I have a few questions regarding CCJs/attachment of earnings.

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Struggling with debt? Ask a stepchange debt adviser a question.

Lilix1

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding CCJs/attachment of earnings.

 Would appreciate any answers/advice.

This is going to be quite long on context, so I'll put questions here if people don't need or want to read the whole thing.

1.  Am I correct that maximum attachment of earnings on £1380 p/m is 12%?

2. If I have to complete a form with outgoings...  are the cost below likely to be considered "reasonable"?  Is there anything I should or shouldn't include?

INCOME
Work: £1380
Universal Credit: £520
Total: £1900

EXPENSES
Rent: £900 (live in London)
Food: £250
Food at work: £40
Clothes: £40
Hairdressing: £15
Entertainment: £30
Transport: £80 (public transport £5 x4 day p/w)
Medicine: £20
Pet: £35
TV Licence: £13
Internet: £20
Mobile: £126 (I know this is high but in a contract that would cost alot to get out of)
Emergencies: £20
Misc: £20
Other debt payments £200
Total: £1809

Offer to pay £85 per month


CONTEXT
Shortly before covid, I had a mental breakdown.  This was made considerably worse due to isolation and long covid.

During this time I wasn't able to handle my finances and ended up with a CCJ for a large amount (£14.5k).

I also have credit card debt of approx £3.5k, however am up to date with minimum payments on this.

Have spent past few years building myself back up to point where I'm able to start working more hours again.

I have now started working 30 hrs per week, up from 10 I wad able to manage before. Still not great and minimum wage but a massive increase in what I was getting previously.

Up until now I have not dealt with he CCJ at all.  Didn't have the mental or financial capacity to do so.  Pretty much ignored the letters/threats of further action.  I had no assets for bailiffs to take and earnings from work were too low for any attachment of earnings etc to apply.

Now I'm finally in a place where I can start to address the issues that have been hanging over me for years, without completely shutting down mentally.

My income monthly now will be approx £1380 after tax/ni from work plus around £520 from Universal Credit.  Total £1900.

This is £450 up from what I was living on before.  I plan on using around £300-350 per month to bring down the Credit Card debt and start paying towards CCJ.

Ideally I want to pay £200-250 per month of CCs and clear them as quickly as possible.

I'm planning on offering around  £85-100 p/m for CCJ until my CCs are cleared. Then look to increase.  However I'm worried that if they don't accept it may prompt them into attachment of earning that will be considerably more.

I'm really trying to work out what the minimum is likely to get accepted or the maximum I'd have to pay for AOE.

Thank you for taking the time to read if you got this far 🙂

ManyWays

The CCJ was in about 2019 then, are they pushing you to make payments? If they aren't, my inclination would be to set about clearing the current debts that are charging you interest faster.

fatbelly

1. No. I think you may be getting confused with council tax legislation.

2. Yes, potentially. Does your rent include elec, gas, water, council tax?

I agree that if they are not pressing for payments of the ccj, then leave it alone.

Is the ccj dated 2019? Then it drops off your credit file this year and if they have not tried to enforce it in 6 years, then they would need specific permission of the court to do so

Lilix1

CCJs was April 2020...  so still another year.

wouldn't say they're pushing for payment...  I get letter every now and then saying same thing:

"Should you fail to contact us within 14 days, enforcement action may be taken against you"

No actual notification of enforcement as yet.

Clearing CC stuff first is definitely a good idea (could probably do within 12 months if not paying CCJ)

I just don't want to get a few months down the line and get hit with a 40% wage reduction from an attachment of earnings...

thought preemptively offering might be a good idea...  maybe it's better just to wait and see if they actually try enforce though...

Lilix1

Sorry said CCJs...  it is only 1 single CCJ.

RAS

So save a little bit each month into an emergency fund. If they decide to chase the CCJ, you've got something to cover some payments whilst you set things up. And put that in an easy access ISA, not a bank account.

Lilix1

That's a good idea.
I can literally just put aside what I was going to offer them incase they do lush ahead with enforcement.

MeadowsVale

I had a CCJ once and basically all correspondence stopped after the creditor had obtained it. Apart from damaging my credit file for 6 years it served no purpose to them as they never got the money back. 

sourcrates

Further enforcement costs them more money with no guarantee they will ever recover any of it, that`s why the vast majority of CCJ`s obtained for consumer credit debts, just sit on your file unactioned.