County Court Judgment

County court judgments, more commonly known as a CCJ, is a ruling made by the county court for an unpaid debt. CCJ’s are recorded on your credit file and generally make it harder for you to get finance/credit.

When you are applying for finance and you have a CCJ, it is better you disclose this to the company or financial advisor before the application gets submitted. The reason behind this is the more credit searches you have on your file, the more negative impact this has on your credit file.

The procedure upon receiving a County Court Claim form

Upon receiving a ‘County Court Claim Form’ it is important that you respond to all/any correspondence you receive. It is not normally necessary for you to attend Court. It is imperative that you complete all forms within the timescale specified. By following the correct procedures the Court will take in to consideration all your views and your overall situation.

The CCJ form will be sent to you via post, enclosed will be an 'Admission' and 'Defense' form that need to be completed in full, and returned within 14 days via post or by hand. It is wise, if you are sending them via the post, to send them via recorded delivery.

The ‘Admission’ form:

You are required to fill this form out if you agree to the outstanding money, therefore 'admitting’ to the debt.

Once you have filled in the 'admission' form, you also need to clarify how much and also how you are going to arrange payment for the debt. Please ensure that the amount you state on the form is the amount owed and ensure that you can afford the payment or payments if you are going to pay instalments.

Either return the form, via the post or by hand, to the address on the 'acknowledgement of service' this would have been enclosed with the ‘admission form’. If and when your offer is accepted, the company, also know as a creditor, will approach the court asking for them to make a Judgment. They will receive a notice from the court with their decision, you will then receive an 'acceptance of offer' clearly stating, how much you have to pay and also when payment is due.

The ‘Defense’ form:

You are required to fill this form out if you disagree with the claim, therefore denying the debt.

Once you have completed the form, you must return this to the court, clearly stating your reasons for disputing the claim. If you should require longer than the 14 days to compile your defense, you are still required to send the ‘Acknowledgement of service’ from to the court within the 14 day period. We recommend that you seek legal advice at this point. After submitting the ‘acknowledgement of service’ form you should compile your defense immediately, because the ‘defense’ form has to be returned within 14 days.

After the court has received the forms from you, a court hearing will then be arranged at a court. We cannot stress enough how important it is for you to attend the hearing.

It is imperative that you do respond, because if you fail to reply to the claim forms, which have been sent to you, the creditor is in a position to request the court for, 'Judgment in Default'. The court will obviously have no details or understanding of your circumstances or your overall financial situation, but they can still set a payment amount for you in your absence, even if it is too high for you to pay.

Please Note: If you have an outstanding debt with a creditor, they can pursue you through the court even if you are behind on your payments. There would have been a payment plan/schedule of payments set when you first took out the finance and signed an agreement clearly stating when all your payments are due.

Your creditor can still take you to Court, by issuing the county court claim form and any cost incurred by going through court action, even if you are making reduced payments. All the costs incurred will be added to the overall debt outstanding.

If you have defaulted on your payments, your creditor must inform you in writing, that you have defaulted on your payments, and will issue you a default notice. This will be the first stage before any court proceedings commence, so it is very wise for you to communicate with your creditor before they decide they decide to take court action and before you start to incur any further costs.

Unfortunately if you have or are going to have a CCJ placed against you this will make it very difficult to achieve any form of credit or finance.

Also see:

CCJ struggling with payments
CCJ consequenses if you don't pay

Contact us or apply online for further advice about CCJ's or to avoid getting into debt try our quick property sale service.