A Statutory Moratorium in Scotland is designed to give you short term protection from your creditors (the people you owe money to).
If you are finding it difficult to repay one or more of your creditors and feel like you need breathing space to consider your options without the threat of creditor action, you can apply for a Statutory Moratorium. This effectively stops creditor action against you for 6 weeks, offering you valuable time to seek advice and think about your longer term options.
The Statutory Moratorium is not a debt solution, it doesn’t write off debt and does not stop interest and charges from building up, but it does give you time to think and will stop imminent creditor action, such as an earnings arrestment or a bankruptcy petition. Any debt recovery actions already in existence, e.g. an earnings arrestment, will remain in place.
There are no fees to pay for applying for a Statutory Moratorium and the application process is very simple.
If the Statutory Moratorium application is successful, your creditor(s) will not be able to serve a charge for payment during the six-week period or enforce any court orders. You are allowed to apply for a moratorium once in any 12-month period so if you’ve already applied during the last year, you won’t be eligible.