Protected minimum balance
The PMB is an amount of funds within a bank account (or other financial institution) that is protected from arrestment.1s73F BD(S)A 2007 Only funds over the regulated amount can be arrested. The PMB is currently £1,000. This amount is set by Scottish Ministers and is liable to change every April. There is no limit to the amount of funds a creditor can take when it arrests a client’s bank account. The full amount owed (including interest and charges), the creditor’s legal costs and the costs of executing the arrestment can be seized. The client must be left with the PMB in their account.
The PMB applies to personal accounts only (including savings accounts). There is no PMB for business accounts.
If a client has multiple accounts with the same bank (or other financial institution), the £1,000 PMB applies to all the accounts together. If the client has multiple accounts with different bank/building societies, the £1,000 PMB applies to each account separately. Note that some banks with separate names are in the same banking group (eg, Halifax, Cheltenham and Gloucester and Bank of Scotland are all part of the Lloyds Banking Group) and separate accounts in the same banking group may be treated as being with the same bank. In that situation, the PMB can only be applied once.