Hi, I am posting this as I am hoping to get some help and advice on our debts. I have already posted in the Council tax and bailiffs section as they are on our backs also. I thought I had found the solution on Monday, I applied for a loan and realised how stupid I was at lunchtime today, when they said NO! and I had given them my last fifty pound! I shall try and explain briefly but really we got ourselves into this mess and need to get out of it..... I have no money for Christmas, I have not bought one present for my children yet and can't see a way of being able to do so. My debts are £2000 to our landlady, our rent is £600 a month, it is due again on 1st January. £2500 Council Tax, Bailffs have levied and threatening to take goods, £1000 mobile bill, they have added the rest of the contract on to it to get that figure as i have defaulted on the contract. Approx 1200 Gas and Electricity to N Power, £1600 Anglian Water. I also got a loan off my Dad last year and he ahs been letting me pay back monthly at £180.00....I have not paid him for two months. Numerous other small ones, like vets bill for 250, ebay £130.00, Provident have arranged a smaller repayment with us, between myself and my partner we owe them approx £2500. They are now letting us payback without interest at the moment but the arrangement will take about 4 years to pay off. My husband is self employed and had time off in the summer due to illness and an operation, so no money coming in. I am a student nurse, with six months until I qualify, until then I get £600.00 monthly bursary from the NHS. My husband brings in about £175.00 - £200.00 per week and we get family credit too of £132.00 weekly. It sounds like a lot, we dont go out, we never buy anything except food, petrol etc.....all essential stuff. But we never seem able to make the payments on everything and so are getting further and further behind. We have 3 children between 16 - 18 all at college, so have to find bus fares etc, they do get EMa though and help out when they can. I just cant see a way out of this, its not like we have numerous credit cards and I know it is our fault. We have been like this for years now, barely keeping our heads above water and getting bailed out when it gets too much. I am dreading Christmas and cant sleep at night. Please can someone point me in the right direction ....... Many thanks for taking the time to read this

Further to the above I have just looked at the piece of paper the bailiff from Rossendales left, the amount is written in pencil classy! But I have just noticed that this call is for the first account that the last bailliff said he was passing back to the court. Is the WPO still in force? It was dated 7 September 2009. He has added 30.00 for knocking at my door, which I am not convinced he did as my dogs normally bark for ever when someone is at the door and there was none of that this morning. It is now in the hands of a Mr Chapman? no first name so cant check whether he is registered. So i am confused as to why they have not passed back to the court, we still have no means to pay this bill and we didnt agree a payment plan on this one. Sorry if my situation is confusing!

Had a visit from Rossendales today, their bailiff in charge is MR Chapman! No first name apparently so I cannot check whether he is registered.... There are two Mr Chapmans listed with Rossendales, so chance are he is registered. Has anyone had any letters from this one. Would like to know for sure. This is the second bailiff to call for this account, the first one B Deplacido, signed his name as a couple of squiggly line on the WPO, and nothing in there bears any resemblance to what a B or D might look like in a signature. Now this second has come round and I cant even check if he is certificated! Thanks

I have posted all details in November, but briefly, we have two outstanding bills, one for approx. £1000 and the other for £1500. The first one has now gone back to Court aparently and the bailiff threatened that would put my husband in jail, however I have been reassured that it wont happen, as its not that we wont pay, we cant pay. For the second one I sent all the paperwork backto Rossendales and asked if we could make repayments at £20.00 per week, they refused and said we had to pay £500.00 per month for three months. Our incomings at the moment are £520.00 Tax credits, £120.00 Child benefit, £600.00 student nurse bursary and my husband is a self employed window cleaner and bringing approx £800.00 if the weather is good.(all monthly) OUr rent alone is £650.00 and we spend about £550.00/£600 month shopping, petrol to get me to Uni or placement and my husband on his round is about £200.00 monthly.....Then there is all the other bills, I am sure you can see where this is going:( I qualify in 5 months so will hopefully get a staff nurse position then at which time we can afford to start paying more off our bills and debts. My husband had some time off work after having an operation, self employed = no money coming in from him andbasicallys its all got out of control since then. I am not blaming anyone for this situation except ourselves.... Anyway the second bailiff from Rossendales has been round again today, with a notice through the door that says he will be coming back in 24 hours to take our stuff. I emailed the council back in November and have spoke to them basically they were not interested in taking it back. All i want to do is start paying some off this debt and then up the payments when i get a job next May. I know I read somewhere that sometimes MP or Councillor can help. I am studying to be a mental health nurse but i think it will be that needs help by the time i qualify!! Christmas is a couple of weeks away and I have not bought a single thing for my kids, with no prospect of being able to do so.... I am so desperate that I used our last £50.00 yesterday paying a loan broker to try and find us a loan to clear it all up, we are also behing with rent as we missed a couple of payments when husband was off sick! Sorry for the huge message, it kind of helps to get it all written down. Thanks again

Is it my local councillor or MP that I need to write to, to try and get the council to take the account back on? Many Thanks

Yes i am sure thats what the discount is, had it for the last two years and for some reason they have not included it even though i sent the proof of from my uni,......to be honest i never checked until now as I am on placements 40 hours a week plus various assignments and family drams, it never occurred to me to check. I have asked the Council when i offered the £220.00 to take the account back and am still waiting... thanks for your advice though, i wish i had known this forum existed before i let the bailiff in, in the first place!

