County Court Judgement

CCJ Explained

If you owe money to a company or person they can take out a County Court Judgement against you.

The court will decide if there is a debt that needs to be paid and it is at this point that the court will set out how the debt will be paid.

You will first receive a CCJ Claim Form, within this form there will be an explanation of the amount you owe and who you owe it to.

Along with this form you will also receive an admission form, the admission form is there for you to defend the claim if you do not intend to pay it.

The defending claim needs to be sent back within 14 days. It is vital that you do not ignore this in the hope it will go away or that you will receive another letter, you will not and it will be issued anyway in a default judgement.

What are the options with a CCJ?

You can either

• Pay the debt in full straight away – This eliminates a court hearing and no CCj will be recorded against you.
• You can request to make a payment plan – fill out the form asking to pay in instalments.
• Dispute the claim – Send the forms back to dispute the debt – If you feel that you do not owe the money then you can put your own case forward.  The court will then decide who is in the right.
• If you require more time to put your case together you can fill out an Acknowledgement of Service Form, asking for a little more time to put your defence together.
• If it is in fact you that is owed money due to the debt you can also put in a counter-claim.

It is important to understand that if you do not make payment then the person you owe the money to can go back to court to enforce the judgement, not only will this incur more costs but this could even extend to bailiffs visiting you. 

How Does a CCJ Impact Your Future

There is a CCJ register – The Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines and the CCJ will stay on there for 6 years.

If you are applying for any kind of finance, that finance company will do a credit check on you and your CCJ will show up.  So even if you feel that you should not have been taken to court but you neglected to act in the early stages you will still have the CCJ registered against you.

Having any kind of bad credit does make it much more difficult to get finance through mainstream companies.

Getting a Car Lease with a CCJ through Compass Vehicle Services

6 years is a long time and even if you were having financial difficulty then, does not mean you are having financial problems now.  It is for this exact reason that CVS Ltd do not look at credit scores and credit checks as their first port of call.

We look at affordability and traceability  – see how it works.

We are not legal professionals, if you have any concerns regarding CCJ’s you should seek advice from a professional.