The internet is filled with satellite TV system promotions from various different companies. After seeing many of these ads we can understand why someone may become overwhelmed and confused about which satellite company to go with. After researching all the available satellite system plans we are happy to report that Dish TV is the best satellite system available for your dollars!

There are many reasons to choose Dish TV amongst the rest. Just a few of the obvious options to choose Dish TV are:

Free installation in up to 4 bedrooms in your home! Right there is a savings, no equipment to buy and programming is as low as $29 a month for hundreds of available channels.

When signing up for Dish TV you will be asked to pay a $49 activation fee BUT that same activation fee will be credited on your first bill which means your Dish TV system is FREE!

Along with your Dish TV system you will receive a digital recorder for FREE. If you have never heard of a digital recorder you are missing out! A DVR allows you to record hours of your favorite shows without the use of tapes, yet another savings for you. How many times have you wanted to tape your favorite show and just couldn’t find a tape? Or you ‘thought’ you were taping your favorite show and it didn’t tape correctly or you just simply forgot. A DVR will allow you to program your favorite TV shows in advance and it will tape them every week for you! Dish TV knows how to keep its customers happy and what means the most to them when buying a satellite TV system.

Should you have Dish TV installed in your home and then have to move to another location, your new Dish TV installation in your new home is FREE! This is yet another perk for choosing Dish TV.

If you don’t believe us, just do a search online and you will clearly see that Dish TV is the only option for satellite TV!

Videos on the Web are a fantastic instrument to advertise your organisation’s products. Of course there are a lot of other marketing techniques available which include article writing to blogging, from PR to e-mail. However, nothing says “cool, connection, & creative” like a short format video.

Each week more and more firms of varying sizes are producing commercial videos about their offerings. They are not only putting them on their business websites, but They’re posting them to their blogs. To gain worldwide twenty-four-seven publicity, business videos are being published to numerous video-sharing websites like that of YouTube and Google Video. And why not ? it is free, easy-to-do, & can have a huge impact, in a number of cases, on the traffic it brings to your companies site. Increase your companies online ROI with professional video production from Vidify.

There are many more reasons why professional videos are a superb way to promote your firm.

Online videos enjoy a large circulation: Videos by their very nature are straightforward to “package” which makes them good to fit into a number of different distribution circulations. You can put them on your businesses website or blog, you can even save them onto your notebook and show them over & over again at a chosen business show. You can add them to scores of World Wide Web video-sharing social websites. You can burn them onto DVDs & give them away or sell them. You can even send them by email.

Online videos are an amazing way to advertise. As our understanding with technology evolves, so do the ways in which people like to interact with others. Most people are visually oriented meaning that is how they best understand & work with their world. This makes internet videos the ideal business strategy to talk with today’s public.

These are just a couple of the several reasons why short format videos might be a fabulous way to promote your organisation’s products & services. Discover more about this topic to see how you may well utilise your time, cash, and energy to talk to your target audience in a new & fascinating way.

by Neal Walters

1) Look for free online lessons such as the ones we offer at our new SpanishLearningCentre.com site. The link is at the bottom of this article. You can join other beginners and experience our lessons, including the mp3 audios provided.

2) Listen to Spanish MP3s or Audio-CD courses in your car. Do you spend 30 minutes commuting to work twice a day? That’s over 5 hours a week that you spend in your car! So start learning Spanish in the car, instead of listening to the radio.

3) There’s no excuse for getting upset about waiting in lines. Always carry Spanish flashcards with you, and pull them out and do a quick review any time you find yourself waiting. You can easily make your own with 3×5 notecards based on whatever course you are currently taking.

4) Get a book. This may seem obvious, but while you are learning from audios, it’s always good to a good reference book (with a good Spanish dictionary in the back). Some people are audio-learners, but others must see the written words to learn.

5) Don’t forget about software on your computer. You can easily listen to the same words and phrases over-and-over again without tiring out your computer. With multimedia systems, you typically get immediate feedback on your progress and mistakes.

6) Check your local high-schools and colleges for “fun” education classes. Spanish is often on their list of community courses for $25 or less. You will have the benefit of feedback from a teacher, and the opportunity to practice with other studetns at your level.

7) If you get a chance, visit a Spanish-speaking country, especially if you can stay in the home of a family. You will learn so much more than the typial tourist/hotel experience. The site-seeing, museums, culture and foods will all help you learn your new language.

