Charge For Payment Received This Morning For Council Tax Arrears

[WhatALife]

Hi, I received a Charge For Payment Of Money for council tax debts this morning.

 

I owe nearly £3000 altogether and have been making token payments of £5 a month which to be honest has been more than I can afford due to my circumstances and I have admittedly missed two or three payments as I've not had the money to pay.

 

I have other unsecured debts which are non priority and come to nearly £20000, I've been paying £1 a month to them and have also missed a few payments with them but so far no one has taken any further action.

 

I'm self employed, live in temporary accommodation (the house belongs to a relative, I'm not paying any rent but I'll need to find somewhere else in the next few weeks).

 

The Charge For Payment says I should pay the sum owed within 14 days or further action will be taken against me including arrestment, arrestment of earnings and the attachment and auction of articles belonging to me.

 

This is probably a silly question but what do they mean by arrestment? Is this arrestment of me or something else?

 

My earnings are little and barely cover my living costs, I rely on help from family just to put a meal on the table and there has been times I have had to go without food, heating, electricity etc. I have a bank account but really only use it to receive working tax credit. Only goods I have are a car and a laptop (I don't know what the cars worth - I bought it a year ago for £650 and I don't think the laptops worth anything, it was bought second hand several year ago), I rely on the car for my business. Only other goods I own are some tools and clothes but nothing that's really worth anything. Furnishings and goods within the property don't belong to me, although I don't know how to prove this as I don't have a tenancy agreement.

 

I don't really know how to deal with this Charge For Payment. Should I just stick with the token payments or is there anything else that can be done?

 

I haven't ignored my debts but genuinely have financial difficulties and have done so for several year now.

 

I've considered Sequestration but my family have a very dim view on this for some reason, I don't think they understand too well. Someone advised that as a relative owns the house I'm in then she would be informed as she would be seen as the landlord even though I'm not paying rent or have any kind of agreement in place other than a temporary arrangement.

 

I apologise if I've dragged on a bit here but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[sequenci]

Hello there, the arrestment means your bank account.

You have a few options

1) A time to pay order

2) Debt Arrangement Scheme

3) Bankruptcy

 

You can read up on all options via this website:

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/debt_advice.php#3

[WhatALife]

Hi Sequenci and thanks for the response.

 

I've downloaded a form for the Time To Pay Order, my only concern as that what I offer on repayment would be the same as what I was paying before, I couldn't keep up the monthly token payment and the offer may be refused. Would it be advisable to offer a smaller and more manageable payment of £1 a month rather than £5?

 

A friend suggested that I stop making token payments to non priority creditors and offer what I was paying them to the priority creditor instead, this would make a monthly payment of £12 but I don't know how well this would go down with non priority creditors or if the courts would take a dim view on this should any of them ever go to court.

 

I had a look at the National Debtline link, a lot of good information on there. I'm not sure I would be able to apply for a Debt Arrangement Scheme as I don't have much left over after living expenses. I did apply for a Trust Deed a year ago but was advised not to do it as it's unlikely it would become protected due to me not having enough disposable income at the end of the month.

 

Bankruptcy is something I've considered for a while now and may be the only solution in the long term as I can't see my circumstances changing anytime soon but it's something I'd need to think about and have a lot of questions about.

 

Many thanks for the advice, it has been greatly appreciated.

[WhatALife]

Just a quick question regarding the time to pay order... Is there a time limit to hear back whether the offer has been accepted or not?

 

 

I posted back by Special Delivery and were received by the Court and Sheriff Officer last Monday. I've offered a monthly repayment which is affordable to me.

 

The 14 days for the Charge For Payment runs out Thursday 9th November.

 

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

How did you get on, have you heard anything.

Time limits once you send in the forms depend on the circumstances, but any delay will affect your ability to stop or reverse forms of diligence, phoning the Sheriff clerk at the Sheriff Court would have been a good starting point.

