Hi, I hope I put this in the correct subforum out of the many choices. I have a council tax debt with Croydon council from where I lived there in the past. I shouldn't have had to pay council tax but the local job centre lied to me many times saying I could not claim income support. As soon as I moved the new local jobcentre arranged it for me and I now don't have to pay. Even though Croydon council lied to me, there appears to be no way to get this resolved after the case, which leaves me owing this council tax to croydon council. Since September or October last year I have made regular payments to Croydon council every month without fail towards this debt. Today I received a letter from JBW Enforcement agents saying the amount remains outstanding despite their previous letters and visits to my premises. They have not visited my premises and this is the first letter I have had from them. The letter talks about the 6th of April Taking Control of goods act and the fact they will charge me £235 when they visit and suggest I pay the full amount in 7 days. The amount I owe is under £1500 (although croydon council have got the amount so many times in the past and even tried to charge me £2500 until I questioned it and pointed out their mistakes) I am on ESA and income support I contacted Croydon council and they claim they passed it over to JBW in December. After explaining I had been making the same payment monthly since last year she checked and said that she can see the payments but as no agreement was setup they can send it to JBW and it's all above board. Her tone became nasty at this point and she made no offer of setting up an agreement or helping in any way. Stress and anxiety effect me really bad and the thought of contacting a nasty debt collector means I probably won't do it. Am I really not able to do anything about this as the Croydon council lady implied? Thanks for being here Consumer action group!

Hi I received a letter from equita early March this year asking for full payment of £1,500 within 7 days. I fell behind with previous years council tax due to various financial and income problems while being self employed. A liability order was issued and basically I made an agreement but couldn't make the repayments. So contacted Equita who said they could make an arrangement but would have to pay £31.25 per week. i argued that this was too much due to being on a low household income, but was told that was the amount i had to pay regardless of income as i don't claim Jobseekers or income support. i agreed to the amount and started to pay. My partner injured his back and was unable to work for 2 weeks over 15th/22nd april, being self employed = no income. We get some child tax credits and child benefit so lived off that as we have no savings to fall back on. I contacted the council to ask for a reduction in the amount for a couple of weeks until my partner returned to work. They refused to discuss and said i needed to speak to equita. They also refused, despite being told of the drop in income. They told me to pay whatever i could and then return to the 31.25 per week. during these 2 weeks we couldn't afford to pay anything to Equita, so missed 2 payments. My partner returned to work this Monday, although still in considerable pain !, So on Tuesday i used the child benefit money to pay £31.25 to Equita, with a view to paying the missed weeks asap alongside continuing to make the weekly payment. Yesterday i received a letter from Equita (dated 27/04/2014) Saying that further to my recent communication (as i also emailed the offer after speaking to them) the proposed offer of £20 per week was unacceptable and that I must now pay the amount in full within 7 days or ring them immediately with a revised offer. Sorry for the length .......... So today rang them was told i needed to pay the 2 missed weeks £62.50 today and then continue with the weekly £31.25. Ok so, we have no money at all to pay this and was basically told if it's not paid the arrangement will cancel and balifs will be sent and told to either borrow it ! or pay whatever we can..... Today, another letter has arrived (dated 2804/2014) REMOVAL NOTICE saying i have been issued your case so that i can call at your home this weekend with a removal contractor when i may remove your goods to the local auction house. I would prefer that you were in attendance, should another day be more suitable contact me on the number below immediately. if you prefer to pay the balance i require full payment at this office in good time before I call I've borrowed money to pay the missed payments today, but now this last letter has arrived today I'm worried and not sure what to do. The debt is an old debt when I was on my own with 2 children, before my current partner moved in and is in my name only, I have no income of my own, except the child benefits. My partner has a car and i'm worried that they will come and take that now. The repayment amount is too high to be affordable but no-one is interested in listening to our income breakdown and looking at a smaller amount because we don't claim jobseekers or income support. Although we do receive housing benefit and council tax benefit plus child tax credits as self employed income is very low.£31.25 per week will leave us short on food, heating and electricity. And now the balifs are coming. Don't know which way to turn

