Council tax debt and bank account arrestment

[froggies]

Hi all

 

I am new here, I had a look at the forum to see if I could find an answer to my problem, but not everything was covered.

I have some debt for the 2009 and 2010.

I had an arrangement with Scott & Co for a payment by direct debit, but since august, I haven't been able to make a payment.

We received a letter dated 23 of november saying that our arrangement was cancelled and enforcement action will be taken, but no delay to do anything is stated on that letter.

On the 6th of december, someone came to our houseand a charge for payment was given to us.

I have been trying to phone them few times without luck, so yesterday I made a payment of £5 online in the hope to allow us more time in case it took longer to get hold of them.

Today, I received a letter from my partner's bank saying that an arrestment has been taken on his account on the 2nd of december.

We are both self employed, the only money we have is my partner's salary from his business and mostly live with benefits, we also have 2 kids under 5.

They couldn't take anything on my account as I have an overdraft and the only money that goes in it iare child benefit and tax credit, and almost half of the money that goes onto my partneer's account are working tax credit and housing benefit.

I am the one dealing with that,as we split the expense over our accounts, so he is not really aware of the arrears we have....

They took £255 on his account, and the debt is £1328 ( but on the charge for payment £1186which I assume is due to the arrestment.)

 

So today, I finally emailed them , after reading someone here who was succesfull in doing that, offering a monthly payment of £140 from the 21st of december, which is the most we can afford if we still want to pay a decent amount for this year council tax. I also asked to have a reply within 7 days and to release the amount taken from the account.

After reading a bit, I think they won't let us have that money back.

So, few questions here: Should I fill a Time To Pay in the meantime ( I have had a look, but don't understand it all)

I have seen that they can't arrest money on an account with benefits, does housing benefits counts? Or will they just take the money from the money he earn, despite benefits on his account?

Do we have any chance to have the arrestment money back?

Does the arrestment be on all the money that goes into this acount or is it just a one time order so any money that goes after is still available for us?

 

Thanks a lot for your help. I am hoping to sort this out ASAP, so I won't have to stress my partner with that as he is already quite stressed, between work and we are having one of our kid with a possibility to have "special needs"

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome,

 

There's info on the Govan Law Centres site regarding the Sheriff Officers arresting an account which Benefits are paid into, they cannot hold the arrestment if there was benefits of any kind invloved in the account.

 

http://www.govanlc.com/benefits_&_bankarrestment.htm

 

I take it they have gone for the arrestment due to the fact your both self-employed, bank arrestment isn't a very effective form of diligence (debt collection) so it's not a prefered method.

[froggies]

Thanks for your reply. Noone got back to me yet from the email I sent yesterday, so will post th Time to pay and enclosed a copy of the email i sent.

I will see with my partner for a copy of his bank account, as I assume it has to be a recent one. Do you know how long they take to release the money?

[IdaInFife]

I am assuming that the account that was frozen did have other monies not earned from benefits so it will be unlikely that this will be given back - You have to get the time to pay order into your local court within 14 days of it being served. Somethin is not adding up thought - they cannot aply a bank account aarrestment til the charge for payment has elsapsed - is there a different charge for payment already been received?

[froggies]

There was one in august, I then phoned them to arrange for a direct debit, but from september we had some financial difficulties, meaning the direct debit was just bounced back from not enough funding on the account.

I tried to contact them few times since beginning of november without luck, and we received a letter on the 23/11/2011 saying they have been instructed to commence enforcement. Finishing witha " please contact us now for assistance", with the same 0131 number on it. The thing that doesn't seem right to me is that there is no delay on that letter.

I did put a copy of that letter with the Time to pay I sent today, first class recorded.

[IdaInFife]

That now makes sense. So the bank arrestment then is connected to the first account and they are trying to enforce action on a second account.

 

You would have to acknowlegde the 2 accounts so they can then be paid consecutively.

[froggies]

What do you mean?

Since I sent a Time to pay for the last Charge of payment, that should be enough for an arrangement to pay the debt, wouldn'it?

