If you were in the wrong band for council tax would you need to pay a company to reclaim the refund? No – but scammers would convince you otherwise.
Roger Abel told us: My 89-year-old father recently received a cold call by a company claiming that his council tax banding was too high. They said they would obtain a refund for him. He was asked to give his bank details to register a £65 fee to handle the administration and process the refund.
Luckily, he had his wits about him and realised it was a scam. It appears that this company is targeting elderly people. One of my father’s neighbours, who is 94 years old, paid the £65 fee to this company and had it refunded by her bank after reporting what had happened.
Our say on council tax scammers
We’re aware of a few claims management companies offering to challenge your council tax band on your behalf for a fee.
It appears that some may mislead people into believing they’re due a refund, or some may even take the fee without making any challenge to your local council. Often they’re very persistent and won’t take no for an answer.
We imagine that this company probably did make a challenge as its terms and conditions state that it will refund the £65 admin fee, and instead charge successful claimants a hefty chunk of their council tax rebate.
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If you, or someone you know, get a similar call, we advise that you report them to Action Fraud and to the police.
If you want to challenge your council tax band, you can do it free of charge by contacting your local Valuation Office Agency (VOA).