What is county court judgement or CCJ – Advice and Tips

County Court Judgements (CCJ) and County Court Claims can be used by creditors to claim the money you owe them. But don’t get panicky if you receive a CCJ or County Court Claim. This is just a fair process where the Court will decide whether you actually have to pay the amount or not and how you will repay it.

Different orders for county court judgement enforcement:

• CCJs can be enforced by “Warrant of Execution”. This is issued by the district Judge and it aims the debtor’s assets which can be confiscated. But note that articles or equipments such as books, vehicles and other necessary items are not seized.
• County court judgement enforcement is possible with a “Charging Order”. This order is imposed on any property of the debtor as mentioned in the order.
• CCJs can be implemented by an “Attachment of Earnings Order”. In this case the Court can give instructions to the debtor’s employer to deduct certain amounts from the debtor’s salary and pay them to the court. During this an amount of £1 is also deducted for administration costs. For this the employer needs to give the debtor a written statement of the total amount deducted. ‘Earnings’ comprise overtime payments, bonuses, commission and fees.
• To enforce CCJs, “Garnishee Order” can also be used. Garnishee refers to a third party. Here the third party has to repay the creditors a debt he owes to the debtor.

Once a CCJ is issued, it gets registered in the ‘Register of Judgements and Fines’. Thus CCJ may be a reason why your credit was refused last time. Most creditors go through your financial history obtained from credit reference agencies before lending. These credit reference agencies keep details of CCJs from the ‘Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines’.

Creditors are enforcing County Court Judgement against you?

If Creditors enforce County Court Judgement against you, you will receive a CCJ form. This form will give you the details of the amount of debts you owe your creditors. Check out these court forms:

• N1 CPC claim form reflects creditors’ claim.
• N9 Acknowledgement of Service is generally used to request for another 14 days to file a defence.
• N9A Admission form is used in case you admit the claim but want some more time to pay. Here you will have to enter your income and expenditure for the court to determine how much you should pay.
• N9B Defence form is used to defend your claim
• N 244 Stay of judgment is used to cease the judgment from being enforced
• N 245 Application is used for suspension of a warrant and/or variation of an order. This form is used to ask the court to reduce the amount in case you fail to pay what has been ordered.
• EX 160 Application is used for a fee remission: This form is used to ask the court not to charge you a fee.

You can choose from five options to repay if a CCJ has been issued:

• Pay the total amount along with the interest and court fees in case you do not wish to simply return the forms. You need not worry about any court hearing or a CCJ being recorded against you.
• In case you want to pay later on or in instalments, you need to fill out the form mentioning your payment procedure. Thereafter a CCJ will be issued.
• If you find out that the money you owe is less than the claim, send the form with your explanation. You should pay what you owe and not more than that. The court will decide as to who is right- you or your creditor. In case your creditor is right, a CCJ will be issued against you.
• In case you think that you have no debts, you need to return the Defence Form to the court with an explanation. For more time, you can fill up the ‘Acknowledgement of Service’ form.
• If you have any claims against the creditors, you can fill up the counterclaim form.

CCJ’s Procedure:

CCJs are common and simple court procedures. Once the creditor has made a claim, make sure that it is correct. If you can afford to pay the amount then pay back within a month or else the CCJ will get registered with the Register of County Court Judgements and credit reference agencies will record this in your file. However you can also pay off later.

CCJs will stay in a file for 6 years irrespective of the fact whether it is satisfied or not. In case you cannot pay, ask the court to defer the order by filling up the N245 form. The court will ask for your income and expenditure (known as means enquiry). For this, the court will charge you a £30 fee (payable to the courts) for submitting this application.

How to pay?

You will have to deal with a solicitor or a representative of the claimant. You will find the name and address of the claimant in the Judgment form. Ask the claimant about the payment method. It might be so that the claimant will hand over to you a paying-in book or set up a standing order to get the money transferred to him from your bank account. The court will never accept your payments.

Make sure you make your payments in cheques or postal orders. Avoid cash payments as there will be no proof of your payment. In case you are opting for payment through instalments, you can use the ‘Record Sheet’. For this visit HMCS (Her Majesty’s Court Service).

The Judgments are recorded on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines. Your name will be there on the Register for the next 6 years unless you pay your debts within one month of the judgment date.

How to remove your name from the Register of County Court Judgment (CCJ)?

An entry into the Register of County Court Judgment is removed if a judgment has been suspended or changed due to an appeal or because the claims have been paid within one month. In this case the court sends a ‘Notification of Cancellation’ to the Registry Trust within three days of the CCJ order. After this, the entry is deleted from the Register as well as the credit reference agencies’.

However, once the debt has been paid off, you can apply to amend the entry and deem it as ‘paid’. In this case, the entry does not get removed from the register but is marked as ‘paid’ or ‘satisfied’. This remains on your credit file for the next 6 years.

If you are from England and Wales, you can get a ‘Certificate of Satisfaction’ from the County Court. This can be obtained with a fee of £10. You also need to get a letter from your claimant saying that you have paid.

There are leaflets that will help you with court fees remission and how to pay them. These are issued by Her Majesty’s Court Service. They are:

• Application for a fee remission: EX160
• Court Fees: Do I have to pay them? – EX160A

What to do if you cannot pay the amount?

Once the claimant accepts your offer, the court will order for payment through instalments. In case, the claimant rejects the offer, the court’s decision as to how much you should pay is final. You can also ask the court to reconsider the order if you cannot pay. You need to write to the court within 16 days of the postmark on the varied order. Explain to the court the reasons behind you being unable to pay the amount asked for.

Now the court will call upon your claimant and you for a private hearing with the district judge. You can refer to the leaflet “EX20-Paying my judgment-what do I do?”

You can also ask for the court’s permission if you are unable to pay anything. This called a ‘Stay of Judgment or Execution’. For this you need to fill up a N244 form and ask for a stay of judgment. You need to pay a fee to apply for this order.

If you need more information on CCJs please write a comment here:

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