County Court Judgments and Dwp Benefits.

purplekitten

Hello..
If you have been given a CCJ for an unpaid credit card debt that you didn't contest and refuse to pay the Debt to the claimant what can they do?
You are unemployed and have no savings, you are in supported living accommodation and you have literally no possessions or anything of worth or value that Bailiffs can seize.
I know there are various alternatives a claimant can do to force you to pay such as an attachment to earnings or a third party debt order to name a few but my question is..
Can they apply these alternatives to a person claiming benefits as all references regarding this topic online relate to persons with items of value or are employed.
Thank you..

Alex_Scope

Hello @purplekitten I'm afraid I don't have any direct experience of this, so I can't offer you much advice, but you might like to have a search on Advice Local for some expert advice near you, or you could go to Citizens Advice, who may be able to help. 

If you are struggling with debt, or are feeling stressed or worried, Scope has some great information and resources on where to go for help.

woodbine

hi @purplekitten I suppose the question is why didn't you try and arrange a payment plan before it got to court?
Might be an idea to have a chat with "step-change"

https://www.stepchange.org

purplekitten

Thank for the reply, nothing like an answer with a question.
It does not matter, if you cannot answer the question posted then dont answer at all.
Oh and just for the record i only learnt about what happened at the county court after i was discharged from a mental health section.

poppy123456

Deductions from benefits can be made for things like water and energy but i'm not aware of them being able to do this for CC debt.

However, the debt won't just go away so i agree with woodbine here and you should speak to stepchange or arrange a repayment plan with the CC company, regardless of how small it is.

2oldcodgers

I agree with tomm and speaking from some level of experience.
We were both on Pension Credit since 2004 and had CCJ's for debts that we had previously run up but could no longer pay. With all of them I contacted them and told them that our only source of income was a means tested benefit and ESA. I pointed out that they would be wasting money if they continued to come after us with no hope of ever getting any more money out of us. 
After that the bailiffs gave up calling and after 6 years both of our credit files were totally clear. Mind you one creditor asked nicely that if we won the lottery would we settle one of the debts.
Nothing was ever deducted from our benefits.