Attachment of Earnings Order But Never had Paperwork

aktiv8

Hi all

Just a query regarding an Attachment of Earnings Order (AEO) I have had put on this months salary.

From the information I have been given, I believe I know the company (dreaded payday loan type place) which but have never received paperwork from the County Court.

On phoning the court today, they told me the order was granted in February of this year and only now has my salaries section received the paperwork.

I've been told by the court I may be eligible to have this put aside as I never received any paperwork (apparently was delivered to an address I lived at something like 6 years ago!), so have never been able to fill in a N56 form (?) or similar.

I've been told that I can fill out a N244 for it to be set aside, but that will cost £80 (which I think is a criminal amount in itself for paperwork but who am I to argue with HMCTS costs?).

However my local CAB office has suggested it would be a waste of £80 as the grounds I have for setting aside are weak? I thought that having papers sent to the wrong address would be "I have a defence to the claim which you were not able to make known earlier" . So unless I'm mistaken (and I may well be) I've had some conflicting advice from teh CAB site and office?

If it's the company I believe then I acknowledge the debt, but as a single earner with 3 children £100 per month on top of some other smaller judgments from when I was unemployed is a lot to lose per month.

Anyway, hope its (somewhat) clear and any advise is appreciated

Tixy

How old is the debt? was it incurred at the previous address (the same one the court paperwork was sent to)?
Did you inform the creditor of your change of address at any time?

If you provided them with your current address, or if the debt was incurred at your current address then you might stand a good chance of getting the CCJ set aside. Although if you do the creditor may just start court action again to your new address. If they did you would have chance to ask to be allowed to pay in installments at a rate the judge agreed you could afford (which could be lower or higher than the attachement of earnings).

You mention other judgements - CCJs? are you paying agreed installements on these personally? are any others also on attachment of earnings? You might possibly benefit from a consolidated attachment of earnings, could be worth looking in to?

aktiv8

Hi Tixy - Thanks for the reply

The debt is about 2 years old I guess, been so much going on last few years with family illness that I've lost track of time.

Regarding the address, well the actual address the papers were apparently served to were an old address that the company were not given as was an address I lived at a few years BEFORE I took the loan at the address I was living at at the time (They had all proof of address etc), so I'm somewhat confused by that.

Re other judgments they are CCJs and being paid by AEO's so I guess I can apply for a consolidation attachment in that case? Total amount is circa 220 per month which I cannot afford to lose with my other commitments such as care home fees, school uniforms, food, travel expenses etc

Do you know the way to go about applying for this consolidation? The CAB website indicates I just need to write to the county court with a a budgeting breakdown and information on all the judgments. Is this all? There is no official sheet?

I see that the creditors (all or one) can also reject the request within 16 days, where would I stand if that was the case?

FairWorldCitizen

If you can prove that the court sent the claim form to an old address of yours, even if you also prove that the claimant was aware of a more recent address, it will likely not be enough to be granted a set aside.

At the time the claim was submitted, or the judgment was obtained by default and the corresponding notice addressed to you, both the claimant and the court needed one of your last known addresses.

Then the most important is that secondly you are able to demonstrate to the court that it is worth reopening the case, which means you have a very strong basis to defend the case. Applying for a set aside just means you are back to the initial court stage (i.e. you become defendant again).

This second condition will also be balanced with the creditor being able to prove that you were aware of a possible debt.

There is indeed a cost for the application, you can check the exact amount online.

I hope it helps.

FairWorldCitizen

Reg. the consolidated AEO, it's likely that the creditor was not aware of your current AEO(s), they could have requested to attach the debt to an existing AEO by consolidation (there is no court fee for this). It is at this enforcement stage that the AEO is settled by both the court and the creditor.

Normally if you reply to an AEO, you can offer payment instalments (your company isn't made aware) or provide details of income.

In your current situation you would need to convince that your salary or personal conditions have significantly changed, as the court just decided the amount based on the info provided by the company.

stevemLS

If you acknowledge the debt there isn't much point asking for the judgment to be set aside, as above.

I think the more helpful suggestion would be to apply to vary the new order using form N245. This contains an income/expenditure statement and an offer to pay a monthly amount. If the court rejects your offer, it substitutes its own figure for the amount to pay, based on your income/expenditure.

The application fee is £40.

You apply to consolidate several AEOs by a simply letter of application, which you can submit at the same time as the application to vary the new CCJ. You need to quote the various case numbers. There is no seperate fee for this.

Tixy

This thread is from 9months ago!

stevemLS

So it is, and there was me thinking I was being helpful!

FairWorldCitizen

Oh my. Sorry people. I must have arrived at this post from an alternative forum's page rather than the last one!