Hello everyone thanks for looking here. Could do with some advice. My mom got a urgent notice from rossendales collect today whom I'm assuming is a DCA concerning council tax. Its the first my mom has known anything about it as its not on her bill and the local council has never asked for it. She's lived in the same house since 1983 so I would have thought if she owed it would show on her bill. She's retired. Any way the bill is for £493 which my mom simply does not have. When she called them they told her it was from 2000/01. They said something about it being a liability thing but I don't know what they mean because I didn't speak with them. Is there anything she can do? I won't go into too much detail but things like this have happened to her before with overpayments from the 80s & 90s which literally add up to £1000s and if they take any more money from her state pension its going be difficult for her to live.

Hi, Long story short, I am on JSA and HB. I owed £75 in Council Tax arrears to Harringay last year. I made an offer of payment which was refused. I then got a letter of Court Summons which added £120. I have read on this forum many scare stories of Bailiffs turning up and adding telephone numbers in levy/visitation fees, etc. I contacted the Council by email twice now offering £3 a month (last time three weeks ago) Still no response. The government has decided that £72 JSA a week is the minimum I need to live on. So, if I refuse to pay these usary fees and charges and it ends up being an unfair £1000+ from an original fairly owed £75, how much can they take from my JSA or HB each week - baring in mind taking anything is admitting I don't have enough to live on and will be forced to steal? What is the endgame here, once the bailiffs have come and I still can't pay? Will I really go to prison, get a criminal record, have my life ruined, probably end up taking my own life - all for an original debt of £75? Thanks for any advice. I'm so angry right now.

Good afternoon lovely clever helpful folks, We are in a housing association property and do not receive any housing benefit. We have always paid our rent in full on time, however last year when they hiked up the service charge and rent they did not increase my direct debit amount properly. I was unaware of this as my direct debit goes straight out my account and every year when it increases they have always changed the amount automatically. Anyway when I got a letter saying i was in arrears last September i agreed to pay more money on top each month to start paying towards arrears. However this will take forever to pay it off and I wish I had more of a fuss at the time as it was their maladministration as well as my foolishness that resulted in the arrears getting so high. Now I am unable to successfully bid on a bigger property to move to as I am in arrears, even though I am paying it off. Do i have grounds to request that they clear some of my arrears? Thanking you kindly in advance for your advice xxx

hi always paid my bills had a good rating, however in dispute with energy company over massive bill I cannot afford in time for their liking, still paying them so they've slapped on a 6 months arrears which I'm trying to negotiate they remove based on incorrect details they held if it sticks - 1. how bad is a 6 month next to a default, particularly in terms of remortgaging to get a fairly low fixed percentage in a year's time - will accept 4% or under as ok offer if fixed for 3+ years 2. if I continue to pay at the rate I can afford in real money - £30/month vs 2k debt, this energy company (eon) will continue to drag my name through the mud - at what stage do I expect a default notice ? 3. if I take the hit on a credit card for a payment in 1 , is it worth the 20% APR and misery over 1-2 years repaying it , or am I better off paying it in "Managed " instalments, with the company - getting AP flags every month until I settle in full? advice appreciated, I do check my credit file but I find their flags are a lore unto themselves, they're also like voodoo, they only work because everyone takes them seriously

Looking for any help at all.... I lost my job around 4 months ago and have been struggling to make ends meet ever since, I am already in rent arrears and now I cannot afford to pay any of my rent this month. I have seen that for now my only option is too be back in with my mother but I can't afford to pay this months rent and bills let alone this month and next if I have to serve my notice period. What can I do? Thanks

