If you are a homeowner and being threatened with eviction from your property or you have received a court/eviction date, you can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 to get assistance.

If you are renting a property (via a private landlord, local authority or housing association) and are being threatened with eviction from your property or you have received a court/eviction date, you can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 to get assistance.

If you find yourself homeless or at the threat of homelessness within the next 56 days, you should contact the North Ayrshire Council Homelessness Advice Team on 01294 314600 or drop into their offices at Galt House, 31 Bank Street, Irvine, KA12 0LL during office hours. 

If you find yourself homeless outwith office hours and require accommodation, contact the standby team on 0800 0196 500.

If you find yourself with no money, contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 to discuss your situation and options available to you.

The Trussell Trust operate the North Ayrshire Foodbank throughout the area. If you find yourself without food, you can call 01294 601312 (Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm), visit their website at northayrshire.foodbank.org.uk/, or email them directly on info@northayrshire.foodbank.org.uk. You may also be able to source a foodbank voucher at the local housing office, social work department, or from your Community Link Worker.

The foodbanks are available at the following locations:

Church of Nazarine, 150A Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, KA22 8EU

Ardeer Community Centre, 23 Shore Road, Stevenston, KA20 3LA

Bridgend Community Centre, Bridgend, Kilbirnie, KA25 7DJ

Castlepark, 4 Castlepark Road, Irvine, KA12 9LW

Dalry Community Larder, St. Margaret’s Avenue, Dalry, KA24 4BA

Towerlands Community Centre, Towerlands Farm Road, Bourtreehill South, Irvine, KA11 1PY

West Kilbride Parish Church, Main Street, West Kilbride, KA23 9AW

Woodwynd Community Centre, 50 David Gage Street, Kilwinning, KA13 7AH

St. John’s Church, Hayocks Road, Saltcoats, KA21 4DE (Please phone in advance to arrange a collection. This centre is only open upon a telephone request.)

Kirkgate Church, Chapelwell Street, Saltcoats, KA21 5EA

To arrest your bank account, the creditor must have already taken court action and the charge for payment must have expired.  The creditor will have then served an ‘attachment order’ to your bank who must comply.

The bank will then write to you if they have not already done so seeking your permission to release the funds that are in your account to the creditor.  Note that there is a minimal of £529.90 that cannot be taken, known as the Protected Minimal Balance.

If you do not give the bank your permission, then the account will remain frozen for 14 weeks, at which point the funds are released to the creditor (again the Protected Minimal Balance applies here).

If you feel that this is unduly harsh, then during those 14 weeks you can present your case to the court, however you must have strong evidence and grounds to challenge this, for example evidence that the money in the account was not yours.

If you have concerns with the conduct of the creditor you can contact CHAP for assistance on 030 0002 0002.

To arrest your wages, the creditor must have already taken court action and the charge for payment must have expired.  The creditor will have then served an ‘attachment order’ to your employer who must comply.

At this stage the attachment cannot simply be removed, other debt solutions need to be explored with a money advice worker.

You can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 for assistance with a wages arrestment

This is a court document; it means a creditor has started court action against you to recover sums of up to £5000.  On the summons you will have a return date – you must complete and submit the response form back to the court by that date or the Sheriff may simply grant decree to the creditor without your input, which allows them to take action to recover the money owed.

You have 3 ways to respond.

(1) To state that you do not owe the money:  either the contract was not in your name, you did not have the capacity, or the debt has in fact already been paid off.  To prove that you do not owe the money, you will need strong evidence to support your claim.

(2) To clear the sum in full.

(3) To ask the court for a Time to Pay order. This means you wish to enter into a repayment plan to pay the amount owed.  You will need to complete a financial statement stating what income and expenditure you have, your household composition and what you wish to offer as a repayment and why you think the amount offered is fair.

In the case of (1) or (3), the Sheriff could make a decision without actually setting a hearing date, however it is likely that a Sheriff will at least set a ‘Case Discussion’ hearing, inviting both parties to court to discuss their position.

You can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 for assistance to complete this form and for assistance with the court process.  Please ensure you contact CHAP before the ‘return’ date.

This means that the matter has already been to court (or in the case of Council Tax, the summary warrant has been served).  The charge for payment gives you a 14-day period to negotiate with the creditor before they can begin what is called Diligence (formal debt recovery processes) – where they can start to legally reclaim the money from you.  Diligence measures that can be applied include wage arrestment and bank account arrestment.

Please do not ignore this document. You can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 within the 14 days for assistance.

This means that your Council Tax arrears have been passed to a Sheriff Officer and they have taken the necessary legal steps to begin enforcing collection methods.  Unlike other court orders, Summary Warrants do not involve a court hearing so you do not receive a court summons and cannot a state a defence.

Please do not ignore a summary warrant.  You can contact CHAP for assistance with a Summary Warrant on 030 0002 0002.

This means that your creditor now considers their agreement with you to be terminated - if it is a catalogue or credit card it can no longer be used.  The balance outstanding will typically increase due to a default charge.

The debt will likely then get passed to a debt collection agency, though the original company may try and contact you first to come to an arrangement.

Please do not ignore this letter.  You can contact CHAP on 030 0002 0002 for assistance.