swift claiming OH owed £650 council tax from 2009

[ploddertom]

As this concerns Enforcement Agents (Bailiffs), I'll move you to the Bailiff Forum for further help & advice. A redirect will be left here for a short time to help you find it.

[Bailiff Advice]

In the first instance, could you go backwards and let us know the starting figures for both accounts and what fees have been charged against each one.

 

Are both debts for council tax?

 

When payment arrangements were initially set up, whas this following initial Notices of Enforcement being received?

[badboy09]

hi all , this enquiry is about http://www.swiftcredit.co.uk/ ,

 

This has been an ongoing saga , but its getting to a point where i want to put a nail in the coffin , so any help would be appreciated ,

 

I have 2 outstanding debts with them, that were originally from bridgend county council for council tax,

one was for my wife and the other was mine, i was paying £35 a month on the pair ,

 

 

last yr i was paying them every month as usual this went on for about 6 months or so , maybe longer ,

i missed a payment in december 2014 ,

 

 

all of a sudden in january 2015 a bailiff turned up at my door ,

i asked him why he was here and he told me , that i had not been paying 1 of the payments and not the other ,

even though every month when i was ringing up to make payment ,

i was clearly telling them to split the payments , which they were doing ,

told the bailiff this was incorrect and i suggest you go back to your office ,

 

 

i then contacted the office and asked them why they had sent a bailiff out ,

and they claimed it was due to the problem mentioned ,

 

 

they suddenly found out i was actually correct , and they said it would be sorted ,

 

 

a month or so later , i emailed them and asked them if they had sorted it out , so i could continue paying as normal ,

and they didn't get back to me ,

 

 

a month later i did the same again , and this time i got a response , telling me the bailiff fee wasn't getting removed ,

 

 

i rang them up and had a heated discussion with them on the phone ,

about you admitted last time i spoke to you , that he was sent in error ,

 

 

then they put me onto a complaints department member ,

who then proceeded to tell me the bailiff had now been sent for that 1 payment i had missed in december ,

i had already told them he wasn't there for that , and she insisted he was ,the call ended ,

 

 

surely if i had missed a payment in december , then wouldn't they surely have sent me a latter

saying i was in default or i am late on a payment first ??? before they send out a bailiff ?? ,

 

 

i then emailed them back demanding i want a copy of all my payments and i want a copy of the sheet the bailiff ,

came round with back in december !!

 

 

now the email was sent at least 2 months ago , and i have had no emails back off them

and i have not had 1 bailiff at my door , in regards to the last 8 months of non payment ,

 

 

how do i put a nail in this coffin and end it ??

as this has gone on long enough !!

[lookinforinfo]

Sorry I am in the country and the internet connection is weak so I will have to be quick.

You missed payment so that brought out the bailiff. Forget he used the wrong reason for his visit. The missed payment means they do not have to write first and that you have incurred

a fee of £235.

If you have a car move it away from your property and please answer the questions from Bailiffadvice to help us give you the best help.

It is not good that you have paid nothing this year-have you saved the payments you should have made?

[badboy09]

as it stands at this moment in time ,i dont have a car for him to take ,

and yes i do have the payments saved up ,

and im only £200 in arrears ,

 

 

the reason i mentioned him coming here for the wrong reason , was because i recently visited citizens advice

and they told me that , i should have received a letter from them b4 the bailiff turned up , to tell me i was in arrears ,

but they didnt send one ,

 

 

and they now seem to be stalling in the info i am requesting ..

[dx100uk]

I think it might be best to get every piece of info you can as well:

 

 

First of all establish from the Council how much was owing etc

.

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions:

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the addresses they were for

4 - the period of time each covers

5 - how much each one was for

6 - how much is still outstanding

7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement

8 - the dates & amounts of any payments

...........................

.

Next you need to send off for a breakdown of the charges the Bailiff applied.

.

Here's an example,

use and ADAPT at will and best sent initially by email backed up by a copy in the post.

.

"From:

My Name

My Address

.

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

.

Ref: Account No: 123456

.

Dear Sir

.

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

.

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

.

This is NOT a Subject Access Request

uest under the Data Protection Act S7 1998

so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

.

I require this information within 14 days.

.

Yours faithfully

.

Ripped off customer"

.

[badboy09]

hi dx , thankyou for the info , i have sent them an email , with the template above , and i will also send them in a letter as well with the same info on it , i will contact the council today , and ask for the info , but may i ask what exactly would it achieve , as the council seem to shrug off any enquiries once they have been sent over to the bailiffs

[dx100uk]

the council cannot ignore you.

neither can the bailiffs

 

 

the guys here will need those questions answered to properly advise you

as I can see this has been going on some years.