Apologies in advance for the long post. I am hoping that someone may be able to give me some useful advice. We took our a NW Loan in 2010 for the sum of £37K , as advised by the bank to amalgamate business debts. They had put us in a corner, ie pay back everythign within one year or take out this loan. At the time we didnt have a clue about DMPs etc. Although these debts were run up due to the business they are in our personal names and currently unsecured. In 2011 we entered a DMP with our other personal creditors as were still struggling finanically, but due to the size of the loan and the fact that the NW were essentially business debts we didnt include these in the DMP. ( I am sure I will get my knuckles rapped for this one !) These repayments were made from our business which is now a Ltd company. All has been going well. We have met all the repayments on the loan on time and have reduced our other debts considerably. Towards the end of last year due to illness and bereavements within the family we fell into difficulties. Our expenses increased massively (fuel etc) and we had to reduce our working hours. All in all we couldn't pay the NW loan. We contacted NW immediately explaining the situation and that we were doing everything we could to rectify this, but we didnt make any payments for 5 months . We now have arrears in the region of £2K. They wouldnt stop interest at this time. The loan now stands at just under £30K. we appear to have opened a can of worms. We advised the bank in December ( I was in a bit of a tizzy) that we had approached a debt advisor who had suggested that we make much smaller payments towards the loan due to our current income, but we did not want to go down this route as we felt sure that things would improve. I don't think I should have done this , but I was not thinking straight and was in a bit of a panic about the repayments, I was hoping to get them to give us a bit more time to get back on our feet but I think it has had the opposite affect. NW then asked for an I&E which we provided based on our minimum income as requested by them. In January after winning new contracts we advised them that we could begin to repay the loan in February and we would try and also tackle the arrears but I didnt give them a firm repayment solution. We made the monthly payment in February with a small additional amount of £50 ( I appreciate they need much more) towards the arrears. In the meantime despite receiving the I&E NW are now asking for firm proof that we can meet our repayments and what arrangements we have with our other creditors. I have not told them about the DMP . Do you think that they are now aware of this ? Would they have access to this information by checking or credit rating and see that arrangements are in place ? we intend making all repayments towards NW, and in the next couple of months if business continues to do well it will pay back the arrears. I am so worried now though that as we have defaulted the NW will issue us with a CCJ / charging Order. Despite us making payments again towards the loan they have said that they no longer wish to provide us with banking facilities and are passing our account to the collections dept. We have one month apparently to turn this around and provide firm proof of our proposals to meet the arrears but they are giving no indication of the time scale in which they want these repaid by or what proof it is they are actually requiring. I have given them an I&E, I am unsure what else they want us to give them ? Or what they are allowed to ask for ? They have asked us to meet face to face with a specialist man from their team, but I think that the intention is for us to secure the loan against the house and add to the mortgage. I am wondering if this might actually be a better route to go down if they suggest rather than have a CCJ issued against us and a charging order put on our house. I generally feel in a complete muddle. I am unsure what to say to the bank as I know ultimately we were probably wrong not to include the Loan in the original DMP back in 2011, but the reason for this was the size of it and felt that we could get around it by paying it from the business as they were ultimately business debts. What options do we now have to get back on track whilst hopefully avoiding the CCJ route. If we can borrow the arrears and pay them back might this stop any further collection activity ? I am sorry if this is a bit muddled. I am not quite sure what I am asking really I am so worried about saying the wrong thing to NW or doing the wrong thing as I have heard that they are pretty tricky to deal with.. Ultimately I just want everything to go back to how it was. It was all running smoothly, everyone was getting paid, creditors seemed happy and our debts were significantly reducing. Now I feel back at square one. Oh and one other thing, I have been trying to reclaim some bank charges on the basis of hardship as I have reams and reams of letters etc to the bank about our financial affairs in the lead up to them suggesting we take this £37K loan, but they are refusing although have admitted to charging in the region of £6.5K in bank charges during this period. Thankyou you in advance for any advise that you can give at this stage assuming the post above makes sense !