Check out our free tutorials at Free Learn Spanish Online website.

Remember, in these directories the best and most legitimate survey companies will be listed which you will be able to apply to for free. Legitimate survey companies never charge a fee to participate in their surveys. Getting Are Paid Surveys A Scam is simple. Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need to start this work and make quick money, read on more about Are Paid Surveys A Scam. Considering the current economic situation it is highly advisable try to make some extra money if you have some free time or even if you do not have free time but you want to do an extra income the by filling out surveys you can do it let see how to make the most of this easy way to make money online. Also see Gettin Paid For Surveys. But for the cash paying sites they can pay anywhere from $1 to $10 or more.

To build a precious and lasting relationship with your customers, just remember not to make your survey questions too personal. In fact these questions must be carefully thought over, and should not pose hassle or discomfort to customers. Give your customers ease and comfort while answering your surveys. Read on to find out more about Are Paid Surveys A Scam. You need a way to find out which places do that. Find out more about Are Paid Surveys A Scam and Gettin Paid For Surveys. They figure that all paid survey sites are going to be like this and pay low so they chug along trying to complete surveys for cash that only pay you fifty cents.
Join for Free now at http://www.Top-PaidSurveys.org

Sure you can make money online through PayPal from them but you aren’t getting 25% of what you really should be earning. More about Are Paid Surveys A Scam and Gettin Paid For Surveys at our website. Get all the info on Are Paid Surveys A Scam from our homepage. This will ensure that you never have a shortage of opportunities or income. Get paid survey network list absolutely FREE from our website! Absolutely no charge for joining the industry’s TOP 7 paying survey networks from www.top-paidsurveys.org

Apply To Take Surveys (and Get Paid!)
AND to View 100% of Survey Results of Your Choice From EVERY Industry!

From personal experience, each of these consumer survey networks contains thousands of high paying multinational companies, ready to pay you $10-$300 for every survey done! Absolutely FREE to join.
Good Luck!

Turning Problems Into Possibilities
by Alan Tutt
http://www.KeysToPower.com

Many times, a problem is an indication that there is something we must learn. Other times, a problem is simply an outworking of a previous use of Power that was directed through a negative channel. In the Keys To Power, there are a couple of things we can do depending on which situation we are faced with.

Most of us are content to keep things the way they are until there is a problem. This is fine, and there is no reason to change this (unless it becomes a problem, that is). When we are faced with a problem, one of the things we must consider is whether the problem is the result of the way we’ve been doing things. If it is the result of our pattern of action or inaction, then we must change our patterns if we wish to avoid having the same problem in the future. If the problem is not a direct result of what we’ve been doing (or not doing), then all we have to do is deal with the issue at hand and be done with it. This is how most of us are used to dealing with problems.

In the Keys To Power system, we recognize that everything that we experience is a direct result of our pattern of action or inaction. There is absolutely nothing that we can say was purely chance or the fault of someone other than ourselves. Yes, we are directly responsible if there is an earthquake that destroys our house, and we are also responsible for the idiot on the road that cuts us off and causes us to run off the road.

While this may seem harsh and unforgiving at first, it becomes extremely liberating once you learn about the Power that you control and direct. If you are alive, then the Universal Power of Life flows through you. This Power picks up the essence of your thoughts and feelings and proceeds out into your world to create experiences based on those thoughts and feelings. And once you learn to control your thoughts and feelings, you are able to control what that Power creates in your world.

Let me describe how problems get created. Something happens that you are not happy with. Let’s say that your boss promotes someone else into a position that you wanted. Most people will react to this with a feeling of frustration, and some thoughts will be entertained that suggests that other people get things we ourselves should be getting. Even though this is a reaction to something that has already happened, the thoughts and feelings still direct Power to create future events. Power picks up the feeling of frustration and the thoughts of unfairness and goes out into the world to create an experience.

The amount of Power working to create this experience will depend on how strong the thoughts and feelings were that were entertained, and how long they were focused upon. If there was not much energy put into them, then there will be very little Power to create a similar experience. If these things were dwelt upon for days and weeks with a severe intensity, then there will be a huge amount of Power looking to create a catastrophy. (Don’t imagine this too vividly. You don’t want to create this for yourself.) With only a little Power directed towards frustration, only little experiences will reflect this feeling. With a great deal of Power directed towards unfairness, a person could end up being sued in court with false evidence!

