Hi all, I am suffering from stress and depression, am currently under medication and due to be referred to a psychiatrist in the new year. I am just about holding onto my job, but I am taking more and more days off - which is a worry in itself. Last year my council issued an attachment of earnings order for outstanding tax arrears because they didn't accept my proposal to repay. My local MP managed to get it withdrawn (thankfully), but I still had the embarrassment of my workplace being made aware. I told the council about my mental health then, and offered to provide proof, but they didn't want it. The same council have now served another one for arrears going further back. I am owed deposit money from a previous landlord who failed to return it (in the same period as sthe council's claim) and that money was earmarked to pay off my council tax. I'll now have to borrow the money to take him to court. I'm also claiming back PPI which will help pay these arrears and some others. All I need is some more time to get these owed monies and they will be paid in full. So far, the council show no interest in helping me or understanding my situation. They want their money now and that's that. My question is this, should the council pursue me so agressively if I have mental health issues? Very grateful for your advice, am finding it hard to cope. Thanks

I do apologise if this is the wrong place. I'll try to be brief as possible - I had a my council tax bill for 2013/14 yesterday and it noted I have an attachment of earns for last year worth £1200 - which is more than my yearly council tax. I hold my hands up that last year I missed a payment due a very difficult pregnancy for my partner- she had a lot of problems- everything kinda went out the window and I miss one months payment. My local council refered the remainder of the balance (about £300) to Bristow and Suitor - on they day they contacted me via phone, I told them I wasn't going to deal with them. They sent one letter after that threatening collecting and that's the last I heard from them. Any time I went in to the local council office to pay the balance - I was turned away being advised it was now in the hands of B&S. I find it hard to believe that 1 letter and phone call is worth £900. We had no visits - my partner was in all the time due to the aforementioned problems. IS there anyway I can cotnest the bulk of these charges? Ive already asked for a break down but nothing back yet

Hi all I posted a thread recently regarding a bailiffs visit for three council tax liability orders (original thread Since then I have made a payment to the council as agreed and have ignored the bailiffs letters etc. The council have agreed to take the payment on the accounts they currently hold but are still insisting that I negotiate with Rossendales for the 3 liability orders that they hold. My plan was simply to ignore Rossendales and just continue to make my payments to the council and just wait for the accounts to be returned. All going great until on Saturday I received a letter on Rossendale headed paper. The letter is as follows:- PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE RE: attachment of earnings order Please find enclosed a copy of the Attachment of Earnings Order that we have served on your employer in order to recover an outstanding debt on behalf of Wakefield District council. Please read the enclosed regulations so that you fully understand your role as failure to comply with the requirements may render you liable for a fine. Yours Sincerely, Wakefield District Council I am confused. The letter is from Rossendales yet signed by the council????? It also says on the reverse on the "to your employer" part that payment is to be made to Rossendales. What should I do?

Our house is due to be repossessed after we both lost our jobs. Whilst we are no overly concerned at having to move out as we have been struggling to pay for utilities etc. for the last 5 years and to be honest it will be a relief. We are currently not in debt to any of our utility companies. My concern is that as the house now has negative equity will the mortgage company be able to apply for an attachment of earnings against our pensions when the house is sold. My husband has a small private pension and we will both qualify for our state pension later this year other than that we have not other income or savings. As we will have to rent a house I am worried that we will not be able to afford to live if the mortgage company can take our pensions.

Hello, I am desperate to find some help with an issue that started by a car I had on a personal lease being stolen. The Insurance company refused to pay and then RCI FINANCIAL l in conjunction with MATTHEW, ARNOLD AND BALDWYN SOLICITORS somehow managed to get a CCJ against me. The next I heard was that I had to go to court for them to make an order on our property for £1700 which they claim that I owed. This was made up of repossession charges (Car found by police) and also storage charges plus the outstanding payments up to the end of the lease. I attended court and was told I could have applied to have this set aside - I would have tried this had I known because the solicitor never wrote to me until I had to attend the court for the property order. I write a letter explaining I was on a Debt management programme and had been for some years but the court just treated me as a formality and granted the order on my property which is also owned by my wife. This happened in MAY 2012 and charges of £250 were added to the debt. I was told by the solicitor in court that as long as RCI know they have the order on our property they will not pursue this matter or can they force us to sell our home. We have 4 children under the age of 11 so we need to protect them but this is a real struggle - we barely manage to feed them and ourselves and often do not heat the house as we cannot afford both. We think we had been mislead by the solicitor in as much as they have the property order they will get their money if and when we sell the house, this is because we showed them we could not afford to pay anything. Now I have received an attachment of earnings order which to me seems sheer bloody spiteful and all I know what I can do is ask here for some advise and to also make the debt management plan CCCS aware. They have also added another £100 to the debt. If they are allowed to take money from my wages our home and and the other debts will not be possible to pay and I will be out of a job and we will be homeless.. I just feel so desperate that I am prepared to tell them to send me to prison and the solicitor has again not written to us and proceeded straight to another court action. I would be ever so grateful for any advice please.

