please help

zeytoon

My partner is in big trouble and i dont think he realises that ....
he has council tax debt of over 4ks..overdraft 0f over 2k, unsecured loans and credit card debt of over 8k...he is late with all of them and has been getting some threats from colecting agencies..:eek:

he is self employed and lives in rented accomodation..and brings home about 1200 a month...
I dont even know where to start to help him as he has firmly buried his head in the sand ...
I would appreciate any advice as i am scared ..

Burlesque_Babe

What stage are the council tax arrears at and how much is he paying? 4k is a lot to run up - they need addressing as a priority.

Would you be able to come up with a Satement of Affairs for him? Have a look a the sticky on the front page of the Debt Free board - it is essentially all of his income and outgoings.

zeytoon

the council tax arrears are over 3 yrs..he pays when he has money and then stops when he cant..so he gets letters demanding full payments..and the cycle repeats...i have only found out recently how bad things are..this is his sof as far as i know:

monthly
Income£1210

monthly outgoings:
Rent and water rate:£500
Gas:30
Electricity:£40
phone:£40
mobile phone:£30
tv licence:£13
food:£150
petrol:£40
Car Mot:£30
car insurance:£50
Medical expense:£30
appliance insurance:£50
unsecured loan:£200

total outgoing:£1203

This of course means he has no money left to pay for anything else..

its a hopeless case and i am worried tha he will lose his business which is his only source of income if he's not careful..

viktory

zeytoon wrote: »

the council tax arrears are over 3 yrs..he pays when he has money and then stops when he cant..so he gets letters demanding full payments..and the cycle repeats...i have only found out recently how bad things are..this is his sof as far as i know:

monthly
Income£1210

monthly outgoings:
Rent and water rate:£500
Gas:30
Electricity:£40
phone:£40 - Quite high - what sort of deal has he got with this?
mobile phone:£30 - Can he cancel this and get a PAYG?
tv licence:£13
food:£150
petrol:£40
Car Mot:£30
car insurance:£50
Medical expense:£30 - Is this essential?
appliance insurance:£50 - Waste of money. Can it be cancelled?
unsecured loan:£200.

total outgoing:£1203

This of course means he has no money left to pay for anything else..

its a hopeless case and i am worried tha he will lose his business which is his only source of income if he's not careful..

You say that he is your partner - does he live with you (just wondering if you live together, then you possibly you could help out?). The CT is the most important debt as he will be sent to prison for non payment (eventually).

I am sure others will be along shortly to help. However, my concern is that it really should be your partner that is asking for help - if he is still burying his head in the sand, then you and everyone else are wasting their time as he needs to have his 'light bulb moment' to really get to grips with his debts etc.

iolanthe07

Council tax is one of the things that you really don't want to default on. Tell him to prioritise paying that off first and worry about the other ones later. Councils are ruthless about collecting this tax and have all sorts of powers denied to other creditors.

one-day

i don't want to scare u but try and get him to pay it and also to phone the council and ask if he can set up a payement plan we were in the same boat and thought nothing more of not paying our council tax. it went to court and were told to pay it over so many months but we never did that either.
next thing i know there was a knock on the door and it was baralifts (sp) i was so scared they made a list of things that they would take if we don't pay monthly, last payement is end of this month yay.
A couple of weeks later they had come back again but for another council tax bill they did the same thing again took a list of things they would take if we didn't pay i was so scared again. this time though we did forget to pay stupid i know and they came back and said pay it all now or we take your stuff now i really did never poo myself to put it nicely we were lucky as this bill was just over £400 so i paid it then (it was money for our rent).
i hope i don't scare you i just wanted to tell you what happened to us

zeytoon

thank you for your reply Viktory
we do live together..I help him as much as i can but i have my own financial obligations..and also i want him to face up to the situation that he is in..
he is self employed which means his salary can be unreliable at times and i usually pay his share of things when he is short..
and i agree that he needs to get his head out of the sand..
but i have to do something for both our sakes...

zeytoon

one-day wrote: »

i don't want to scare u but try and get him to pay it and also to phone the council and ask if he can set up a payement plan we were in the same boat and thought nothing more of not paying our council tax. it went to court and were told to pay it over so many months but we never did that either.
next thing i know there was a knock on the door and it was baralifts (sp) i was so scared they made a list of things that they would take if we don't pay monthly, last payement is end of this month yay.
A couple of weeks later they had come back again but for another council tax bill they did the same thing again took a list of things they would take if we didn't pay i was so scared again. this time though we did forget to pay stupid i know and they came back and said pay it all now or we take your stuff now i really did never poo myself to put it nicely we were lucky as this bill was just over £400 so i paid it then (it was money for our rent).
i hope i don't scare you i just wanted to tell you what happened to us

OMG!!!that is scary...:eek:
i think he needs to see this..
im glad your out of trouble though..

RAS

Zeytoon

If you are living together now, the CT is a joint responsibility.

For the past however, was he living on his own? or with other people?

If he was on his own, did he claim single person relief? That could wipe off 25% of the totla bill. If with others, they are jointly responsible; did they pay their share?

zeytoon

We have only moved in together recently..thats why i didnt know the extent of the problem...he was on his own and from looking at the bills he did apply for the single person discount..
should he go to the council and see someone to arrange some sort of payment plan or should it be done in writing?
the problem is i dont have any experience in dealing with these matters, so i would realy appreciate any advice from anyone who knows..