Attachment of Earnings

[maccadad]

Hello one and all, I am new to this site, having viewed many times trolling for advice, I have now taken the plunge and registered.
My circumstances revolve around the now Infamous Turnbull Rutherford, anyone suprised ? I have a CCJ issued by them about 3 years ago after an error by MBNA not forwarding the info that they had sold my alleged debt to them 6 months earlier, and my ignorance to all things legal in following their advice and returning the forms signed, biggest mistake ever. In July I had a visit from a Court official with an Income and outcome sheet to complete within 8 days as they were not happy with my debt management company's involvement. The forms were completed and returned within the timeframe with the help of my DMC which showed a deficet. The next week I received the court papers dated the day I completed the forms, not a date after my deadline for completion, with an AOE for £150 !! the courts had not waited for the paperwork to be submitted and just,as it appears, plucked a random figure from the ether which I cant afford.
Today I attended my DMC to sign papers, as I was led to believe, to get this 'revoked' only to be told that because I have done overtime which had become available for a couple of months, which I had to do to make ends meet, the courts would not reverse their decision and may increase it by £12 as I have a slight surplus in 2 out of the 4 months payslips provided.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

[labman]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

Any chance your employer would do a sworn statement saying that overtime is not guaranteed and only available occasionally?

[maccadad]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

I work for the NHS how high up do I need to go? If paybills office is good enough then probably yes, they would go all round the houses to get permission to do so though and take their time, things dont move fast in this service!
I assume overtime can be counted on IE sheets.

[labman]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

If you didn't do much OT in preceding months, you could just send more payslips.

[maccadad]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

To be honest I have had do some OT when available to make ends meet and looking back over the last 8 months I have worked out, according to my DMC figures, I would have less than £75 pounds surplus but I also have other creditors to treat fairly.
Does anyone know if the courts by 'jumping the gun' and giving judgement early before looking at my IE sheet, have acted legally? And how did they come to the figure of £150?
Apart from the affordability what really grates on me is that T/Rutherford are getting more than they should, especially as they discussed my account with a 3rd party without permission, contacted my place of work and spoke to my line manager.

[labman]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

I don't know the answer, though I should. Common sense would say that you should be able to apply for a reassessment though.

Have a read of this:

CCJ - County Court Judgement| Debt Advice | Payplan

[maccadad]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

Appreciate your efforts but have read that and CAB advice site but none tell me if the court has acted legally.

[labman]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

This is what should have happened. However, if you were behind with your CCJ payments they can vary it anyway:

You must send the form back to the court within eight days. It is an offence not to send back the form or to give false information. If you don’t send back the N56 form the county court bailiffs will serve you with an order to fill it in. If you still don’t contact the court then you will be sent a notice to go to a court hearing to explain why you have not given the court the information requested.
WARNING
You must go to this hearing. If you don’t attend then the court can issue a warrant for you to be arrested and brought to court or even send you straight to prison.
You can be sent to prison for up to 14 days or fined simply for not following the court’s instructions to fill in the form and go to the hearing.


I would suggest you find a solicitor who offers the first 30mins - 1 hour free of charge and see what their advice is.

[maccadad]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

Thanks again but what was supposed to happen and what did happen are 2 different things, I complied with all the courts requests but they did not wait and plucked £150 from the air and commenced the AOE. Would still like advice from anyone in the know.
Thanks.

[labman]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

If they didn't stick to the rules you apply to the court for a redetermination. You then get everything looked at again.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

If the court has not taken your circumstances into account to make a fair decision based on your ability to pay, thier actions can be challenged by way of Judicial review, as being contrary to natural justice and in breach of Article 6 of the Human Rights Act.

You have 3 months from the decision complianed of to bring this.

In deciding whether this is worth doing, it may be helful to calculate what you think the correct amount should be, and how far different it is.

If you want to go to judicial review, post again and I will expalin the procedure for doing so.

[maccadad]

Re: Attachment of Earnings

If the court has not taken your circumstances into account to make a fair decision based on your ability to pay, thier actions can be challenged by way of Judicial review, as being contrary to natural justice and in breach of Article 6 of the Human Rights Act.

You have 3 months from the decision complianed of to bring this.

In deciding whether this is worth doing, it may be helful to calculate what you think the correct amount should be, and how far different it is.

If you want to go to judicial review, post again and I will expalin the procedure for doing so.

Thanks for the information, I have a Solicitor phoning DMC to go through figures and relevent dates to determine best course of action.