I did a simular thing 2 years ago, the bailiffs Equita(who i was dealing with at the time) claimed i still had to pay them 42.50 for just getting one letter and following some great advice on here i emailed my local MP with a copy of the recipts from paying online and the head of revenues for my area and it was dealt with without having to pay their fees. Hope this helps.

Me and my partner yesterday received a summons from the council for non payment of council tax, even though for the last 2 years we have always paid on the internet on 26th of every month. This year that they appeared to change their payment date to the 1st of every month without notification and due to this they have sent us a summons even though technically it is not even the end of the calender month. Last month they sent us a reminder for payment before the end of the month and we spoke to them they said that unless we pay by d/d or pay a month in advance then we would receive these letters every month. Now is has gone to a summons notice even though we do pay regularly. When we spoke to the lovely people at the council they were not prepared to listen to what we had to say nor were they willing to remove the £57 costs they have added. They even said that even though we have now set up the d/d they were desperate for us to set up that this will still go to court and we will still be sent a liability order even though we could now ignore this!! We are planning on attend the court date due to this liability order and wonder whether any other forum member has had any luck in doing this. Will we also be able to claim back costs from them for the costs of the liability order. We have full receipts going back from 18mths-2yrs to prove that we always pay on the same day every month. Many thanks an angry DPD7

Just to make people aware that the lovely people at Birmingham City Council have changed the date in which they want their council tax paid. It is now to be paid on the 1st of every month. I paid mine on 26th April, yet today I received a letter asking for not just the month I apparently owed, they also wanted May's payment as well. When this was queried with them, they turned round and said that if I continued to pay on 26th which we have been doing for the last 18 mths by debit card through the internet then I will continue to receive reminder letters as well as be subject to court proceedings!! The lovely man and I use the word "lovely" loosely advised that I had 2 choices 1- Pay a month in advance 2- Set up a D/D I just wanted to warn people of the underhand tactics BCC are using this year and also to see if any other council have adopted these tactics without warning anyone.

Signed

My partner has received a letter from 1st credit demanding 8K, first thing that sprang to mind was this appears to be on a photocopied head sheet. Connaughts managed to get my partner to panic into paying something 3 years ago, and after 2 small payments heard nothing till now, would i be right in thinking this just a phishing exercise for now and hold off the cca request. The debt claimed is for a bank loan if this is of any extra help. Many thanks Don

I have had fantastic advice on this site before regarding other issues, so can someone help me with the below? Can anyone tell me where I stand with regards to paying a garden charge for the last 3 years yet no works have ever been done on my garden. Am I entitled to ask for 3 years of charges back? Can I also claim for my bathroom flooring as it took them over a year to repair it, correspondence has been kept. We also have other repairs that have been left undone since I moved into the property 3 years ago. Yet we have a neighbour who rents from the same association who moved in over the summer yet always has maintenance crews over and her garden is also kept clear, and they even use my access point as a point to access her garden!! Any advice please?

I know Virgin use "the telephone preference service (TPS)" as their way on trying to stop unwanted calls. The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the central opt out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls to your home or mobile telephone numbers. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so. However it doesn't work with companies that you have a contract with i.e mobile phone provider. I signed up a couple of years ago as well has having anonymous caller rejection which costs £1.75 per month and since then I have received very few calls. Hope this helps?? TPS Registration

I will scan the letter in and the forms, once i work out how to do it right.

My partner got a letter from these charming people. "I am writing to offer you a unique solution to the outstanding debt you have with our client Lowell Portfolio Ltd by giving you the opportunity to bid and buy back your account. The concept is simple and easy to follow, you simply bid for your account and if your bid amount reaches our reserve price then the account is yours, you will then no longer receive debt collection letters or calls, any pending legal action will be stopped and you credit file will be amened accordingly." And enclosed 2 separate forms asking for bid, telephone no, address, email addy, moby no and a direct debit form. ( which we have no intention of sending back) We know this debt is Stat barred as we not heard about this debt for over 7 years and this the first letter from them. I never heard of this tactic before so i thought i would bring it to the attention of this forum. Don

I would check on your Councils website for what fees they can charge for, after some digging i found Birmingham City Councils from their own website maybe you can do the same with your Council. I hope this help. How To Deal With The Bailiff (a example of what to look for) Don

I paid the council direct like yourself, informed Equita it was paid and the LO is settled, everything was fine till i got a letter demanding their fees for a number of visits that never took place and was dated the same day I and the council had informed them it was cleared, thankfully my partner emailed my local councilor with the receipts that it been paid and a copy of their last letter. Thankfully contacted council on our behalf and that was last we heard of them, And this all happened within 14 days of getting their first letter. I would expect to hear from them again. Don