This may seem a strange post but I am now receiving payments from the CSA which apparently are 'arrears' from years ago! I noticed a payment into an old but still active bank account from the CSA? Great some may say but as my son is now 21, I found it a bit odd and thought it must be a mistake and they will take it back so leave it alone, so I contacted the CSA with my old account number and found out that these payments are arrears which go into an account known as 'Acc 21'. Whilst it is great for me and my son, my question to the CSA was: what would have happened to this money if this account was no longer active AND I have moved a number of times since claiming CSA, where would this money have gone? I got no answer to that. So anyone out there, please make sure you inform the CSA of any house moves, bank changes etc, who know you might get a nice surprise like I did

Not too certain this is in the correct forum so if it is. Also it's quite a long story, sorry bout that also. On benefits - ESA and get mortgage relief (used to be IS) since 2001 (Long story - tear to a glass eye ). The house had previously been on the market in '08 but had had no luck in selling it. By the end of 2008 I had amassed arrears of approx £1,000 (according to bank statement received this monthDec 2013), Mid 2009, I received a letter stating that the bank had applied to the court for Warrant of Eviction. One was granted (by this time the house felt like a millstone round my neck and so I took no action and was fully prepared to let the bank have it ). I received a Notice of Eviction at the end of June, stating I would be evicted mid July and set about finding somewhere else to live. I made no representations to the court, as I said, I was fully prepared to leave my home. The bank did however know that I was trying to sell the house but what with the financial upheaval it proved impossible. I approached one of the buy-rent back business, but had no luck as my now ex-wife refused to sell when they made a low-ball offer. 4 days before the eviction date I received a copy of a letter sent to the court from the banks solicitors stating that the eviction was to be cancelled. The bank never made any further representations to me about clearing the arrears, and I didn't ask. As we all know financial meltdown ensued, and benefits/services were cut by the government. I had received letters stating that there was a shortfall, but ignored them ( I know - big mistake) Mid February 2010, I received a letter stating that there was a shortfall in my monthly repayments, so I didnt ignore it and spoke to the bank about arranging a Direct Debit to repay the shortfall, it turns out that the figures quoted as being the shortfall were incorrect and a lower figure was agreed. The shortfall was just under £14 pcm, I then set up a D/D for £15.00 pcm to allow me to repay the monthly shortfall and repay some of the arrears (there was no mention of how much arrears were). I assumed the bank were happy to continue with this as they had agreed. The first payment date came and bank failed to take the agreed amount but instead took the whole amount of the mortgage payment, leaving me with no money over the Easter bank holiday. obviously I got on to the bank and asked for a response as to why this happened - no explanation was given. January '11 again received a letter regarding the shortfall, this time it was over £65 pcm, I didnt ignore it but continued to pay £15.00 D/D pcm and £70 pcm in cash "over the counter". Between May '11 and Jully '11 - 4 attempts were made to take the wrong amount. Again bank gave no explanation as to why this was happening, nor did anyone from the bank tell me that I still had increased the amount of arrears on my mortgage despite me writing letter after letter to them. Aug '11 - again another letter re: mortgage monthly shortfall, slightly lower than before but continued to make the D/D and the over the counter payments (£15 D/D and £70 cash) I had also been receiving letters from DWP about the amounts of housing benefit and how it was being reduced. in Sept '11 I was making a £15.00 D/D payment and had increased the over the counter payments to £95 pcm. This continued with letters back and forth, me - demanding answers and my money back, them - fobbing me off with no explanations. Again at no time did any bank employee inform me of the arrears situation. Jan '12 Still making payment and still paying over the counter, by this time I had "worked out" what my shortfall was and began to pay £70 pcm. April '12 another letter informing me of the shortfall again a slightly lower amount than before, I again paid £15.00 pcm via D/D (when they could get it right) and £60 pcm cash May '12 another letter informing me of the shortfall this time less than £50 pcm, so I still made D/D payments and £50 pcm cash Aug '12 bank makes 2 attempts to take the wrong amount and so, sick to the back teeth, I cancelled the D/D and began to make all repayments in cash in person at the closest branch. Oct '12 letters from the bank failing to provide adequate explanation as to why, in my words, they were stealing from me. Again no mention of arrears. Also received letter from DWP stating payments were going to increase, and I could therefore reduce my cash payments, whilst still remaining to repay the monthly mortgage amount and some off the arrears, which I had been doing all along. Jan '13 bank takes the full amount from my bank account, despite being previously told that I had cancelled the D/D, again letters back and forth, again no mention of arrears. May '13 again bank takes full monthly amount, despite being previously told that I had cancelled the D/D.. It wasn't until I decided to ring them and after waiting for the bank to re-open following a Bank Holiday (yep the irony wasn't wasted on me either). During the conversation I was finally told of the arrears, I told him that it was "impossible and just give me back the money you stole". He promised to return the funds by close of business that day, he didn't. The following day I was back on the phone and was again told that my mortgage account was in arrears, I again said that was impossible as I had been maintaining repayments and demanded he send me an account summary so I could see for myself, he said he would but it would take 2 weeks to get to me. No such letter arrived, I assumed I was right and the "idiots" at the bank were wrong, and continued to make monthly over the counter payments of £25 pcm (which I had been doing since Nov' 12) Now we get to the reason for all this preamble Oct '13 I received a letter from the bank stating "the bank holds a possession order" in respect of my home and since I "have failed to maintain payments required under the order. The bank is now actively considering whether to enforce and instruct its solicitors to issue a warrant for possession" and to contact the bank within the next 7 Days. That letter was dated 24 Oct, it wasn't delivered until 31 Oct, (7 days from Birmingham?) I then fired off an extremely tersely worded letter pointing out that the letter had only just arrived and laid out my grievances, and again requested they send a statement of my account,. Nov '13 letter from banks solicitors confirming "that possession proceedings have commenced" and finally included a mortgage statement showing the arrears, and in conjunction with my receipts and a statement from the DWP detailing their payments apparently they were correct, I owe them. Have now received notification that I am to be in court 31-12 13. 1st November 2008 I was £1032.47 in arrears, 2 November 2013 I was £1210.98 in arrears, in real terms my arrears rose by £178.51 in 5 years. Please remember this only came about due to their incompetence. They also owe me for charges levied to my account, still waiting for it. Does anyone know of a bank that doesn't mind you owing them over £1000 FOR OVER FIVE YEARS and not tell you about it, or request you pay them their money back? That is until you accuse them of fraud and theft, then your in court and out on your ear, before you know it. Thanks for reading this far - How can I defend myself in court and still remain in my home?