But here’s the reason that this relationship is not as clear as it should be: every day you focus on so many different things, some good and others not so good. Power is directed in many different directions to create a wide variety of experiences. And in turn, this wide variety of experiences will incite an equally wide variety of thoughts and feelings, which in turn direct Power to create an equally wide variety of experiences. A complete circle of cause and effect. Imagine what life would be like if you only thought and felt positive things! Power would only create good things for you, which will incite only positive thoughts and feelings, which will only create good things, and on and on along positive channels.

I’ve had many students who started learning about the Power they control with their minds and started working to direct that Power towards positive ends. And then a few days, or even a couple of weeks later, some major problem comes up and they wonder why. With all the positive Power they released into the world, how could a problem of such magnitude possibly happen? The answer is simple, although not always accepted. At the point where these students started focusing on positive uses for Power, they had already released enough Power directed negatively to create the problems that came up. Some students give up at this point, feeling that they could never become successful in directing Power (a feeling that will create experiences that will reflect this idea). In fact, if they had persisted, the negatively directed Power they had previously released would eventually work itself out and there would be no more to create any problems whatsoever!

So how can we actually use this information? Quite simply in fact. Recognizing that your thoughts and feelings will direct Power to creating your experiences, you can work to control your them to reflect only what you want to experience. This is a process that takes time, and you won’t be able to eliminate all negativity from your life overnight, but it can happen. At one time, I had a very strong habit of getting into angry moods which would be very intense and last for hours at a time. Needless to say, I had a lot of problems in my life.

After trying various methods to gain control over my anger, I found the best method was to simply take time and cultivate the feelings of love, peace, and happiness. I would schedule a time period of about a half an hour to a full hour and sit and think about what these feelings were like. If I tried to remember when I had felt these feelings, I would end up remembering something that triggered more anger, so I ended up focusing strictly on the feelings I wanted separate from any event or experience.

This method proved to be amazingly effective! Not only did I start to feel better within a couple of days, but within the week I was already gaining control over my mind and emotions. One month later and I was reacting to life events with a completely new pattern. And over time, I have learned that the change in the way I reacted to things has completely my “bad luck” into “good luck”. Now, instead of everything going wrong and the good things going to other people, everything goes much better and I get more than my share of good things.

While not all of my students have chosen to work with this method of controlling thoughts and feelings, those who have tried it have found similar results. Not only do they feel much better about life and find that life reacts by giving them more good things, but they also find that they can focus their minds on the things they want in such a way as to automatically attract whatever it is that they desire! They have found that they can specify exactly what they want instead of just a general concept of life experiences!

And this is true Power. To decide what you want and to get it, without undue effort, without strain and struggle, and without worry that it may not happen. With the Keys To Power, you know that anything you want will be yours!

The only other thing to keep in mind when problems surface is this: there is always more to learn. If something is not responding the way you expect it to, then there is more information you need in order to get the response you want. Keep an open mind that looks for the missing information, and you will eventually overcome any problem. You have my word on it.

About the Author

Alan Tutt is the creator of the world-famous Keys To Power Mastery System available at http://www.KeysToPower.com. Alan has recently written a new book called “Keys To Power Prosperity” in which he shares all that he’s learned to attract windfall prosperity in any situation. Find out more by visiting http://www.KeysToPowerProsperity.com today.

To pass the CCNA exam and earn that coveted certification, you’ve got to know Cisco switches inside and out. Among the many important details you’ve got to know are the three methods that Cisco switches use to forward frames, and the differences between the three.

The first switching method is Store-and-Forward. The name is the recipe, because that’s just what the switch does - it stores the entire frame before beginning to forward it. This method allows for the greatest amount of error checking, since the Frame Check Sequence (FCS) can be run before the frame is forwarded. As always, there is a tradeoff, since this error checking process makes this the slowest of the three frame forwarding methods.

The quickest method is Cut-Through, where only the destination MAC address of the frame is examined before the forwarding process begins. This means that the part of the frame is actually being forwarded as it is still being received! The tradeoff here is that the FCS does not run, so there is absolutely no error checking with Cut-Through switching.

The middle ground between these two extremes is Fragment-Free, so named since fragmented frames will not be forwarded. The switch examines only the first 64 bytes of the frame for errors, since that is the part of the frame that will be damaged in case of a collision. There is error checking, but it is not as thorough as Store-and-Forward.