TOWN HOUSE TV

Thank you very much for your quick replys, i will keep copies for now and file under ignore Thxs as always Don

I received a letter from them claiming they brought a debt from First National Tricity Finance and are the collections agent of Aktiv Kapital Group, I have not got the slightest clue what this debt is for and last time i was in any form of debt (apart from Council Tax which i settled) was over 7 years ago, and nothing to near to the amount they claim i owe them. Would i be right in assuming that this is Thames Credit playing pot luck and seeing if i respond which i have no intention of doing so. Many Thxs Don

04-25-2008 09;41;12PM.pdf Shows some Councillors will help you.

Received a letter from my Local Councillor yesterday, and turns out that they complained to Head of Revenues on my behalf, I had emailed then with all letters i received and receipts to prove i paid in full and Councillor asked for fees to be waived (and they have). If i can get my scanner to behave and work i will post copy of letter on here. Don

I have a question for you John, what your take on people that pay direct to Council or debtor in full therefore making sure they not paying bailiffs direct, Some in your field call it illegal and some making some very crazy threats yet been unable to carry them out when invited to pay a visit, also what your take and view on backdating letters of removal notices and claims of visits that never took place to try claiming fees.

My partner emailed Council head of revenues with a copy of receipts, and a gave a statement on how abusive they was, and their threats of illegal action i.e locksmith and bailiff visits that never took place( i never knew she did it), we also kept every letter they sent to us all 6 of them, a removal notice dated 28th of march yet debt paid on the 26th March. If i can get this last letter to scan on here i would love tomtubby to look at it as i think this a clear abuse of position after a debt settled.

Just been on phone to council tax dept, asking for a written proof that debt is settled, I was then told Head Office had dealt with a complaint i made 2 weeks ago and that i will no longer be hearing from Equita. I will send a copy of the letter I received today to their head office and see if they take interest in it. Don

Time to make a formal complaint to the council, I will pay a personal visit in the morning. Something tells me, they will not be too impressed at being used like this after a debt has been settled. I will be very interested on how your case goes and will keep you informed on the action I will take. Don

Had a letter from our good friends today, threatening to send a bailiff out to visit me for £42.50, they are claiming that they have made numerous visits and letters (6 letters in total and I am still to see a bailiff). Reading it I noticed an interesting point, I think (and hope), its saying outstanding amount is due to Birmingham city council, yet I paid council direct in full (the council have confirmed it is settled), I assume that this is them trying to chase their fees. I was wondering whether or not to show this letter to the council as they are trying to collect their fees under the name of Birmingham City Council. I hope I am making some sense, I tried scanning in the letter but it does not seem to want to work for me. I am under the impression that once the debt is settled then the liability has ended, therefore am I right in thinking that they cannot send a bailiff round to my property to collect their fees. I have not signed any WPO. They even went to the trouble this time of naming the bailiff they will be sending. Many thxs Don

I had some fun with Equita after they threatened my girlfriend, called them back in a rage, told them debt was settled direct to the who i owed it to, at this point the guy i was speaking to started screaming that bailiff will pay me a personal visit in the morning, at which point i asked him how many sugars they take in their tea so i have a nice cuppa waiting for them. At this point they slammed phone down on me, and still never got to met the bailiff as they never turned up.

I only posted about the same issue last night, i been hit for that magic 42.50 fee, and they even went to the trouble of backdating a removal notice that was sent via post, oddly enough dated on the date the debt was recalled back to the council, yet i never had a bailiff turn up on my door and since work was being done on my house at the time they could of gained easy access. They even threatened me with a bailiff visit over the phone after i made them aware i paid the whole fee direct to the council. I strongly believe Equita needs to be investigated there must be a lot people that been [edited] on these fees, and i looking at taking direct legal action against them myself.

Sorry Don_P

After some great advice on this forum, i cleared my Council Tax debt direct to the council and had account recalled, now to my not unexpected surprise i received two letter from them this morning, 1 telling me that i owe them 42.50 for fees even though i never had a bailiff visit, a 2nd thats been a sneaky Removal Notice backdated till the 28th March the date it was recalled, i have proof with receipts that last payment that cleared the account was made 26th March via internet which council have confirmed. (I paid within 14 days of getting first letter over this if this makes any difference) Am i right in believing that they cannot charge me for letter fees alone which must be some amazing paper to cost me 42ish quid. I believe this is unfair and underhanded, as anyone else experienced this, if so what did you do as i interested in hearing, before i decide my next course of action on this. Many thxs