Hi I did a letter to my old mortgage company, I moved away from them 6 years ago, and I put in a letter claiming for the return of the charges they put on my account, just over £1000 in charges in 3 years. they sent a letter back saying basically tough its time barred !! Can I continue my pursue of them and take them to court or the FOS

Hi, I have a friend who needs some help concerning rental arrears on his flat. Today, he received this email: Dear **** I am e-mailing to confirm I have taken over the management of your flat recently from ****. You should have received a letter a few weeks ago advising you of this. I have spoken to **** regarding your rent arrears and she advised you have an arrangement to pay £5.00 every two weeks. The rent arrears on your tenancy is currently £363.00, only two payments of five pounds have been made in the last nine months. It is essential regular fortnightly payments are made to avoid further action which could result in the loss of your tenancy. At the moment, he receives ESA benfits that entitles him to around £113 per week, so this all goes on essential living costs. His rent/tax is covered by housing benefit. I'm going to help him reply but wondered where he stands legally with regards to court action, eviction notice etc. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hi all - sorry in advance for the essay, but I'd be grateful for any advice. We forgot to pay the rent at the beginning of this month - my wife handles the bills as I have a mental health problem which affects my memory, and we had worked out the stress of bills makes it worse, but as she now handles most of the household I really can't blame her for a solitary mistake. I have been in quite poor health recently, and she has been particularly badly treated by our employer, so it's been quite stressful for some time. She hadn't realised that she had forgotten, but today we received an S21 notice from the landlord, dated the 22nd Jan and stating they require possession from the 29th March. It was only after seeing this that she checked back through our accounts and realised the mistake. I am assuming that the S21 is as a result of this, but I'm not 100% sure - we've had no other contact from them for months, other than the occasional pre-paid envelope to send any errant mail to them, nor have we had any problems. The only rent-related issue was a couple of months' over-payment when I was in charge of it, which they righted without quibble. The complication is that the house is currently for sale, and we are additionally planning to emigrate around the middle of the year. If we were to leave at the end of March, that would really affect our planning as we're only likely to get a minimum 6-month tenancy anywhere else. If we cut our losses and leave ASAP, giving one month's notice, we would obviously still owe the arrears. I'm just looking for some advice on how to approach this. I plan to write to the LL and offer extra on top of our normal rent each month to catch up, but I'm not sure whether to also give them notice to quit. In order to keep up with our plans, we would need to find somewhere else within the next 5 weeks, assuming a 6-month tenancy. To further complicate things, the wording of the cover letter for the S21 seems to imply that the tenancy could still continue!

