Wage Arrestments

In Scotland, an Earnings Arrestment is a form of diligence.

For this type of creditor diligence to be enforced, you will have already received a decision or a decree and a ‘charge to pay’ or a ‘charge for payment’ which you have been unable to make a payment

A charge to pay and a charge for payment gives you 14 days to pay the debt in full.

You may have received a ‘Debt Advice and Information package’ with the charge to pay or charge for payment from your creditor, which gives you information on your rights and where and how to get advice.

Some creditors may be willing to negotiate an informal payment arrangement with you. If you have received one of these get debt advice from an organisation such as Trust Deed Scotland as soon as possible as we can give you tailored debt advice based on your affordability and our experienced debt advisers can explain any options open to you.

A charge to pay and a charge for payment are the final notice to you to pay and if payment is not received by the date stated on the form the creditor will start diligence.

Our in-house debt advice team specialise in giving tailored advice to Scottish residents. Our advisers can find out more about your situation and help you find a solution to resolve your debt problem and lift a wage arrestment, where possible.

If you’re worried about debts, have received a decision or decree, or had court action taken against you we’d recommend getting advice from us. The types of solutions we can advise you on vary, depending on your situation. We can offer regulated, formal debt solutions such as Protected Trust Deeds, or the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) for example, or if you think you just need more time to think, a Statutory Moratorium can give you breathing space while you consider your options.

For Earnings Arrestment help and advice, you can also get free and impartial help with money, set up by the government: MoneyHelper, an independent service set up to help people manage their money.

Yes, this is known as a conjoined wage arrestment. Rather than the employer, multiple wage arrestments are administered by a local sheriff clerk.

Fortunately, it does not mean you have to pay more. Instead what happens is the amount deducted is divided up between those that are owed the money. Quite simply, the first creditor who arrested the wages will see the amount that they get become reduced. The second wage arrestment won’t get what they would have gotten, had they been the only creditor arresting your wages.

However as we would always suggest, it’s better to get advice as soon as possible so that you can try to stop the wage arrestment before it is executed. That advice remains the same whether you’ve had a threat of a single, or conjoined wage arrestment.

Trust Deeds in Scotland are only available to residents who currently live in or have lived in Scotland within the last 12 months, or have a place of business in Scotland.

You typically have at least £5,000 of unsecured debt and example unsecured debts such as credit card debts, council tax arrears, bank overdrafts, and personal loans.

If you want to find out if you’d qualify for a Trust Deed or alternative Scottish debt solutions; use our Trust Deed Wizard^® tool.

If you are based in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and have not lived in Scotland in the last 12 months, then other debt solutions exist such as an IVA or a Debt Relief Order. These may be more suitable for you depending on your circumstances as those debt solutions are only available for residents of those countries.

Yes, we offer advice on all Scottish debt solutions and if a Trust Deed isn’t the right for you, there are other Debt Consolidation options in Scotland such as:

• Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS)
• Sequestration (Scotland’s equivalent to bankruptcy)
• Minimal Asset Process (MAP route to Sequestration for those with no, or low income and assets)

Trust Deed Scotland^® will undertake an assessment of your financial difficulties and provide you with tailored debt advice so that you can understand the options that are available to you.

In order for you to make an informed decision, it’s important that you receive balanced Scottish debt advice that gives you the key facts and how they may directly impact you.

There are pros and cons for all available solutions and while most formal debt solutions share common advantages and disadvantages, you should always seek advice from a suitably experienced debt adviser. Call us on 0141 221 0999.

*The expected debt write-off figure of up to 70% is based on 1,671 Protected Trust Deeds currently administered by Trust Deed Scotland® and protected between 1 January 2023 and December 31 2023.

The expected write-off percentage includes the costs of administering each Protected Trust Deed (PTD). More information relating to the costs of administration can be found by clicking here on our Fees Information page.

In this sample of PTDs, the expected write-off figure reaches as high as 84%. 226 PTDs or 13.5% of the cases have an expected debt write-off percentage between 70% and 84%. The average (mean) expected write-off is 51%.

Your decision to apply for a Protected Trust Deed should not be taken purely on a proposed debt write off amount alone. It is very rare for a Trust Deed not to be protected with Trust Deed Scotland® and we have one of the best protection rates in our industry, for example, in 2023, we achieved a protection rate of 98.6%, this made us the best performing volume provider of Protected Trust Deeds in Scotland.

Trust Deed Scotland® provide tailored debt advice on all available debt solutions in Scotland.

We make sure that our customers get personalised debt advice based on their affordability, lifestyle and needs. May not be suitable for all. Will affect credit rating.

To find out what your options are, simply complete our online form or just call us on 0141 221 0999.