Wage Arrestment is increasingly being used as a tactic to recover debts in Scotland, with unpaid council tax debt being the most common cause of a debt being enforced by way of an attachment of earnings.
With the Earnings Arrestment enforcement action type, your employer is instructed by law to deduct money directly from your wages.
As part of the 'diligence' process - A legal process that allows creditors to collect monies where a court order has been unsuccessful in forcing you to pay.
Before a Wage Arrestment can be put in place, you will either have had a decree awarded against you or will have received a summary warrant for the debt you owe.
Once an Attachment of Earnings is secured, your employer must deduct an amount from your net earnings over time you get paid. If it's a council tax debt, his Wage Arrestment deduction will then be passed on to your local authority council to pay off your council tax debt.
Although most commonly used for council tax debt, wage arrestment can be used for other debts as well.
It is not necessary for the creditor to raise a court action before they serve a Charge for Payment. This is a more typical route for debts that are not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act (such as credit cards and personal loans) using the procedure known as summary diligence.
A Wage Arrestment is used to collect a single debt owed to one creditor.
Current maintenance arrestment is used to enforce the payment of maintenance, such as that awarded by a court during a divorce settlement.