 

 

dx

[E Munch]

You admit yourself that you stopped paying and as a result they had every right to make a visit. Once a visit has been made the enforcement stage fee of £235 is due. It has already been to court and all that is left to be done is for you to pay your debt.

[Bazooka Boo]

It has already been to court and all that is left to be done is for you to pay your debt.

 

Yeah! Spoken like a true DCA......

[Bailiff Advice]

You admit yourself that you stopped paying and as a result they had every right to make a visit. Once a visit has been made the enforcement stage fee of £235 is due. It has already been to court and all that is left to be done is for you to pay your debt.

 

Whether anyone likes it or not, the above comment is correct.

[badboy09]

hi there , just a quick question ,

 

 

iswift credit ( www.swiftcredit.co.uk) at my door this morning ,

they are a debt collection company for the local council in regards to council tax ,

 

 

been paying them for over a year ,

and had paid one of the debts off ,

 

 

i got in abit of financial difficulty and had missed the last 2 months

( i usually pay £35 a month) , and due to my own fault ,

 

 

they then turned up at my door whilst i was out ,

i am still having some financial difficulties ,

 

 

when i got home , i rung the office up and offered to pay £20 a month which is better than nothing ,

they willingly took the first payment of £20 ,

then told me thanks but you still have to deal with the bailiff who came to the door ,

 

 

hes coming back on thursday expecting £100, or he will get a letter from the court to gain access to my house , to take items ,

 

 

i told him i had paid £20 to the office , and he didnt care

he told us he still wants £100 on thursday ( yet the debt i have built up with them so far is only £70 ) and he wants to set up a new plan for £100 a week ,

i told him he can get stuffed ,

 

 

where do i stand with this ??

as i offered an amount i can afford and they are saying no ??

yet they never sent no letter telling me i was in default , just sent a bailiff instead ...

[dx100uk]

they aren't a debt collection company

they are bailiffs BIG difference

but no he cant force entry nor would the courts ever [very very rare] grant forced entry.

 

 

so what letters have you had

notice of enforcement etc etc

[Leakie]

Hi BB09

Glad you got here, you will get some good advice here

 

 

Leakie

[ploddertom]

Has he had access to your home previously?

[badboy09]

here is the letter off them ,

 

 

address details and such are covered

 

 

and he has had no entry i wouldnt let them in

[Leakie]

Keep it that way ( did not let them in )

 

It is unlikely he will be back on Thursday.

the fees seem to be correct

not many of the experts about at the moment so you will get more help later.

[badboy09]

ty leakie , well the text message i sent him offering him £20 a week to which is more than i was paying before , has gone ignored , i think he will come back , just to push see if he can get that £100 , i will tell him go get a court letter because i am not refusing to pay

[ploddertom]

Can't read the notice as too dark, best convert to a pdf file.

 

If he has not had access to your home previously then he has no right of entry and it would be a seriously bad idea to let him in now. Has he seized anything outside at all - car, caravan, motor bike, BBQ etc?

[Leakie]

The EA can not take you too court, only the council can for refusing to pay council Tax.

Are there any vulnerable people in your house, not a way to not pay but could possibly help.

And have you done an I &E to work out what you can pay?

 

You can not pay what you have not got,

Try to keep the conversation with the EA on text so you have a record, or record the calls if you can.

[badboy09]

he has not tried taking anything from outside the house as there is nothing , the car is parked across the street among many others lol

[ploddertom]

To be on the safe side your car should be parked on some private land - neighbours drive would be ideal. Whatever you do don't draw attention to it.

 

The only fees you are due to pay - if this is under the new rules , post April 2014 are:

Compliance Fee £75

Enforcement Visit Fee £235

Seeing as he not taken Control of any goods he has no chance of charging the Sale Fee.

 

You are in the driving seat here as he has no leverage but do agree providing I&E may help prove you can only afford small payments.

[badboy09]

ok will try that , just going to see if he reacts to the text i sent him earlier , the company itself have all our incomes and expenditures from when i previously was paying them, but its weird how once a bailiff has been out the office want nothing to do with your account , and hand sole control of it over to the bailiff to deal with , i had just payed off a previous council tax bill of over £500 , and had this to pay , it seems they will try and get what they can without sending out a warning letter first or a phone call , just send a bailiff its an extra £300 + in their pockets ..

[ploddertom]

Unfortunately they do not have to send a letter to say they are coming. You said yourself you had broken the agreement you had by missing payments. It is good that you have been trying to play catchup although your efforts seem to be ignored.

 

Do you know how much you paid in fees with your other account?

[badboy09]

the previous bill i had paid was roughly around the £500 mark