An attachment of earnings order is a legal document sent to your employer which requires them to take money from your wage to pay your certain outstanding debts. Your employer can also take an extra £1 for each deduction for their administration costs. 

It can be applied for via the county court if you have an outstanding county court judgement of £50 or more and are behind on payments.

You'll need to complete Form N56 in response to an Attachment of Earnings application. You must send the form back to the court so that the court gets it within eight days of you receiving the N56. It is an offence not to send back the form or to give false information. 

You can be sent to prison for up to 14 days or fined simply for not following the court's instructions to fill in the form and go to the hearing.

 A charging order is an option for a judgment creditor to secure an unpaid debt against your property (home, land etc) or securities (stocks and shares etc). A charging order stays on your credit file for as long as the county court judgement it relates to, however, it remains on HM Land Registry for 12 years, unless repaid in full and agreed by the creditor to remove.

Before a creditor applies for a County Court Judgment (CCJ), they must send a letter (sometimes known as a default notice or a Letter before action) to you, warning that legal action might be taken if the outstanding debt is not repaid within a minimum of 14 days.

After the creditor has submitted a claim to the county court, usually via the online claims service, you will receive the following:

• claim form - this provides details of the amount of debt which is being claimed, along with any interest

• response pack - this includes an admission form (ie to accept that the money is owed), a defence form (ie to contest a claim) and an acknowledgement of service form (ie to confirm receipt)
  
  

A response must be made within 14 days of receipt of these forms - otherwise, a CCJ will be issued as a default judgment.

Although you cannot be disconnected from your domestic water supply, you can be disconnected from gas and electric. It is important to get advice as soon as possible if you receive any letters of disconnection.

If you are in a commercial building, you can be disconnected from water if the water supplier thinks that the building is empty. It is always a good idea to keep in touch with your water supplier if you are struggling to pay commercial bills.

Please visit our energy debt page for further help.

Third Party Debt Order

A Third Party Debt Order can be applied for through the county court using Form N349 when you owe money to a CCJ & the creditor knows that you have money in a bank or savings account. When your bank or building society is served with the third party order, the court forces the money to be paid to the creditor.

You can find out more by reading the HM Courts & Tribunals Service Form EX325