Its true the longer your at this game and it is a bit like cat and mouse you do become stronger. And the more knowledge gained from whichever quarter can only be good. I just think sometimes as in my case i can wake up fighting and can be a big brave soldier most of the time. But when nighttime comes its as though everything i have achieved seems to go out of the window. And i belive this is the same for many people. Actually its when it gets to about six in the evening it starts. I guess its frustration in a way because you know that most of the institutions etc are closed so there is nothing else to be done for that day. And once you have hold of the bit you want to get it sorted. And although there is tons of stuff to do ie paperwork, bundles and the like a kind of emptiness comes over me. And that is why with this site at least you can talk to someone in the same boat. Methinks we need a much bigger boat now. Things are getting very crowded now we are taking control of our lives again. Did anyone ever think when they started the quest to become debt free one way or another that the only outcome was losing their cases. And when did you start feeling better. You know that pivotal moment when you think hey i can actually do this. Does anyone remember that moment. I have to say i had a face like wet weekend for the last couple of months because of council tax, but when i got it sorted i actually thought things for once could turn round.

Well at least when we are not sleeping i believe most of us as you say are being pro active. Sometimes i can get quite a lot sorted out in the middle of the night. Its just a shame i am k******d when i get to work. I try sort out debts one by one otherwise i get bogged down with it all. I must admit without this site in the main but others as well god only knows what would have happened. At least there is someone here 24/7 if you do need to talk. But also i feel it is a bit of company and knowing your not alone.

And yes i do like the word soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo before anyone else says anything xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi everyone, I have been watching for some time now and noticed how late or early i the morning everyone is posting. Is this truly what it has come to. How many folk are working nights or is it reaslly how many folk are sat up fretting about their debts. It really is frightening. This is just soooooooooooooooooo not good. I have got to the point where i cant concentrate at work anymore, which is now affecting my job. How many more people like that. i am up thinking that if the bank had tken my offer of payment for the full amount over an extended amount of tme they would have been paid off by now. BUT NO they sell the debt on for next to **** all to a DCA. I mean what the hell. If they could have had the money owed in the first place why sell the debt on for next to nothing. Or am i going round the twist. Me thinks i have a head full of cuddly toys. Lets face why pay a stranger who did not give us the money in the first place. Anyone thought of us all setting up a national DCA. Buy for next nothing and we all pay our debts off at the price we paid for them. Something wrong somewhere but as usual i am missing the link. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong. I have no objection to paying my debts as 99.99999 % of other people as well. But please banks and other retailers and institutions listen to us. We will pay you. Surely getting the whole debt paid is better than getting it written off for tax purposes. Or as i said am i missing something.

Not as wide as mine right now hun let me tell you. I can now tackle everything else now. And your right . CAG is the thing that helped me. But dont forget CAG is made up of an awful lot of people. And its the [people that give the support and advice that make this site. Again thank you.

Hi, update. Been on phone to council and sorted things. Thank you all for the support and advice. Now onto other things. Again thank you all so much. xxxxxxx

Hoo hoo hoo woop woop. Ok guys just come off phone to council tax people. spoke to a really lovely lady. All sorted. Accepted my payment arrangement. The debt is still with bailliffs but they are going to call it back when i have made my payment for this years installment on thursday. Told her my situation, she asked why i had not been in contact with them. I told i had but te last person i spoke to there was not for moving an inch. And was really quite nasty. So she apologised and said that most were human beings. So am sorted. Thank you for the support and advice everyone. It gave me the courage to actually get on phone and stand my ground. She even admitted i had been paying but that is was just not enough. Although i told i still could not pay anymore now she knows my situation we are going to revue things on a weekly basis. I did tell i would only speak to her though. She said that fine. Thank you thank you thank you. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you everyone, i will go to cab in the morning, and not so much family stuff as it were. Its just we as a lot of people all have a lot on our plates at the moment and none of us want to worry each other. That is the top and bottom of it. As you will have made out lemma is my sister. And we have both had to face up to things this week. And even though we have done it on here it is still a weight off our shoulders. Being here has given so many of us the support and advice and also the exrta push to sort things out. And knowing your not alone, that there are thousands in the same boat does make things a little easier to deal with.

