, do as CAB has advised, just pay them anyway and don`t engage further with them.

They cannot do anything to you, never be swayed by anything they may say, also never allow them into your home, keep the doors locked should they ever attend your property.

You should also call your local council and explain your situation to them, ask them to retrieve the account from the bailiffs and see if they will accept payment from you instead.

These things tend to end up with bailiffs through lack of communication with the council, debtors are afraid to speak to them at times, and as a result the collection process goes straight to a liability order, the order can be cancelled and the debt taken back by the council if they choose to do so.

Feyre

sourcrates said:

Ok, firstly, Scott and Co cannot freeze your bank account, they have no power to do anything !!.

Bailiffs always demand an unreasonable amount when you can`t afford it, for this reason alone you should never get into a protracted conversation with them, email or otherwise, they are not reasonable people.

Although CT is a priority debt, just pay the £15 monthly that you can afford, and don`t engage further with them, they cannot do anything to you, never be swayed by anything they may say, also never allow them into your home, keep the doors locked should they ever attend your property.

You should also call your local council and explain your situation to them, ask them to retrieve the account from the bailiffs and see if they will accept payment from you instead.

These things tend to end up with bailiffs through lack of communication with the council, debtors are afraid to speak to them at times, and as a result the collection process goes straight to a liability order, the order can be cancelled and the debt taken back by the council if they choose to do so.

I got in contact with the council tax office and explained my circumstances.  All they said was that it is now with scott and co and they have nothing to do with it anymore and I have to settle this with scott and co.

So I just don't reply and just pay the 15 each month and I am save? I'm not gonna lose my wages or home? 

sourcrates

Feyre said:

I got in contact with the council tax office and explained my circumstances.  All they said was that it is now with scott and co and they have nothing to do with it anymore and I have to settle this with scott and co.

So I just don't reply and just pay the 15 each month and I am save? I'm not gonna lose my wages or home? 

That`s a shame, our local council are much more understanding of people situations.

Why would you lose your wages and home???

I don`t understand where you have got that idea from, bailiffs have only limited powers and there`s are restricted to simply collecting this debt from you under the councils liability order, it allows them to just take payment for the debt, nothing else, they can`t do anything else.

If you failed to pay the debt, the council could apply to the magistrates court to attest your wages, but that would be a different court process not involving the bailiffs.

And as long as you pay your rent, that`s between you and your landlord, nothing to do with any 3rd party.

You can`t lose your home or have your wages garnished by Scott and Co.

Feyre

sourcrates said:

Feyre said:

I got in contact with the council tax office and explained my circumstances.  All they said was that it is now with scott and co and they have nothing to do with it anymore and I have to settle this with scott and co.

So I just don't reply and just pay the 15 each month and I am save? I'm not gonna lose my wages or home? 

That`s a shame, our local council are much more understanding of people situations.

Why would you lose your wages and home???

I don`t understand where you have got that idea from, bailiffs have only limited powers and there`s are restricted to simply collecting this debt from you under the councils liability order, it allows them to just take payment for the debt, nothing else, they can`t do anything else.

Because that's what it says on the Summary Warrant Notification.  If I don't pay they can take stuff from us or freeze our bankaccounts. Says they can enforce utilising enforcement by the sheriff officer to recover the debt.

We had this with them before, agreed to pay 200 every second week but they took put 350, so my husband ignored them this time.  I was trying to get him to contact them but he just said to ignore it and now I have to deal with something I never had to before.

Feyre

Just to clarify, what I mean by losing my home

If they freeze my bank account, I will not be able to pay rent.. so I can lose my flat 

sourcrates

This is Scotland yes?

The laws are different to the rest of the UK, but these things are decided by a court, where you have the opportunity to put your side of the argument, they are not decided by a bailiff company.

Just pay what you can afford, that`s all you can do.

Feyre

sourcrates said:

This is Scotland yes?

The laws are different to the rest of the UK, but these things are decided by a court, where you have the opportunity to put your side of the argument, they are not decided by a bailiff company.

Just pay what you can afford, that`s all you can do.

Yeah I'm in Scotland. 
Alright,will do that. I'm hoping next month husband will be back and can get UC again from month after so we can pay more. 

Thank you, I was honestly panicking today.

sourcrates

National debtline (Scotland) may be able to help you-

Debt advice | Free debt advice | National Debtline

The web chat service asks where you live, choose Scotland, and the advice you get will be tailored to your country.

helybely

i disagree - scott and co did arrest my wages because the wanted to up my payment from £50 to £160 - and they did indeed take the 160 and added on more charges so in scotland certainly baliffs can do more than is being said above - so im unsure where this info is coming from?

sourcrates

helybely said:

i disagree - scott and co did arrest my wages because the wanted to up my payment from £50 to £160 - and they did indeed take the 160 and added on more charges so in scotland certainly baliffs can do more than is being said above - so im unsure where this info is coming from?

Scottish law may permit that, English law does not.

In Scotland CT arrears are collected by summery warrant, which allows them to attest your wages etc.

In England and Wales CT arrears are collected by a Liability order, the council can apply for an attachment to your earnings, but the bailiff company cannot.