Keeping these three switching schemes straight is vital to your CCNA exam efforts, and it will help you in working with Cisco switches in the real world as well. Keep studying!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

George Washington was the first president of the United States and considered one of the best.

George Washington is a much-admired person in many respects. As the first president of the United States, he set the course upon which the current three-branch system of federal government is based. George Washington is perhaps the one person who can most claim the title of Founding Father.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Virginia. He was the son of well off plantation owner and spent his you in relative comfort. During his youth, the British Empire ruled the 13 colonies. Despite what you might assume, he was hardly a revolutionary and his stated goal was to become an officer in the British Army! Obviously, that goal never came to fruition.

As George Washington grew into adulthood, he became an expert surveyor of land. He worked in what was then called the American West and purchased vast tracts of land with other family members. He eventually owned over 56 thousand acres.

In 1752, George Washington joined the Virginia militia. He quickly became an officer and played a pivotal part in the French and Indian War. The French had moved into the Ohio Valley, which aggravated the British to no end. Washington was given the task of telling the French to leave the territory. When they refused, Washington suggested a fort be built and his superiors agreed.

As the fort was being built, Washington was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given the task of defending it. Leading 159 men, he was victorious in minor skirmishes. Instead of being promoted to an officer position in the British Army, he was told no colonial could attain the position. Bitter, Washington resigned and the French turned the tide.

Desperate to turn the tide, the British Governor of Virginia reinstated George Washington by appointing him Commander of all the Colonial forces. Within three years, the French were defeated and Washington was famous. He married Martha Curtis in 1959, but they never had any children.

By the 1760s, George Washington had retired from the military and entered politics. He was a member of the Virginia legislature and a major critic of the British. In 1770, Washington began advocating forceful resistance to British rule.

In 1775, the colonies formed a Continental Congress to address the conflict with the British. George Washington was elected Commander of all colonial forces. War had already broken out in Massachusetts. Washington and his troops soon joined and the British were defeated in Boston in 1776. By summer, however, the British has sent more troops and defeated the colonial forces on numerous occasions.

Facing total defeat and a lack of money, George Washington did an amazing thing. He rallied his rag tag colonial forces and paid their wages out of his own finances. By late December of 1776, the colonial forces were starting to turn the tide against the British. After more victories in 1777, the French offered their support. It took a few years to arrive, but Washington was eventually able to completely defeat the British. In 1781, the British surrendered much of the east coast. In 1783, a treaty was signed granting the colonies their independence.

On February 4, 1789, George Washington was elected the first President of the United States of America with John Adams as vice president. As the first president, he put in place many precedents and traditions including:

1. Being referred to as Mr. President.

2. Refused to be declared King.

3. The creation of an inaugural event and ball.

4. Swearing on a bible when taking the oath of president.

5. Moving the capital to Washington, D.C.

6. Agreeing to the passage of the Bill of Rights.

7. Proclaimed the neutrality of the United States in all international conflicts.

In 1792, President Washington ran for re-election and was unopposed. He left office in March 1797. On December 14, 1799, he died of pneumonia on his Virginia plantation.

Richard Monk is with FactsMonk.com - a site with facts about everything. Visit us to read more about facts about George Washington.

A credit report is a basic financial statement that reports an individual’s financial history in terms of payment of credit bills, loans and mortgages, and other credit related information. It shows whether or not an individual is in debt, how much, and for how long.

Credit reports are used by major financial companies to sanction credit and determine the rates of interest over a period of time. A good credit report can fetch a lower interest rate and save money, whereas a bad credit history may mean paying more interest, or perhaps being denied credit.

Credit reports can be utilized by any financially interested party. It could be your real estate agent, credit card company, your prospective landlord, or even your employer. There are regulations that govern the use of credit reports by such parties, and the individual may need to be informed that his or her credit report has been used for evaluations.

Given the importance of this documents, it makes sense to keep a regular check on what gets reported. The biographical details must be correct, and incorrect or false records must be reported to the agencies concerned.

Also important is the issue of identity theft and fraud. Is someone making use of your identity and credit report to get loans, or gain employment? A regular check on your payment receipts - are they no longer coming to you? - can keep such threats away.

Credit reports are prepared by credit bureaus - especially the three major credit agencies that include Equifax. A lot of information can be obtained on their websites regarding credit reports, fair use, fraud, and error reporting.

