Desperate for help

Head_done_in

Bumping as i could do with help quickly as they could come in the morning (unlikely though as they put the 'Notice of seizure' through door thursday afternoon

Thanks again x x

feefeelalabelle

bumping up for you. Hope someone can help.... xxx

angelflower_2

sorry, didnt realise wasnt car finance debt. Ok, so did council take you to court and are the payments you have made defaulted on court agreed amounts?

At what point did you agree to pay them and does it state weekly clearly? If it is court and you are having difficulty paying then you should be able to reapply to reduce payments (hopefully someone will confirm/deny this for you).

I would (for the short term only) park the car away from house until you can speak to them. Ignore the email, you will have to phone them tomorrow (make it a priority first thing). Is it a dmc or the council who you made payment agreement with?

Head_done_in

What happened is the council tax arrears are from years ago and i was paying an arrangement. Due to crossed wires the lady at council i spoke to told me arrears would be paid off by beginiing of 07/08 tax year so when this years bills started i paid that and not the arrears but the arrears hadnt actually finished so my payments went to the arrears rather than the new bill. Because of this this years bill got lumped onto the arrears and passed to debt recovery company.

They sent someone out who put the letter through my door saying payments were £141 so i stupidly assumed this was monthly (Its only looking back at the letter i realised it was weekly) - I just would never have thought they would expect me to pay £141 a week. So i made the 1st payment, then received another letter through the door 2 days later so i presumed they just hadnt received the payment at the time.

Then on thursday they came and put a notice of seizure through the door for the car! I will try calling them tomorrow but if not back from bailiff yet then they wont be able to deal with it for me! Bailiff wont look at anything but full amount so i dont know where to turn or what to do!

When i spoke to the company last week, whilst she couldnt deal with me at the time she did say that the max they usually accept on agreements is 3 mnths but as debt is £1400 is would find that extremely difficult

76Bramble

Hi ya, I would advise you have a look on the Consumer action group forum. There is loads of people on there with similar probs. Just a thought as it is a matter of urgency that you get this sorted. 76Bramble

angelflower_2

just surprised its got to that. I have had a VVV similar situation re council tax. They do try to get as much money as possible back which i can understand and they are one of the debts with a lot more powers than anyone else. However, as I understand it (from my experience) they cannot make you pay x amount without a discussion. I once had a baillif come to my door and the came in and priced some belongings (young and stupid enough to let them in) but after that agreed a payment plan (which i didnt keep to) but they never came back for goods. I have since made different agreements for debts from many years ago and have paid these off. My current council debt is about 2 years old and they have never come to look at goods or go down ccj route.

If you can tonight (before heading of to bed - i know its late), print off a SOA and if poss fax it to them with an offer of payment. What i would say is you should be ok to pay over 10 months at £141 (if your soa supports disposible income to this level) and that they should be able to accept this.

Would also def park car somewhere different (please be aware they might go looking for it) If they do come to your door it is likely they will only not take car if you pay full amount, you MUST get it agreed with dca/council to stop the seizure. Did it state on the letter on Thur how long they were giving you?

Please do note that the council can enforce further penalties for ct debt including bankrupcy and prison so your number one priority has to be speaking to them. Speak to them prior to discussing with baillif.

Good luck for tomorrow

Head_done_in

Update -

They replied to my email advising me £320 is not acceptable and that they require 520 each month for 3 months! It will be hard but i can manage it - I will make it my priority along with my mortgage.

At least this way the car is safe (I hope) and when my new bill comes in then i wont have any arrears and can start afresh.

Thankyou all for your replies x x