Attachment Of Earnings
An Attachment of Earning Order (“AEO”) is a means by which a creditor can have money stopped from your wages and therefore only applies if you are in employment and therefore means that your employer will know about your financial difficulties. If the creditor has obtained a County Court Judgement against you and you have missed at least one payment and owed more than £50, then they may apply to the Court for an AEO. Once obtained, your employer is legally compelled to deduct these monies from your wages and pay them to the creditor until such time as the debt is paid in full. A creditor may not obtain an AEO if you are self-employed, in the armed forces or a merchant seaman. If an attachment of earnings is issued against you, then you must respond to the Court, completing the attachment of earnings form which includes details of your employer and your income and expenditure. If you fail to respond, then the Court will appoint a bailiff to hand deliver the form to you and if you still fail to respond, a warrant for arrest could be issued against you and a bailiff will bring you to the Court to complete the form. Account will be taken of what you need to live on in arriving at the amount to be deducted from your income. If your income barely covers your outgoings, then the application for an AEO will be rejected.