Given the universal popularity of credit cards and credit transactions, almost every one of us may have a credit history that is being reported to the credit bureaus. Managing one’s credit is therefore important as it influences our future chances of obtaining credit at lower rates of interest.

For more information on credit reports visit credit reports

The author is a freelance writer associated with government-free-credit-report.net.

There’s nothing I enjoy more than teaching Cisco technologies, especially CCNA candidates. Whether it’s in-person or online, everyone’s excited to be there. There’s a sense of anticipation in the air, and everyone is ready to work hard, get their hands on the racks of Cisco routers and switches I
have available…

… and then I break out the OSI model chart. Chins slump. People sigh, or at least wish they hadn’t ordered decaf that morning.

Okay, it’s not that bad. But it does temper the excitement a little. I always get a sense of “why can’t we just hurry up and get on the routers and switches? Why do we have to learn this dry stuff?”

One reason is that Cisco demands you know the OSI model inside and out for both the Intro and ICND exams. You have to admit that’s a pretty good reason, but still, students find the OSI model information to be very dry.

I understand that, because I’ve been there. My first exposure to the OSI model was actually in a Novell “Networking Technologies” class, and man, was that chart ever dry. They crammed every known protocol (and some unknown ones, I think) into the OSI model. It looked like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and the real problem is that I didn’t know what the heck most of that stuff was.

So I dutifully attempted to memorize this massive chart. I managed to pass the exam, but I wondered what all that effort had really been for. It’s not like you sit around in a server room or wiring closet and discuss the OSI model.

As a CCNA candidate, you don’t have to worry about all the protocols I memorized way back when, but you do have to know what happens at each layer. Which leads to this question:

“If I work with routers and switches, why do I have to know about all the other layers? Don’t routers and switches just work at layer 2 and 3?”

Yes, switches work at Layer 2 and routers at Layer 3. But to truly understand networking, you’ve got to understand what happens at the other layers. Why?

Most network administrators and engineers are going to spend a lot more time troubleshooting than installing. That’s just the way it is. And to troubleshoot effectively, you’ve got to know what’s going on at all layers of the OSI model, not just layers 2 and 3.

As someone who’s done a lot of hiring and conducted a great many job interviews, I can tell you that the ability to troubleshoot is the number one quality I look for. That’s why I tell CCNA and CCNP candidates that they’ve got to get all the hands-on practice they can while I understand the importance of theory, the only way to develop troubleshooting ability is to work on the real deal. No simulator program
is going to teach you how to troubleshoot.

Additionally, the only way to truly develop your troubleshooting abilities is to know what’s going on over the entire network, not just the routers and switches. Troubleshooting always starts at Layer 1 if you don’t find a problem at the Physical layer, and everything’s fine with your routers and switches, how are you going to continue troubleshooting if you don’t know what the next steps are as data moves closer to the end user?

So when it comes to the OSI model, don’t just give it a quick once-over and move on to the fun stuff in your CCNA studies. The tangible benefit of passing your exams is great, but it’s the hidden benefit of developing your own troubleshooting methodology that makes mastering the OSI model worthwhile.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” or “How To Pass The CCNP”, send a request to chris@thebryantadvantage.com today !

This article is about bailiffs who may call trying to collect Council Tax or Community Charge (Poll Tax) arrears. If a bailiff has contacted you to collect another sort of debt the law might be different.

Council Tax and Poll Tax are usually collected by private firms of bailiffs on behalf of your local council. They try to take your goods away and sell them, usually at auction, to raise money to pay the debt. The process they have to follow to say they want your goods is called ‘distraining’ or ‘levying’.

From October 1998 bailiffs who call must be “certificated”. This means they must have a certificate from the County Court allowing them to act as bailiffs. You can complain to the County Court about a certificated bailiff.

From April 1998 you should get a letter from the Council telling you how much you owe and warning you that a bailiff will call if you do not pay the debt within 14 days. It will also tell you who to contact at the council if you have a query. Contact the council and try to make an arrangement to pay what you can afford
immediately. If the council agrees then they can stop bailiffs calling out and save you extra fees.

DO I HAVE TO LET THE BAILIFFS IN?

IF THE BAILIFFS HAVE NOT BEEN INTO YOUR HOME BEFORE TO COLLECT THIS DEBT, THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME IN. THEY CANNOT BREAK IN. YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO LET THEM IN.