Hi guys, I received a Bailiff removal letter through the door yesterday demanding payment within 24 hours for my Council Tax. There was no mention on how much was owed. I have called the number at the bottom but it just goes to voice mail so left a message. He still hasn't got back to me so I phoned the Council to find out how much i owed. They told me the amount that was passed to Equita. I asked if i could pay them direct but they said i had to pay the Bailiffs direct. I mentioned that i couldn't get through so they gave me a number to call for their head office. I phoned this number to ask how much was outstanding to be told by a very rude person that i need to contact the Bailiff direct as they don't have the amount on their system. I in turn told them how much the council had told me but they refused to acknowledge the amount. I asked them how i was supposed to pay it if I can't get through and they just said they would give him a message. I am happy to pay the council direct by an online payment or automated payment line for the amount they say is outstanding but am worried about any fees and proving that I have paid the council direct. Could you give me some advice please. Thanks

Hi, I'm new to this forum and would like some advice please.... My step father died suddenly a few months ago and I have been trying to help my mother deal with the debts he has left behind. He had a loan, which he struggled to pay when he could no longer work due to having both legs amputated. From what I've discovered the original loan was for £10,000, was sold off to GE Money Home Finance Ltd and has now grown to £35,875. The loan was secured against their home and GE money have now said that my mother has 7 days to pay off arrears of £25,477 before they take her to court for repossession. I have put her house on the market in order to pay the debt but obviously won't be able to sell it within 7 days. After reading some of the posts on here I am thinking that perhaps my mother does not have to pay all of this money off. How do we calculate what is "normal" interest and punitive payments and what is excessive? To me £25,477 sounds very excessive. My step dad was paying £300 a month to GE from his disability payments, which of course have now stopped since he has died. My mother can't afford to keep up the payments and GE won't take anything less than £300 a month. The original company took my step dad to court in 2008 for the sum of £10,057, which he couldn't pay. Could someone advise me on the next step please? P.S. I would also like to ask if it is possible to sell my mother's house even though GE Money have registered a restriction charge with the land registry against the property. Thank you.

I'm new here today but would appreciate some advice as I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. I have recently checked my credit report after years of burying my head in the sand. To cut a long story short, I racked up some debts when I was a student, and have gradually paid these off - each one at a time. Received a CCJ for an old credit card but this now satisfied. The one LAST debt I have is for rent arrears from private student accommodation in 2008 (last payment made January 2009 approx), with about £2,000+ owed. I am willing to pay this debt in monthly installments like I have the others, although the repayments will be small as I cannot afford to pay back the amount in full. I have had NO contact with the company since (5 approx years). Question is, as this is NOT a credit agreement (it was a short-hold tenancy), there are no defaults or CCJ on my credit file. I presume there is no CCJ registered but have been reading online that CCJs are not automatically registered on credit files for rent unless specifically requested by the landlord. So, I have NO idea where I stand with this debt and what action has been taken, if anything. A s I moved back to my parents shortly after vacating the property (I was in my final year of study), nothing has caught up with me (yet), and what I mean by that is no letters, calls etc. SO, should I make an attempt to contact the private company (which has since gone into administration according to online), and try and set up a formal payment arrangement for X pounds per month. Or just leave things be, and hope that nothing will be done until next January time which will mark six years since anything was last acknowledged (statue of limitations? Even though nothing on credit file?). I don't know if that's even possible with rent arrears and I can't find any legal guidance on this topic anywhere online. Don't want to be in a position later down the line where enforcement action is taken on a possible CCJ that I am completely unaware of and is registered SOMEWHERE but nowhere where I can see. Would appreciate ANY help if possible. Thanks in advance. :|

