HELP!! Attachment of earnings

worriedwoman_2

Hi
me again, and as you know I still haven't done the deed and filled in my SOAs for our bankruptcy.
today I received a Notice of Application for Attachment of Earnings Order - this was redirected to me from my previous address.
It says on it that if I don't reply (which I wasn't going to) my employer will be contacted and I could be sent to prison for up to 14 days!!!
What do I do? It says that my employer will have to pay the judgement! Obviously my employer doesn't know the mess I'm in and I don't want him to either!
This is for £4800. I'm so worried now, really don't know what to do, I have 8 days to reply or else
Please help, has anyone else had this and what have they done???

skylight

Whats the earnings order for?

You must not ignore it. I assume you have an N56 from the court? You must complete this. Its issued by the court and not ignorable. List in in full and make sure your SOA on it leaves no room for manouver. Also mark (I assume there is a spot) that your bankruptcy is impending.

Until your BR petition, this is likely to take place and there is nothing you can do about it until then. Any attachment will have to be taken from your salary (your employer can also take £1 fee each month for admin).


Taken from another site:
Where it appears to the court that a bankruptcy order has been made against a person in respect of whom an attachment of earnings order is in force to secure the payment of a judgment debt, the court may discharge the attachment of earnings order.


So once you are BR, speak to the judge on the day and ask him if he knows, then talk to your OR about it - it will stop once you have gone BR.

This is assuming that its NOT for court fines though.

If you need more advice, then as always talk to Payplan or CCCS.

skylight

Oh, and if you have made the definite decision to go BR, then I strongly recommend you do it sooner rather than later.

Paying an attachment order could mess things up financially until then.

betterlatethannever

skylight wrote: »

So once you are BR, speak to the judge on the day and ask him if he knows, then talk to your OR about it - it will stop once you have gone BR.

This is assuming that its NOT for court fines though.

If you need more advice, then as always talk to Payplan or CCCS.

:T Spot on advice Sky...can i just add one thing to the above comment though. I had an AOE for council tax just before BR. After going BR it took several months, lots of letters and phone calls to get it stopped and the money refunded.

worriedwoman_2

Hi
The order is for a Northern Rock loan which I took out about 4 years ago and stopped paying last year when we got into financial difficulty.
I'm not sure if they will be able to find out who my employer is as we moved offices around 2 years ago
Also, this order has been redirected from my previous address. If I hadn't had my post redirected I wouldn't have even received it. what would have happened then?

*** Just noticed that the order was sent to me at the end of August, but because of the redirection service I have only just received it. The 8 days are up tomorrow, now what?***

fiveyearplan

I'd start filling in my BR forms and get that done soonest. Also you need to ring one of the charities like CCCS as soon as possible. That letter sounds like harrassment - I've never heard of anyone going to prison for consumer debt.

worriedwoman_2

But the attachment of earnings order is from a court, I don't think it's just a threat.
I need to know if anything can happen to me as this was sent to my previous address. If I had never received it (ie hadn't had my post redirected) then what would have happened? If I fill it in then everyone will find out where I am living now and where my employer is, as we moved offices two years ago, which Northern Rock wouldn't know about - ie when I took out the loan four years ago we were based somewhere else

peachyprice

It's out of NR's hands now, the court will find you.

They will be able to find out who your employer is by contacting HMRC. Once they find that out they will go straight to them.

It will be very easy for the court to find you as you are working and when they do they can summons you to court to explain why you have ignored them

This is something you cannot ignore, you need to send this form back, and go BR ASAP.

penguin83

Hi Worried - attachments are my thing!

When are you going to go bankrupt - do you have a rough idea? This is one of the few things that the county court can imprison you for 14 days and fine you £250.00 for failing to comply so it must be dealt with.

If you look at the bottom of the N56 on the second page there is a box at the bottom to request a suspended order. This means you pay it yourself instead of it coming direct from your wages.

The next stage is to be summoned to court for a hearing to go before the judge for failing to comply but at the same time your employer will be asked to provide a statement of your earnings for the past 12 months - they too have to comply with this. The problem with this is the court will have no details of your expenses so usually a pretty high order is made.

You can make a low offer of payment and explain your situation and ask for the order to be suspended.

Sorry this is so long and garbled, I dont make much sense at this time of the morning - let me know if you need any more info. x x x x

worriedwoman_2

I'm only filling in the soa now, so don't know when I will be BR. If I send the form back monday morning recorded delivery, will that be ok - the court might receive it a day late? Does my employer HAVE to be contacted??? i really don't want this to happen!!

Neillgb

I would have thought your employer will find out about your bankruptcy as well should you go down that route especially when they find out about the AOE.

I don't know your personal circumstances and why you have not paid your debt but the bottom line is that you have not met your financial obligations and, it would seem , sought to avoid so doing.

Perhaps your best route, other than paying up, would be to have a word with your employer and explain your circumstances prior to the you know what hitting the fan.

You may feel my post is a little hard nosed but there are 2 sides to every story. In view of your actions my sympathy lies with the NR. You seem to be more concerned with what people will think of you than honouring the financial agreement you have with your creditor.