* DON’T open the door to them as they may try to push past you. If they get inside, they have a right to enter again and may break in to take your goods.

* DON’T leave windows open or doors unlocked - bailiffs can legally get in through these. Bailiffs
CANNOT get the police to help them break in.

* BEWARE! Some bailiffs may leave you a phone number, and arrange to come round to ‘have a chat’. Don’t let them in, even if they say it’s only to use the toilet or make a phone call.

* Bailiffs MAY try to break into sheds, garages, greenhouses etc., even though this is illegal. KEEP VALUABLES SAFE! They may be able to take cars, motor-bikes and other vehicles parked near your home.

* Politely but firmly refuse to let the bailiffs in. Offer what you can afford to pay. If the bailiffs accept your offer, ask them to return to their car, and go out and pay them. Make sure you get a receipt.

DON’T SIGN ANYTHING! If the bailiff leaves papers for you to sign and return, you do not have to do this. You don’t have to sign agreements posted through your door either.

THE BAILIFFS HAVE ALREADY BEEN INSIDE MY HOME

THIS IS MORE SERIOUS. If you have let them in before, then bailiffs have the right to return to you home and if you don’t let them in, they are allowed to break in.

* Contact the bailiffs straight away and make an offer to pay the debt in instalments. Show them a copy of your personal budget so they can see you are offering as much as you can afford. You will need to treat this as a priority debt as bailiffs could come back and take any goods they have listed if you don’t pay. Get a receipt for any payments you make.

* Contact you council and ask them to take the debt back. Ask your local Councillor for help.

WHAT THINGS ARE THE BAILIFFS ALLOWED TO TAKE?

There are some things that the bailiffs are not allowed to take at all; such as goods that are rented or hired. The regulations also say that the following items are exempt and can’t be taken:

* “Such tools, books, vehicles and other items of equipment as are necessary for use personally in employment, business or vocation”

* “Such clothing, bedding, furniture, household equipment and provisions as are necessary for satisfying basic domestic needs of the person and family”.

* This list is not very specific so you may find that bailiffs have a different idea of what items are necessary for you to keep and what can be taken. You can complain about what the bailiffs take if you feel the items should have been exempt.

CAN THE BAILIFFS TAKE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT MINE?

The bailiffs can only take things which belong to you and/or goods which are jointly owned by you and your partner. If they want to take goods that belong to someone else (your children, partner, lodgers etc.) explain that the goods do not belong to you. If you can, show a receipt or note as proof. The owner of the goods may have to provide a sworn statement in the form of a “statutory declaration” to say this is the case.
They cannot take goods which are rented or hired. This includes goods on hire purchase agreements. Show them a copy of your credit agreement if you can.

WHAT IF I HIDE THINGS OR GIVE THEM AWAY?

If the bailiffs haven’t yet been in, you can hide things or take them somewhere else. If the bailiffs have already been in, you are committing an offence if you remove goods that they have said they will take. You can hide them on your premises but the bailiffs can search for them.

BAILIFFS PROCEDURES

If the bailiffs are distraining for Poll Tax or Council Tax, there are certain procedures that they have to follow. They must have with them:-

* written authorisation from the council for them to call. They should show you this if you ask.

They must leave you a copy of:-

* the law setting out their powers and what they can and cannot do. These are the “Enforcement
Regulations”.

* the charges the bailiffs are allowed to make for each visit. You should check they have not added too much on to your debt. See the schedule at the end of this fact sheet.

* any agreement you have actually signed. This will be called a “Walking Possession” agreement and includes a list of goods the bailiffs have warned you they may take.

HOW DO I STOP THE BAILIFFS?

* You can try to make an arrangement to pay the debt back at a rate that you can afford. You can offer the money directly to the bailiffs, although it is easier to get them to accept your offer if they have never been into your home. Always get a receipt for any money you pay.

* Bailiffs cannot send you to prison. If the bailiffs have never been into your home and they will not accept your offer, all they can do is to pass your debt back to the council. It is important to make an arrangement to pay the council, or they may try other ways of recovering the money, such as taking money out of your wages or your benefit.

* If the bailiffs refuse your offer it is important to put the money you have offered aside so you can pay it to the council as soon as the debt is passed back to them. Write to the bailiffs and the council telling them you are saving the money up as the bailiffs have refused to take your payments.