Hi All, I really need some advice regarding liability for Council Tax. My partner declared himself bankrupt last year and his Council Tax Bill was included in the assessment to determine whether he had enough debts. The Council are now chasing me for the debt, the debt has been handed to BALIFFS, however they have not gained access so the debt has been returned. I have now received a letter for an appointment with a Court Officer at the Council as they are considering a Committal Hearing. I have tried to speak to them on the phone however it is extremely difficult. When I have tried to point out that they have removed my partners name from the bill and the debt is now solely in my name I am being told it was always solely in my name and this is not the case. I want to be prepared for the meeting at the end of the week:- FIRSTLY TO DETERMINE LIABILITY SECONDLY I AM CONSIDERING REBANDING AND FINALLY I AM CONSIDERING ASKING FOR A SARS. There are a lot of inaccuracies with the bills and I need to get this sorted also. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Does anyone know what happens at these meetings? KIND REGARDS S13

This was some time ago now so my memory of it is a little rusty, although I did find a letter I wrote to NRAM at the time which seems to detail most of what went on. I don't have a copy of any reply from them so may send an SAR to see exactly what went on. Basically I was on ISMI with DWP to pay the interest part of my mortgage while in receipt of Income Support. We remortgaged our existing Northern Rock product to a new one with them for a better rate but with no new borrowing. The account number changed and I was not aware I had to notify DWP that we had a new account. Consequently the DWP payments were returned to them, and my standing orders were also returned - in both cases because the payments were sent with the old account reference. Sods law has it that I wrote to them asking for 6 month payment holiday at the same time, so I didn't worry that the payments were being returned. The DWP should have notified me that the benefit was stopping - but they never did. The first I heard of any issue was when NR wrote to me saying we were 2 months in arrears. It took quite a while to fall into arrears as we had 4k in overpayments on the old account which carried to the new one. Now that my credit file is almost clear I have started to pay attention and realise these late payments on my mortgage will be a problem when I come to remortgage soon to come off the SVR onto a good fix rate. Part of the text of my complaint letter to NR back in 2008 is pasted below:

Yesterday I received an enquiry from a debtor where a Walking Possession had been signed and the bailiff (from Bristow & Sutor) had attempted to charge the debtor an 'attending to remove' fee of £400 !!!!! Given that the statutory fee scale clearly provides that an "attending to remove" fee may only be "reasonable" there can be little doubt that £400 could ever satisfy this criteria. The extraordinary level of reports about excessive "van fees" is of very serious concern and in fact, examples have recently been sent to DCLG (The Department of Communities and Local Government). The samples include another example where an Equita bailiff attempted to charge a Westminster debtor £750 'van attendance' ( at an INITIAL visit !!!) In light of the recent £400 'van fee' I decided to start a new thread this morning outlining what debtors need to be aware of regarding a bailiff visit for unpaid council tax. It would seem that the Moderators have decided to post the thread as a STICKY !!!! Thank you. A copy of the STICKY can be read here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?412530-Council-Tax-arrears...should-you-let-a-bailiff-into-your-home-(25-Viewing)-nbsp PS: Just had a query where Equita are charging debtors £312 "attending to remove" fee for a 1st visit for an unpaid PCN !!! What on earth is the bailiff industry doing !!!!