By the way, i take it you have remembered it is fathers day today. Dont panic. Card sent. On time. xxxxxxxxx

Not burying my head at all any more. Just banging it against a brick wall. I have dealt with so much but there comes a time when a brick wall is all you hit at times. Right now i do not know which way to turn and what to do first now. I need time to think things through.I have had to deal with so much on my own. After a while you get worn down. If i give up my house i have nowhere to bolt to if needed. And yes sorry to say i am being very cautious now. I had a " chat" with another member of my family yesterday well over the last few weeks. And my head is now mashed. again. And what i am saying to you is, Hee hee, opinions differ on whether i should give up the house. A lodger has been suggested.

And whats all this about, Something i have never ever understood. They take you to court and what defense do we have. Sorry cant pay at the moment does not fit the bill. So yet again its all one sided. Oh god i am so so so bloody angry. Well frustrated more the like.

Well its not just jail now for non payment, which i do understand is very rare. More for the wont pays not the cant pays. Now they are threatening bankruptcy. Now call me stupid and yes i give you permission too but if i were to go bankrupt myself then this debt would be wiped out up to the date of going banko. Now surely it would be the same the other way round. If they sent me down then how the hell are they going to get their money. Am i being a muppet here and missing something vital. Apart from my brain. I would imagine if the council were to make me bankrupt then it would save me a whole heap of worry saving up to take myself down. If it were not for the fact i want to try and stay a teeny weeeeeeeeny bit solvent i would be saying to them bring it on. Game on doris as they say in my house.

Oh my god i have tried to speak to the revenues office at leeds. But they are just soooooooooooo not nice. In fact i did a silly thing last year as i was so scared i offered to pay what i thought i could afford, in fact it was too much. Hence it snowballed from there. After being on this site i am more aware although it does not stop you from being scared half to death. My new partner does not know half of what i am going through. And neither do my family. Well that is until now. I have beenable to put down here some of the things i am going through and i know it is being read by someone very very close to me. I would not have been able to tell her to her face. And also neither she to me. we both know we have debts etc but we have both been experts at burying our heads in the sand. w have trie to talk although ultimatly (sorry not good at spelling sometimes) it usually ends up in tears and slamming of doors and saying thing that we really dont mean. As a family we are soooooooooooo close. Sometimes when you try and talk to your closest its not always advice you need or want. At times a huge cuddle is all thats needed. And a good cry. x

But even the water people if you miss a payment or two they take you straight to court and slap you with a ccj. And the whole year becomes due. And they are privatised.

Ok. i think this should be a rant thread but at the same time can anyone with any ideas of how the system could be better, re collection of council tax etc be put forward. I dont know but any ideas welcome.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, Her parents are hitting the 80 year old mark. Her father has never missed a payment in his life on anything, But they went away for two weeks and for the first time he was late paying his council tax. When he got back from holiday he had a summons waiting for him. Now i know he will pay it straight away so it wont go any further but for gods sake all the council had to do was look at his previous history to know he was not a serial late payer. This man was at his wits end. We get scared so god only knows what the old and vulnerable are like. Not everyone has access to sites like this and the wonderful moral support we give each other and the advice.

Yes yes yes, Thank you. For the folk who do have to pay up front for council tax, the very few i suspect that can, what exactly do the council do with tis money. Are they earning extra interest on this money that really is not technically due as yet. To my mind its like your supermarket asking for all of the years shopping money before you have actually purchased anything. Lets face it, i am thinking of moving in with a friend of mine and giving up my house. At least that would stem the flow of money going out. Now if i were to pay this council tax, the whole amount for this year as well as last then i wonder how quick they would be to give me a refund for the rest of year if i were to leave my house. Hope your following this. And please rant away.

Ok, Please forgive me if i waffle on here. When we all get our Coucil tax bill we are given the opportunity to pay by installments, usually over 10 months. Now if we miss a month the council are super quick in getting a summons and thena liability order. And yes i do understand that if you miss a month or are late paying you should pay as soon as. But my objection is you then lose the right to pay the installments. So the debt has to be paid in one lump sum. Which of course cannot always be done. This then moves on to bailiffs. who then add on their charges. In turn making the debt bigger. And its the whole year they want. Even if its just a couple of payments missed. One huge snowball is chasing you . I do not have anargument about council tax per se. Yes i know its high but nothing we can do about that. I know i am waffling here. And i cant think how to put my point across. Ok paying the bill over ten months is difficult. If we paid over 12 then the money might be a bit easier to find. Oh beggar sorry guys i cant put down in words what i am thinking in my head. I know what i want to say but as i am writing it it all comes out wrong. Getting really frustrated now. Going to have a coffee and see if i can think of a better way of putting things.