 

If the Council does not object to the payment offer the Sheriff will grant a time to pay order after 14 days, this freezes diligence and the creditor cannot carry out an attatchment, apply for an exeptional attatchment order or instruct an arrestment of your wages or bank account.

 

If the council were to object to your payment offer a date for a hearing would be fixed, you would be able to speak to the Sheriff who would then decide on the rate of payments.

 

If you are granted a Time to pay order this prevents creditors applying presure on you to pay more than you can afford. If you find it difficult to keep up the repayment amount agreed you can apply to the Sheriff to reduce instalments by using a 'variation of a time to pay order' you would need to complete a form and senmd this to the Sheriff's clerk.

Edited November 14, 2011 by maroondevo52

[WhatALife]

Hi maroondevo52, apologies for taking so long to get back to you, I'm not able to get online much at the moment.

 

I received a letter from the Sheriff Court on 25th November which said "Please see the attached certified copy interlocutor for your information. If no objection is lodged by the period of inducia, then a further order will be pronounced by the Court in due course."

 

The second page of the letter says "The Sheriff, having considered the foregoing application and being satisfied that it is properly made, sista all diligence pending the disposal of the application; appoints the creditor to furnish the Sheriff with particulars of the decree or other document under which the debt is payable within 14 days of intimation hereof; appoints the Sheriff Clerk to intimate a copy of the application and this interlocutor to the creditor; appoints him if he objects to the granting of this application to make written representation to the Court within 14 days of the date of intimation hereof."

 

I assume that this means the creditor has 14 days from the date on the letter to decide whether to accept or refuse my offer?

 

I've heard nothing from the council and the only letter I've had from the Sheriff Officer was in reply to the copy of the time to pay for I sent them which was a letter asking to contact them by return of post stating clearly specific proposals for settlement of arrears - it would appear to be a standard template letter they use.

[maroondevo52]

If a time to pay direction is made, a copy of the Court Order (called an extract decree) will be sent to you by the persuer indicating to you when payments should start.

[WhatALife]

My payment was accepted and I've started making payments. I've also managed to increase my income a bit so my situation is a bit better now.

 

I've really appreciated the advice.

[maroondevo52]

Good stuff, just remember to keep up with the repayments and things should be ok.

[IdaInFife]

[WhatALife]

All payments have been made on time but yesterday I received a letter from the Sheriff Officers which said:

 

"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 immediately on the above telephone number to prevent further action proceeding against you to obtain release of any arrested funds to our client."

 

I awoke this morning to find that £25 had been transferred from the account, it had Court Order Fee next to it, I assume that this means the account has been arrested?

 

There's never more than about £80 to £90 in the account at most but use it to receive payments from customers, pay bills and the monthly instalment for my car insurance and monthly token payment for creditors, if the account is arrested can I still do this?

[WhatALife]

I've just double checked to see that all payments have been met just in case I maybe made a mistake and missed a payment but all payments have been met.

 

Are all Direct Debits automatically cancelled if the account is arrested? I have a Direct Debit due in a week for car insurance, it's likely to cause me a lot of problems if the payment for insurance isn't paid.

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Phone your Bank they will let you know what the score is.

[WhatALife]

Hi, I was just about to phone the bank when a letter came through the post this morning from the bank advising that the account has been served with a schedule of arrestment and that no funds have been set aside as there are insufficient funds available.

 

The £25 court order fee is a bank charge for the processing of the arrestment.

 

I've emailed and sent a letter to the Sheriffs Officers which they should receive today asking why they have arrested the account when the payments in the time to pay order have been met.

[WhatALife]

Quick update - This has now been resolved, it would seem there was a possible miscommunication between the Council & Sheriff Officers but all sorted now.

 

Thanks for the advice, it's been appreciated.

[maroondevo52]

Good stuff, that's a shock there being a miscommunication between the Council and the Sheriff Officers !!!

Glad you got it sorted.