Hiya Everyone. I rent with a housing association and they offer 2 weeks rent free at Christmas. I emailed them last week to ask which weeks they would be, and they got back to me today to tell me that I am not eligible as I am currently in arrears. In my original email I did acknowledge my arrears and outline that I would still pay the arrears for the two weeks. I am a bit gutted about it and also a bit confused, does this mean that when I pay in full for those two weeks is all of that amount coming off of my arrears? If not, doesn't that mean I am techinally paying more rent in a years period than people who are not in arrears? Does anyone know how this works? Thanks everyone x

My brother rents a house from a private landlord with two friends. A months deposit was paid as well as a months rent in advance when they moved in at the end of last year. Unfortunately, due to one friend losing his job there was an issue with his share of the second months rent but the landlord was very good about it and gave extra time to pay etc. An agreement was reached whereby they paid an extra couple of weeks rent when able to extend the official rent due date each month and so from the third month they started afresh and paid that month in full. However, it was only at this point that a contract was signed, for 12 months. the tenants signed and had it witnessed and returned both copies to the landlord for her signature. Neither copy has ever been returned to the tenants and this was several months ago. An arrangement was made to allow weekly payments of rent and this has continued. A couple of times the landlord contacted my brother via text to chase up rent and efforts were made to pay. Last week an arrears figure for the last 2 months was provided by the landlord, saying it needs to be sorted asap or she will be forced to serve notice. My brother queried the amount and landlord agreed they had paid more rent than initially thought, but there were still arrears. She also pointed out that looking back there were further arrears and she would provide a final figure. My brother is still waiting to here and is very concerned. He spoke to the landlord and said he would do whatever possible to pay the arrears as soon as possible and is desperate to stay in the house. In many ways the landlord has been very helpful during his tenancy and my brother hopes to keep a good relationship, but also raises a few valid points - concern over the fact that the contract has not been returned, if arrears have been accruing for sometime why are they only being sought now - should some letters have been sent when they began? All communication has been done by text and/or phone - does this have any bearing on things? They have an AST which still has over 3 months to run, does this affect anything at all? Any advice greatly appreciated, obviously we will know more when the landlord replies with the actual figure etc. I should also say that my brother has said to the landlord that he would like to reach an agreed weekly payment plan to cover due rent and reduce arrears.

Greetings My source of inspiration for a long time has been this site long story short, I have a current mortgage with this sub prime slime, i had arrears for the last 5 years, which i have now cleared. at present i have around £7000 in various charges ,admin,missed direct debits, solicitors fees, etc, which are added to my outstanding balance to be paid over the remaining term 12yrs:-x I also had a secured loan which incurred £2500 in charges, due to arrears, this loan has been paid in full, I already have copies of both accounts listing all charges, including the additional interest incurred. I have just sent off a subject access request to compile a list of all calls, mis-information, harassment and down right lies , to back up my claimback of these charges I have survived 3 attempted repossesions over the period, and many sleepless nights trying to deal with this company To that end , anyone who has or is currently doing like wise, i would love to hear from to thanks in advance superal

...we are having a little bit of temporary trouble with affording the mortgage ( a long story I will post up later when I have more time) but was wondering about being in arrears. If I paid 50% of the mortgage this month, being the most I could afford at the moment, then 50% next month, would I be 2 months in arrears, having only paid half what I should? That being so, if I pay nothing next month, then a full payment the next month after, would I not then have just been 1 month in arrears, and now up to date? Just seems a quirk of the system. Probably wrong... anyone know?

Had a visit from Equita this morning regarding 3 years arrears amounting to over £7k .. The demand was to pay in FULL immediately this sum, he showed me that he had scribbled down the registration no's of our two vehicles, one being mine the other is in my wife's name. My questions are ... The council tax is solely in my name does the bailiff have a 'levy' over my wife's car? but more importantly can I get this account sent back to the council by applying to the court and try to negotiate some sort of payment plan? What do I do with the bailiffs as they threatened to return at 5pm if I don't contact them. I will of course not be allowing them entry into my home...Thanks

Good afternoon, Whilst sharing a property we came into council tax arrears over a few years which resulted in a bill for a few thousand pounds. Documents were served to myself and the other person from sheriffs officers. Myself and the other party no longer live at the address where the arrears took place but we both agreed to pay half each of the arrears. My half is almost paid but the other party is now refusing to pay their half. As the arrears is in both our names, my question is where do i stand once i pay half of the arrears and then stop paying. I am going to inform the sheriff officers my intentions when my half has been paid but looking for some advice of what will happen next. Thanks