Sorry if I am being thick here

[froggies]

Hi

I had a thought over night, and remembered that the last time my partner put some money on his account was beginning of october, so since then, only benefits were paid onto the account, so they did take benefits money. Our rent was taken twice since he put the money, and the money he put wouldn't cover fully the rent.

 

I am just trying to find a solution, and would be very happy to tell scott & co they have done something wrong!

[maroondevo52]

They took £255 on his account, and the debt is £1328 ( but on the charge for payment £1186which I assume is due to the arrestment.)

 

 

 

That money will still be in your account as the amount they were looking for was not, we had an account arrested a while ago where there was not enough money in the account to pay the arrestment total due, we received a letter from the bank 5 years later saying they had now made it available to withdraw.

[bdbdbd]

Hi Froggies,

 

It seems we both have the same problem. I was behind with my council tax as well from years of battling mental health issues after leaving the army it was not something i had time to get on top of as i lost so many jobs. then i managed to get back on my feet and save up a decent amount of money! i got a visit from the sherrif officers to my house and they gave me a letter telling me that i was £1340.87 over due from the previous years so i decided to set up a payment to get on top of it. just this firday past there was an arrestment from my account and they took out £3200 which was my army pension, my wages, my benefits, and my wifes benefits. now we have zero money for the Christmas period and not really sure how to deal with it! It would be good to see how we can both work together and find a solution. i just read that they are not allowed to take money out of an account with benefits payed into it?

 

Am i correct in thinking that they are not allowed to emtpy an entire account? seems un fair and un lawful!

 

Thanks

Edited December 12, 2011 by bdbdbd

[froggies]

That money will still be in your account as the amount they were looking for was not, we had an account arrested a while ago where there was not enough money in the account to pay the arrestment total due, we received a letter from the bank 5 years later saying they had now made it available to withdraw.

Are you sure about that? I thought they could take any amount of money, even if it was less than the amount due. That would be great though!

 

Hi Froggies,

 

It seems we both have the same problem. I was behind with my council tax as well from years of battling mental health issues after leaving the army it was not something i had time to get on top of as i lost so many jobs. then i managed to get back on my feet and save up a decent amount of money! i got a visit from the sherrif officers to my house and they gave me a letter telling me that i was £1340.87 over due from the previous years so i decided to set up a payment to get on top of it. just this firday past there was an arrestment from my account and they took out £3200 which was my army pension, my wages, my benefits, and my wifes benefits. now we have zero money for the Christmas period and not really sure how to deal with it! It would be good to see how we can both work together and find a solution. i just read that they are not allowed to take money out of an account with benefits payed into it?

 

Am i correct in thinking that they are not allowed to emtpy an entire account? seems un fair and un lawful!

 

Thanks

There is something I don't understand, how could they arrest your account if you had an arrangement to repay already in place? Normally, they are not allowed to take benefits money, but they can take from your wages. Have you contacted your CAB for advice or the debt collector to see with them? Let me know if you find a way to sort your problem.

 

I have received a letter from Scott & co today, dated 9th/12/2011 for one of the debt on this account, as there were 3 different accounts that were put together a while ago. They put a different account number, the balance due is £304.65 ( which is included in the total of £1328.75) saying:

"We have recently executed a funds arrestment in respect of the debts detailed above. This means that you may not have access to funds held in your bank account or due to you by a third party. It is essential that you contact us immediatly on the above number to prevent further action proceeding against you to obtain release of any arrestment funds to our client."

Are they allowed to split account liker that?? The strange thing is that the letter I received on the 23/11 the prop. dets is our previous address( part of teh debt is from this place) but on the charge for payment, they only used our current address, with the same account number.

Is it me or is Scott & Co just rubbish at following their case?

 

I emailed them thursday 8th, I am still awaiting a reply from them, I made a £5 payment on their website and also offered a DD through their site, and no reply, but they send a letter asking to contact them...dated from the day after I emailed. The Sheriff Clerk should have the letter anytime soon now, but I really would like to know how scott&co manage their account, as it just sound like a lot of rubbish.

By the way, checked my partner's account today, tax credit has been paid and we can still use the account.