Hi. I have been harrassed by Newlyn bailiffs for nearly a year now for outstanding council tax and finally got my round how to deal with them thanks to this great site. I recently wrote to them (I stop talking on the phone when they refused to confirm in writing whatever they told me on the phone!) asking for a breakdown of all the charges they have applied to me (around £450), as advised by someone on this site. I sent a copy of this letter to the Council. Now the 'company' that is Newlyns have written me a letter headed 'committal notice'. I am assuming it's another one of their threats but I don't understand it or know what to do next. I am continuing to pay the Council directly and have nearly cleared the original bill but I don't want to pay the bailiffs anything I don't need to. I believe the committal notice is something to do with court. I had a court date set in July last year but couldn't go as I was on holiday..can I be taken to court again? All advice greatly appreciated.... Anyoldiron;)

Hello Oh Boy! This is what is happening to me. I have finally gathered the money together to pay off my debt. The bailiffs have added over £400 to the debt and I don't want to pay it. I phoned the council and they say I have to pay them. How do I get round this? Who should I write to and what should I say? Many many thanks. Any Old Iron

Help! I sent the bailiff (Newlyn) a copy of the letter they sent me to say that my account was settled. They have today sent me a letter that says 'notice of committal to prison'!! What does that mean. They then phoned me this evening and said that the letter was a mistake and I asked her to put her response in writing. She said she wouldn't and I asked her again to deal with this in writing. She said no and said she would send the bailiffs again. They keep phoning and writing to me and have only offered me to pay off the whole amount (£400 added for their costs) in three installments in three months. I am going to write to the council with a payment plan offer but how can I stop them hassling me. Surely they should write to me if I write to them.. HELP!

Hello again. I have sent the bailiffs a letter with the copy of their letter they sent me telling me my account had been settled with them. I asked them to stop writing to me. That was a couple of weeks ago. Today I received a letter that says 'notice of committal to prison' on the top. The letter says that I have failed to make and maintain an acceptable arrangement to pay etc. I was only offered one way to pay and that was all the £900 in two or three payments in three months! My bill with the Council is only £500 so I don't know where the £900 comes from. What should I do next? I am planning to write to the Council with a proposal of paying back the debt and also asking them to call off the bailiffs. I note from an ealier post that I should just pay the Council direct bit by bit. I can't afford to pay more than £40 a month but I can't help that. Is there anything else I should be doing? Do I still need to pay the extra £400? Also, if the bailiff wrote to tell me my account has been settled then shouldn't I take that as done? How can I enforce that? Anyoldiron

Thanks so much for replying..the company is called Newlyns. I have been dealing over the phone and have resigned myself to repaying the £500 as it would cause too much of a row between me and my brother to do anything else. Don't know what a DCA is! The last time I spoke to them I told them that I had received a letter from them to say my account had been paid in full and for them to stop phoning me. They asked me to fax their letter and also the bank transaction for whoever had paid it. I said I didn't know but it might have been a friend. I am still not sure if it was a friend or not. With the help of people on this website, I am going to write to them with a copy of the letter they sent me stating that my account has been paid in full. What should I write in the accompanying letter? Apart from that, as I'm assuming they will say it was an admin mistake (any advice if that is the scenario?) and if I have to, I will be writing for a breakdown of costs and a copy of the part of the Office of Fair Trading doc that says they can't ask for the money back in full. I will still not be able to repay £900 (their cahrges included) or even £500 (the original council tax bill) in three parts. I can't see why I can't do it in monthly installments that suit my salary. Much appreciated. AOI

Hello everyone. I am new to this so forgive any mistakes on how to use it etc please. I have debt collectors after me for a council tax bill incurred around three years ago. I had already paid off a big chunk of a bill that was in the flat I moved into from a previous tenant (my brother). I had sorted this out with the council but three years later it turns out that there was still £500 owing. I missed the letters from the council and so it was passed to debt collector. My most recent bill was for £950! They are constantly phoning me and when I tried to set up a payment plan they said the best they could do was let me pay in three installments- £300 a month for three months. Impossible. I have just read the OFT guidelines and see that this is not lawful. What should I do next? In addition, I received a notice from them before xmas to say that my account had been paid in full. I called to find out what this was and they said they had no record of any payments. How do I get to pay in installments and why do I have to pay the debt collectors and extra £400? Please help!! Thanks. anyoldiron

Unfortunately the previous tenant was my brother and we have fallen out over the issue. I stopped paying them for a month or two until they billed me properly for the money I owed them only for the period that I had lived there. I have now resolved to just pay it as it's caused so much trouble but I only want to pay the £500 and in installments. I will send a copy of the letter saying the account was paid. Everything is addressed to me in person and not the occupier. I had a letter from the council about the court but not from the court. I don't even know where it was held. I will send the letter and see what happens. Thanks everyone. Any more advice on what I should do much appreciated.

Thanks so much for this. I have spoken to the council and they say it went to court (I was on holiday at the time). They say it is now in the hands of the bailiffs. There wasn't any attachment to your message...what should I send them?