* If you are on Income Support, Pension Credit or Job Seekers Allowance, some councils’ have a policy for not using bailiffs and will accept an offer from you or agree to accept direct payments from your benefits. Ask your council if they are willing to take the debt back from the bailiffs so you can pay them directly.

* If the council won’t help then contact your local councillor and ask them to take it up with the council for you. Explain what hardship you will be in if the bailiffs come to your home and take your belongings.

HOW DO I COMPLAIN?

The Lord Chancellors Department has issued National Standards for Enforcement Agents. These good practice guidelines set out general rules for how bailiffs should behave and what procedures they should follow. You can mention these standards in your complaint but the standards are not enforceable by law. We can give you details of the standards or they may be found at the Department for Constitutional Affairs website www.dca.
gov.uk/enforcement/agents02.htm

GET ADVICE FIRST. Bailiffs law is very complex, and even if you think that what they have done is unfair, they may still be acting within the law.

* From October 1998 bailiffs have to have a certificate granted by a court to collect Council Tax. A complaint from you can help get the certificate withdrawn. Ask your local County court if they have a form for making a complaint. If not, write in to the Court Manager with details. The Court will hold a hearing and can cancel the bailiff’s certificate, order compensation and order return of the goods. A bailiff can be fined for collecting without a certificate.

* You can complain to the Magistrates Court, and there have been cases recently where the debt has, in effect, been written off when it has been proved that bailiffs have acted illegally. This is done by making a complaint and asking for a hearing. The court can order return of the goods or compensation.

* You should complain to the council as the bailiffs are acting as their agent. They can ask the bailiffs to look at your complaint and change their procedures. If the council won’t help you could talk to your local councillor who may be prepared to take your complaint up with the council.

* You can ask the local Government Ombudsman to look at your complaint if the Council refuse to help you.

BAILIFFS CHARGES

You may be able to complain about bailiffs charges. The amounts they are allowed to charge for council tax and poll tax are set out in the schedule on page 5. The amounts they are allowed to charge for council tax are set out on the next page in the schedule. There are lower fees for poll tax collection. These are shown in italics. If you feel you have been charged too much you can complain in writing to the Council and the bailiffs. You may be able to ask the County Court to look at the charges for you see below. Phone us for advice.

You can find out what is ‘reasonable’ by making enquiries on a local basis. For example, if you have been charged £80 for attendance with a van, and local enquires indicate you could hire a van for a morning for £40 this is clearly unreasonable, especially as it is likely that bailiffs will be visiting several properties at once, and many companies own their own vans.

In the first instance, complain to the bailiffs themselves. You can tell them you know their charges are excessive and that you will be taking further action if the charges are not reduced to the levels shown in the schedule.

* You can then complain to the council as the bailiffs are acting as agents of the Council. There have been recent cases that have been taken back in front of the Magistrates Court over these issues, with the result that the councils have been forbidden to take any further recovery action, or in other words, the debt has been written off. So it IS worth complaining.

* You can apply to the County Court for the costs to be checked. This is called “Taxation”. The court can look at a complaint within 12 months. They will decide if the charges are excessive or not. There is a fee to pay to the court for this application. If the court decides not reduce the bill at least 20% you can be liable for the bailiffs firm’s court costs. You need legal advice first.

USEFUL LINKS

The Secretary
Association of Civil Enforcement Agencies
Kensington House
33 Imperial Square
Cheltenam
Glos
Tel: 01242 241456
Website: www.acea.org.uk

The Secretary
Enforcement Services Association (ENSAS)
(formally The Certificated Bailiffs Association) Ridgefield House
14 John Dalton Street Manchester M2 6JR Tel: 0161 839 7225
Website: www.bailiffs.org.uk

Local Government Ombudsman (England)
Millbank Tower
Milbank
London SW1P 4QP
Advice Line: 0845 602 1983
Monday to Friday 9.00 am - 4.30 pm. Website: www.lgo.org.uk

There are 3 Local Government Ombudsman offices for England. Please contact the advice line to check where to send any complaint.

Local Government Ombudsman (Wales)
Derwen House Court Road Bridgend
CF31 1BN
Tel: 01656 661 325
Website: www.ombudsman-wales.org

Author: Michael Sherriff

After writing 100’s of articles relating to UK Credit and finance Michael has also written a book that blows away the myths surrounding UK credit repair. A number one seller in the UK called “UK Credit Secrets 2005 Edition”. This book can be found at UK Credit Secrets