The first wpo was signed by my husband, the account his in his name and I signed the second one.... I wish i had found you guys earlier, there is no way they would have got through my door!

On the first account it is listed as £960 (When he first came round he said he wanted a payment of £250.00 within two weeks, which we managed to get together, then when he came to collect he did a wpo with that amount taken off. Therefore original amount was £1210, his charges were only written down on the levy after the £250 was paid so I have no idea if that £250.00 has gone to the council or not? His cost on the wpo are £24.50, First visit, £54.00 Levy fee and £12.00 walking possession. Listed on this wpo are Main tv in lounge black coffee table, surround sound system, silver tv stand, dvd player, 1 black velour armchair (part of three piece suite) and glass topped dining table. (This bill was for a previous address). The second one whom we wrongly assumed was for the same account, I even said to him I have sent all your paperwork off and he said he had to another wpo (so he must have known we already had had someone round) is for £1470.18, Levy fee £65.00 and wpo £12.00. Listed on this are Threee piece suite - all items. Black coffee table, sony tv - main one in lounge, surroung sound, glass table and 4 chairs, black wall unit and my laptop (this is in my son in laws name as he the direct and credit agreement were set up in his name). This is the bill that my student discount has not been applied to, so I am unsure where to go from here. I am so confused with it all. I have done a check and it would appear that they are both registered. Should I phone the council or write and ask for them total owed and ask them to reduce the amount because of student discount....I have proof of this from my uni?

Hi I have posted before and your advice has been much appreciated. Any way my position now is that we have two walking possession orders on the same property as we did not realise at the time they were calling about two different accounts with the same Council. (2 different bailiffs from Rossendales). The first one which was causing me panic, as he told me he was coming to get my stuff has now apparently been sent back to the court and the bailiff said my husband will probably face time in jail. We have made offers to pay on the first account of 220.00 per month for five months to clear before new tax year. This was not accepted. I have emailed the council with this offer and am still awaiting a reply. However on the second account I again filled in all the paper work declaring what we have incoming and outgoing, the most we could afford was about £55.00 pounds a week, even this is pushing it. (please remember at this time i thought it was the same account as previously mentioned). Rossendales have now written back saying a payment arrangement has beend made and that we should pay £520.00 every 31 days? Obvioulsy if i dont eat or pay my rent then this is possible but otherwise not. I am a student nurse with a bursary of £600.00 per month, we get WFTC of £130 weekly + 32 family allowance. My husband earns approxamately £800.00 per month. If the council now accept our offer of 220.00 for the first account that means 740.00 per month, which i think is way over the top. The total we now owe is approx £2500.00 and i ahve also realised that the council have not taken my 20% student discount of the second account which is worth about 300.00. Please could someone help with drafting a letter to both council and bailiffs..... I have looked at letters on here but cant seem to find one that would apply in these circumstances. Many thanks

Thanks for your replies to my posts I got back in the country in Saturday and he had not been round. However i had told him to call yesterday as we could not afford to pay, no visit. Then today a telephone call saying we had 24 hours and then he was passing it back to the Courts for prosecution who could then put my husband in prison! Is this true? I emailed the council as suggested last monday and they are currently looking into, i offered to pay £220 per month to get it cleared before next years bill. However now we have had a visit from a different Rossendales bailiff with a different years bill, this time for £1500!! I know all this is our fault but we are trying to get this sorted as best we can. We are using a debt consolidation company for other debts, this is in the process of being sorted out. I am a student nurse with a bursary of £600 per month, we get WFTC of £130.00 per week and Child benefit of £32.00 per week. My husband is self employed as a window cleaner but has recently had time off due to operation and being winterish his earnings are limited to about £175.00 - £200.00 per week. This probably looks like a lot of money coming but we struggle all the time, we dont go out or buy anything. We have 3 children living at home and get no help with council tax or rent which is £600.00 per month. Now that our council tax debt is £2500, we have no chance of clearing it before next years bill. Rossendales want £520 per month for the second one as i said the first one has been passed back to the Court. It feels like the hole is getting deeper and deeper. I qualify next May at which time i hope to get a full time job which will help but that is six months away. Any further advice on our situation would be greatly appreciated. Also i am planning to make a payment of £50.00 direct to the council tomorrow..is this a good idea?

Sorry lots of questions but can he take ornaments and things like that?

We also told him to call round with the van as we cant pay but to come a week on Monday so that we are here, he also put a letter through our door earlier. It was a final notice.... asking us to contact him to arrange a suitable time for them to be allowed access to your premises. Even if I could find the money, i am thinking i am going to have to bite the bullet and ask my parents who will go mad at me!, we dont exactly how much to pay now as he isnt answering phone and it is scribbled on letter £1018 plus costs??? what costs and how much??

If he does come round can he take anything that he didnt write down on the walking possession?

Does he have to give us it in writing when he is coming round?

I have no money to pay it all this weekend either .....