Good morning peeps, Well we have an update on my problem. And its not a good one. It would appear the council tax debt has been passed back to leeds city council. I have just received this letter. Think i am well and truly stuffed. LCC Address etc Dear Mrs +++++ Council Tax arrears Unless you pay 2037.82 detailed on the back of this letter within 7 days i will be instigating immediate bankruptcy proceedings in the county court by service at your last known address. You will incur extra costs if the Authority has to make you bankrupt. If proceedings are issued, initial costs of at least 590.00 plus legal fees will be added to this debt, which you will have to pay. I enclose a booklet Guide to bankruptcy which how this action will affect you. If you want to speak to someone about this letter please ring Ms +++++ on Tele. >>>>>>>> Yours sincerely Head of Revenues Now i am not refusing to pay this debt at all. In fact i paid Aprils installment for this year end of may. And as soon as i get some money at the end of this week i will pay up to date for this year. I have also paid 2 installments of 33.00 to Jacobs. I told Jacobs this was all i could afford per month to clear off previous council tax. They cashed my cheques but refused to enter an arrangement unless as i said before they had a levy on my goods. The amount the council want is made up of last years tax and All of this years. As i say i am Not refusing to pay them. If they make me bankrupt then surely they will get diddly squat from me. Especially as if they do that i will lose my job. Am i stuffed. Yes i think i am.But then again going to court for this to happen could be a welcome relief in a way.

The Cab in my town is never open and i did make offers. And started to pay bailiffs direct to there offices. They said they would not make an arrangement unless their bailiffcame to see me and i signed a walking possession. NOT ON YOUR LIFE. They wont even give me a breakdown of costs. Said they could not do that whilst my file was in the hand of bailiff dealing with my case. It looks like they have passed the file back to council now. I only owe for may and this month. And i have paid what ai could afford for last year sent with a letter from this site i was given. I dont know the other law centres. Its very hard talking to those closest to you because you feel as though you are being judged. Its not easy. I thank god for this site and MSE. Like you i can help others to get out of a mess but not myself. And thank you xxxxxxxxxxxx

Stress is the worst thing in the world to cope with. But when it is from debt it is soul destroying. I am at my nether end now. I have just received a letter from council tax saying unless i pay what i owe from last year and all of this years as well they will make me bankrupt. Hey ho. just something else sent to test me. This site does give lots of support. You can tell strangers things you cant tell your nearest and dearest. And yes this site is addictive. and my friends think i am slightly mad. My family also. But once they get on the site they get the bug. xxx

Sorry saffron. I read it wrong. As my name suggests my head is all over the place at the minute. And not sure which to turn myself. Will keep an eye on op though. Been through the same thing as he has. And thank you for all your advice saffron. And please i dont want to make you cry again hun.

Saffronflower is not a bailiff hun. You really should ring northhamton and ask for a time out stat doc and contact the council. I did not contact the bailiffs. Once the time out doc has been sent they will suspend any action until they decide if you have a case. also ask the council why it has taken so long for them to bring a case. If you look through the parking forum someone was taken to court and i think and only think it was thrown out as tere had been too long a gap between parking ticket and enforcement.

Hi hun, I would go and have a look at the parking and wardens forum on this site. Now i can see you are in leeds, so do you still have your parking tickets. If not ring the council and ask for copies. As they are from 2005 they MAYBE unenforceable as the tickets did not conform to certain rules. Go to the parking forum and you will see loads of info on there about this. And i know what a nightmare it is in leeds to park. Good luck hun. Also ring TEC in Northhamton and ask for a late Stat Declaration for all the differant tickets. They are really nice people down there. They will E>mail them to you. Fill in send them back this should as in my case put problem into dispute for a time. Should give you some time to sort things out.

where are you. Home or work