Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

[pascoe67]

I have received a letter saying that my offer to pay £20 per month from a bill of £360 is not acceptable! so they have said i need to make 3 payments of £120 per mth or the baliffs will be sent.

They then asked for a payment of £5 plus 50p for the debit card over the phone! so i payed.
Question is do i have to pay in three instalments and is it not right that they have to accept an offer of payment know matter how much? What are my rights in this matter.

kind regards
Pascoe

[ploddertom]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

What is the debt for?

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

Certificated bailiffs are very good at engineering defaults. Also, it is a clear breach of OFT regulations for any bailiff company or debt collection agency to set payments at a level that you cannot realistically afford or that would send you even deeper into debt. Rossendales know this and so do or should their bailiffs. Once the type of debt you are dealing with is known, it will be easier to advise you further.

[pascoe67]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

Yes sotty it is for council tax

[pascoe67]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

sorry not sotty

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

Okay. So its CT arrears. Could you provide a breakdown of -

1. CT arrears with court courts;
2. Bailiff fees (if any);
3. What you can realistically afford per week on your current income, after allowing for essential outgoings, including rent?

[pascoe67]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

The total is £360, there where know court costs that i can see, i offered £20 per mth and they said it would have to be paid in 3 mths. There has been no bailiff as yet just the threat.
we could push to £40 per mth but they say that,that is not enough.

[ploddertom]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

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

[pascoe67]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

This bill has already been to court just not sure of the costs from the court.
It went to court to which i received a letter then nothing for a while then yesterday a letter from the said company telling me to pay or i would receive a call from there bailiff

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

The total is £360, there where know court costs that i can see, i offered £20 per mth and they said it would have to be paid in 3 mths. There has been no bailiff as yet just the threat.
we could push to £40 per mth but they say that,that is not enough.

It is not up to Rossendales to tell you how much to pay per week, month or whatever. It stands out like a sore thumb they are attempting to engineer a default in order to charge fees, a practice I've heard referred to as Garnering. It is also a breach of their OFT Category F Debt Collection Licence.

If the council have told you that you have to deal with Rossendales, that is not entirely correct. There is nothing in law that says you have to deal with a bailiff or bailiff company. Pay what you can realistically afford to the Council using their automated payment system and inform Rossendales you are paying the arrears directly to the Council. There is nothing they can do about that. And there is nothing the Council can do to stop you. Pay a regular amount on the same day each week so that you build up a payment history which, in turn, makes it difficult for the Council to justify any further enforcement action, including going back to Court. If you are on benefits, you can ask the Council to allow you to enter into an Attachment of Benefits Order (ABO). With an ABO, a fixed sum is taken from your benefits at a rate set by law. If this would be easier for you, speak to the Council. If they refuse, challenge their decision.

As for Rossendales threats, they are seriously asking to be legally-restrained. It would appear they have learned nothing from the slamming they received from the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) over the conduct of the company and its bailiffs whilst working for Blaby Council. Perhaps they need reminding of this case.

[pascoe67]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

Ok thankyou I will start with the council and see if i get any luck and I will indeed use your information on here and call them again on monday morning. Thankyou very much for your help
Kind regards
Andy

[CleverClogs]

Re: Rossendales Bailiffs offer of a payment

See if you can spot the "card payment fee" in the attached file, which lists the fees that may lawfully be exacted.