Hello everyone. I am new to this so forgive any mistakes on how to use it etc please. I have debt collectors after me for a council tax bill incurred around three years ago. I had already paid off a big chunk of a bill that was in the flat I moved into from a previous tenant. I had sorted this out with the council but three years later it turns out that there was still £500 owing. I missed the letters from the council and so it was passed to debt collector. My most recent bill was for £950! They are constantly phoning me and when I tried to set up a payment plan they said the best they could do was let me pay in three installments- £300 a month for three months. Impossible. I have just read the OFT guidelines and see that this is not lawful. What should I do next? In addition, I received a notice from them before xmas to say that my account had been paid in full. I called to find out what this was and they said they had no record of any payments. How do I get to pay in installments and why do I have to pay the debt collectors and extra £400? Please help!! Thanks. anyoldiron

Hello everyone. I am new to this so forgive any mistakes on how to use it etc please. I have debt collectors after me for a council tax bill incurred around three years ago. I had already paid off a big chunk of a bill that was in the flat I moved into from a previous tenant. I had sorted this out with the council but three years later it turns out that there was still £500 owing. I missed the letters from the council and so it was passed to debt collector. My most recent bill was for £950! They are constantly phoning me and when I tried to set up a payment plan they said the best they could do was let me pay in three installments- £300 a month for three months. Impossible. I have just read the OFT guidelines and see that this is not lawful. What should I do next? In addition, I received a notice from them before xmas to say that my account had been paid in full. I called to find out what this was and they said they had no record of any payments. How do I get to pay in installments and why do I have to pay the debt collectors and extra £400? Please help!! Thanks. anyoldiron

Thanks for this. I have already reported them to the Information Commissioner as they failed to get the minimal stuff they sent to me before the end of 40 days. I told the woman on the phone I would complain and she said it wouldn't make any difference because they get so many requests from people it takes up all their time and complaining won't make it go any faster! I'll check what I have against the statements and write a complaint letter but I feel as if I should do something more! I wrote about my two accounts in the same letter so why couldn't they send my information in one letter. The woman on the phone said it was because it woulnd't fit in one envelope! grrr!

also, I'm not sure that the info. they sent for my first account is a true reflection of the charges I have incurred. I will check my statements against the letter they sent but how do I know if they haven't supplied all the info. and what do I do if they have missed some charges off? Thanks for all the help by the way. This is double hard as I'm not very good at the computer chat room things!

I have just called the Customer Relations Dept. of Halifax to enquire about my missing statements. They told me that the information they sent was for one of my accounts (I have two and am claiming for both) that has only been open for two years and that's why the information supplied was for that period. They say they sent out the information for my other account in April but I have not received it. They now say they can re-order the info. and send it to me but will treat it as a new request and I'll have to wait another 40 days. What should I do? J

Can someone please help me!! I have read several different answers and I'm not really sure I understand what to do next or how to do it! I sent my first SAR in Feb. I got no response after 40 days so I sent the letter that says if they don't respond I'll write to Info. Commissioner. They sent me a one page outline of my charges dating back to June 2006. I wrote to say this did not comply with Data Protection Act and they should send me the last 6 years worth as requested or I would take them to court to comply. Still no answer so I wrote one more giving them 7 days to send the info. (letter before action) and that was on 4th May. I really want to pursue this but don't know how. Some say to fill in N1 form but others a N244 or something- PLEASE HELP!! jESS

Thanks. This is helpful. I started the process in February!! The 40 days were up without an answer so I sent another letter (template got from this website) to say I would take my case to the Information Commissioner. A few days later I got a letter with a half page of charges dating back to July 2006. I have statements with bank charges on before that date so I wrote again (another template) to say they had breached the data protection act and if they did not respond within seven days I would take them to court. I have had no response. I will try the email address you sent me but if they don't respond, how do I take them to court to get the statements? Many many thanks for your help. Jes

I have received a list of charges but only dating back to the middle of last year. I sent the letter before action but still no response. plesae can someone direct me to the next step. I have also written to the info. commissioner who has responded but said that they deal with the bank on a general basis and not individual. Do I need to take the bank to court now to get the information i need- i,e. how much they have taken in bank charges? All responses gratefully received. Any Old Iron

I wrote online to the Info. Commissioner the day before I received the letter from the bank as they had not responded within 40 days and then the next 7 days when I threatened to report them for a breach. I suppose it won't hurt to do it again. I will ask for statements for the last six years and c.c. to the Info. Commissioner...does this sound like a good idea?

Thanks for this. I am going to write a non-compliance letter and send it tomorrow. Should I ask for statements? I know in the initial letter template it does say that a list of charges would be acceptable.

Hi all. I have finally got a response from Halifax after my initial letter in Feb., phone calls, visits to the branch and finally a threatening letter mentioning the Info. Commissioner! My problem is that they didn't send me statements but a list of charges and these only date back to last year. I am sure there are more bank charges out there. Should I send another letter stating non-compliance with Data Protection or threaten something more? Also, how will I know they aren't hiding my charges unless I see the actual statements? Thanks for any help.

Thanks for reply. Point taken re. language used on website..I shall adapt! I am going to send a postal order and send the letter recorded delivery. I have been researching all day on this site and moneysavingexpert.com and both have been really helpful so I feel good about this. Everyone is so helpful too. Cheers. J

I am soooo relieved to find this site! I was referred by moneysavingexpert.com, which is also great. I have never used these chat room things so I'll do my best. Over the years, I have been (edit) off hundreds of pounds by my bank and this has been a pet hate for me for a long time. It is disgusting that banks are taking people's money at the time when it is obviously a difficult time (usually when I am waiting to be paid). I am prepared to do this properly and I feel like, if it works, I could apply this methodology to the rest of my life and stop being taken advantage of by big business- hooray! I have two initial questions: do I write to my bank branch or Head Office? and if I don't have a cheque book, how do I enclose my ten pounds to get my charges sent to me? All help appreciated and I'll keep you posted on my progress. AOI