This means that money or goods held by a third party are 'frozen'. The most common example is arrestment of funds in your bank account. The third party (eg a bank) may agree to hand the property (funds) over to a creditor

Property, including real property (land or buildings) and personal property (eg cash, stocks and shares, or vehicles) that belong to a person

This means that goods held by the person in debt, eg a car, are 'frozen'. Anything that has been frozen ('attached') can be sold at auction. The money raised is then handed over to the person who is owed the money

A form of debt relief, there are two kinds of bankruptcy: .

The Scottish legal term for personal bankruptcy is sequestration. This is where an individual sole trader.or partnership is formally declared bankrupt by the court (ie they cannot pay their debts) and that the debts and assets of a person should transfer to an appointed trustee.

Companies can also fail and if this happens, the company is said to be insolvent. It may be made subject to a liquidation, receivership or an administration order issued by the courts.

These are benefits paid to you by the state and include income support, child benefit, job seeker's allowance, disability benefit, housing benefit, and council tax benefit. Find out more about benefits: www.dwp.gov.uk (opens in a new window)

For example, an agreement, which cannot be legally avoided or stopped

A list of all your income and expenditure and creditor details

A contractual agreement in which a borrower receives something of value now and agrees to repay the lender at some later date

A creditor is an individual or a company that is owed money by another person or sole trader(the debtor). See also regulation 2(1) of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2004(opens in a new window).

Debt is any money that is owed or due to someone else or a creditor.

An informal way to repay your debt using one single affordable monthly payment, until your debt has been repaid

An agreement under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) that allows you to pay off your debts over an extended period of time. The programme can be for any amount of money or for any reasonable length of time.

The last resort for a debtor when dealing with debt where the debtor cannot pay their debts - trust deeds and bankruptcy. The debtor will lose control of their assets, possibly including their home and their credit rating will be greatly affected.

A debtor is an individual or sole trader who owes money to another person or company (creditor). See also regulation 3 of the(Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2004. opens in a new window).

This is a letter reminding a debtor that they haven't paid their debt. This must be issued by a (creditor). in respect of debts covered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 before any further action is taken.

We all rely on people keeping their promises. To deliver food, build houses, and pay for goods and services. Sometimes, people do not keep their promises. If that happens the courts may order someone to pay what they are due.

In Scotland, there are a number of ways that people can be made to pay after a court order has been made. The most common forms of court enforcement, or diligence, are arrestment , earnings arrestment and attachment. There are other less common ways to enforce court orders. They include inhibition and adjudication, and your lawyer or adviser can tell you more about them if needed

A court order which stops the operation of existing diligence and prevents future diligence

An instruction you give to your bank or building society to make regular payments from your account to a specific company. Unlike a standing orderyou agree that the creditorcan vary this amount each month.

If you are working, the money you owe to a creditor can be taken from your wages/salary directly from your employer by an earnings arrestment.

The pre-agreed purchase of an asset where the asset eg computer is in your possession as long as repayments are kept to. Once enough payments are made, the assetbecomes your (the hirers) property.

A Protected Trust Deeds (PTD) is a formal way to repay your debt at a set amount over a set period of time, normally 36 months

A loan which is secured against property (normally your House or Car) in order to decrease the risk taken on by the lender. Mortgages and some personal loans are secured loans. If you don't maintain your repayments, your property can be at risk of repossession

The Scottish legal term for personal bankruptcy is sequestration. This is where an individual, sole traderor partnership is formally declared bankrupt by the court (ie they cannot pay their debts) and that the debts and assets of a person should transfer to an appointed trustee

An individual proprietor of the simplest form of business, eg a shop owned and run by a single person.

An instruction you give to your bank or building society to make regular payments from your account to a specific company. This is a fixed amount unlike a direct debit which can vary and you are in control of a standing

This means the amount of money which you have left over when you subtract necessary expenditure from your income, it is also called your disposable income (DI)

Tax you receive back in certain circumstances, eg pension credit, child tax credit and working tax credit.

A form of debt relief where you're unable to pay your debts but have money tied up in assets, such as a house.Creditors can agree that you give everything you own to a trustee (usually an accountant) and sign a trust deed, which is legally binding The trustee offers to pay your creditors as much as possible of what you owe them from the value of your assets. If it is a protected trust deed then the trust deed is a diligence stopper.

Usually an accountant (a qualified insolvency practitioner), a trustee acts for the creditors by managing the trust deed when a debtor agrees to sign over their assets into a trust deed or when they are declared bankrupt

A creditor who does not hold security (such as a mortgage) for money owed, eg Credit Cards, Unsecured Loans, Store Cards, Catalogues, Etc