All, Has anybody had success in an offer for voluntary payment. I have received an order after missing 2 monthly payments, on £5598.61 debt. My order monthly payments were agreed at £39.50 via CCJ order. I can make this payments but in all honesty forget to re set up standing order on-line after they were accidentally deleted. I'm in a very sensitive work siltation and an attachment request via the courts would put my job in major jeopardy, I really cannot let this go via my employer. I have contact Optima to request that I pay arrears and continue to pay monthly payments without fail via direct debit. However I haven't heard back from them, I need to reply to the court by this Wednesday. I have a feeling Optima legal will state I need to go direct via the court process of sending in voluntarily request. If a voluntary request is rejected do the courts go ahead with earnings order via employer?

I owe £1800 in council tax arrears but I'm up to date with my current years council tax. While on benefits, bristow & sutor would take £21 from my benefit towards this. Now I am working in a permanent job, I am still only able to afford £30 per month towards the arrears but bristow and sutor consider this too low and they have now written to my employer to put an attachment of earnings in place which I cannot afford. Initially, I was trying to make payments to the Council as overpayments on my council tax but my council refused to put these over payments towards my council tax arrears and instead they just went towards my current year's bill. After that I spoke to Bristow & Sutor and told them what I could afford to pay which they said was unacceptab;e (I have paid them anyway) but now I have received an attachement of earnings order which I cannot afford. I've been to the CAB and received a signed copy of my income/expenditure and I've sent it to both the council and bailiffs a number of times but they claim to not have received it or to not care. I've begged the council to take back this debt but they say the can't and I've also called Bristow and Sutor who refuse to discuss this any further. Is there any way I can get this into a court room? I dispute the fact that I owe all of it but I do owe about £1400. I am willing to pay it but can only currently afford £40 per month. I need help - please help me - my outgoings are the bare minimum. I have Gas/Electricity meters, I have a pay a you go mobile that I never use to make calls. I've pared back my expenses as much as possible and now don't know what to do. No leeway on my mortgage owing to a suspended possession order so please please help

Hi all. My OH bought one of these from Argos a couple of months ago: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8331836.htm Last night, my daughter was about to take a shower and the rubber fitting over the hot tap ruptured down the middle, covering her and pretty much the entire bathroom in hot (but thankfully not scalding) water. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like my OH kept the receipt so I doubt that we can return it, but my main concern anyway is that Argos and the manufacturer are aware of the potential fault - if this had happened to someone elderly, the outcome could have been far more serious. I'm not trying to scaremonger here - we checked all the reviews before purchasing, and it's obvious that this isn't a common occurrence! If there are any serial or batch numbers on the shower, I'd be more than happy to provide them if they are required for checks to be made.

hi i have a few ccjs that are attachment to earnings and i am not sure who they from however i was wondering how i can find out how much i have left to pay if this is possible any help is appreciated many thank

I was taken to the small claims court by a child minder who minded my daughter for a total of two and a half weeks as I didn't give her 4 weeks notice. Long story short her daughter bit mine very badly twice in the space of a week which went unnoticed, so I removed her from her care after the second time. She was paid for 3 weeks even though she only watched her for two and a half. She won in court as there was no settling in period agreed. I stated at the time and in all correspondence to the lady that I was unable to pay her and the new child care provider. I have always been honest and have never ignored letters etc. The court set the repayments too high so I completed an attachment of earnings, the court agreed for me to make payments of £20pm until the debt is paid. The child minder has challenged this and now I have to go back to court on the 1st October, advise needed, can they increase the payments when I have provided bank statements and pay slips showing I clearly cannot afford any more? I am not a confident public speaker and get very tongue tied can you give advice on how I could word my defence. Thank you for your advice. This lady is very intimidating her letter of dispute was very sarcastic challenging how can anyone live on such a low disposable income (er well me) I am struggling financially but not quite drowning. I make ends meat but have very little left. She is also requesting that I cancel luxury items like my tv package, I haven't had a holiday in years we don't go out on trips as a family as it costs too much so thats about the only thing we do do as a family. I am a single mum of 3, I work as many hours as I can to viably run a home and look after 3 daughters and I am the first to admit I financially struggle. Not looking for sympathy just thought a picture of my situation could help. We go to court on 1st Oct 2012. My first installment of the £20 is due on 1st sept so I will keep to these payments to prove I was not, not paying I just couldn't afford the previous requests.

Hi All! Wondering if you can help. A friend of mine recently received a "Suspended attachment of earnings" order which an old creditor he had forgotten about obtained in his absence at an address he has not resided at for a year now. He has never seen sight of any paperwork until after the judgement was obtained and the solicitors ran a trace finding his current location. Obviously he would like to apply for this to be set aside due to his never having sight of the court summons or other pre-court papers from the creditor and their solicitor. I've had a look around and seen that there's a chance (but not particularly massive one) that this could be grounds for the order to be set aside, but I've been trying to search / navigate this site to find thorough details / letter templates / guidance / etc but it's all a minefield to me and can't find what I'm looking for... probably doesn't help that I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for... Any advice as how best to proceed? Thanks in advance