A County Court Judgement (more commonly known as CCJ) can be entered against you if you owe any sum of money. The person you owe money to (claimant) will contact the court or complete a “moneyclaim” online – once they have done this (there is a fee involved) a claim form will be sent out to the person who owes money (defendant) – it is imperative that this form is completed as soon as it is received. There are three options available on the claim form:-
1) Accept the full debt
2) Dispute all of the debt
3) Dispute part of the debt
The forms can be completed by hand or online by logging onto Moneyclaim – there will be a specific password on your claim form which you will need to enter along with the claim number. Generally you have 14 days from the date of issue to respond (although it is possible to ask for 28 days by just completing the Acknowledgment of Service form if time is needed to prepare a defence).
The next steps are dependent on whether the debt is accepted or disputed. The steps are as follows:-
Accept the full debt
a) Pay the debt in full within 30 days
If the amount is paid direct to the “claimant” at this point then a “CCJ” will never be issued and this will have no effect on the “defendants” credit file. If the amount is not paid the “claimant” can then apply for judgment to be issued. Again if this is paid within 30 days then the CCJ will / can be removed and a certificate of satisfaction will be received. There is generally a small fee for this.
b) Pay the debt in full after 30 days
If the debt is paid in full after the 30 days then this will stay on the “defendants” credit file BUT they can request that the court marks it as “satisfied” – again there is a small fee for this and the “defendant” will receive a certificate of satisfaction.
c) Request to pay by instalments
If the Judgment has been ordered to be paid in full and the “defendant” cannot do this then they can apply for a Varied Order (form N245) – once completed this form gives an overview of the “defendants” financial position. It includes information such as income and expenditure, other debts and court fines etc. There is a section to make the offer of payment. The Varied Order is returned to the court who in turn send it the “claimant” for approval. If the “claimant” accepts the offer then the “defendant” will receive confirmation of this including the date the instalment should be paid and where the payment should be sent to. If the “claimant” declines the offer of payment the court will then look into the information that the “defendant” provided and then decide how much should be paid. At this point if the court decides an amount that the “defendant” does not feel able to pay they can ask the court to reconsider their decision but this must be done within sixteen days of the postmark of the Varied Order.
Dispute all of the debt / Dispute part of the debt
If the “defendant” disputes part or all of the debt the court will request that they attend a hearing. It is imperative at this point that the “defendant” fully prepares all of the evidence they have to enforce their reason for disputing the debt. Both the “claimant” and “defendant” should attend this hearing.
The Judge will then decide at this point, based on evidence provided what part of the debt will be payable. The steps will then be the same as above i.e. paying in full or paying by instalments
If nothing is done with regards to the CCJ then the “claimant” can request for a Warrant of Execution to be issued (please see separate section of this for full explanation).
The CCJ will be registered on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines and the majority of entries stay on the register for six full years. Organisations such as credit companies, bank & building societies use the information on the Register to decide whether to offer accounts or not. Having a CCJ can make it very difficult to obtain credit.
The Registered Trust is the place to check whether a Judgment has been issued against you or not. Generally there is a small cost to do this but it can be done online at or you can telephone them on 020 7380 0133. The information available is:-
· The amount and date of judgment
· The claim number
· The name of the court where judgment was issued
It can also be worthwhile checking your credit file. It is against the law for a company to check your personal credit file without your permission but this can easily be done online.
Limited Companies are different and anybody can check their credit file – it is public information. This is worthwhile thinking about if you wish to offer credit to any Limited Company (see separate section for information on how to do this).
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