Responding to a County Court Judgment (CCJ)

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If you have received a notice of intended prosecution from the Court on behalf of a lender or creditor you must complete and return both the Administration and Claim forms within fourteen days from the date it was received, this is clearly indicated by the postmark on the envelope in which the documents arrived.

Failure to meet the deadline may result in the Court enforcing payment in full under a Judgment by Default which will like the CCJ have a negative impact on your ability to obtain credit in the future. Remortgaging with CCJ's

Can I avoid getting a CCJ?

You have the option to settle all outstanding debt with your lender or creditor and avoid having your credit tarnished with a CCJ by notifying the Court and within the
14 day deadline settling all Court fees, costs and any additional interest that may of been accrued.

The payment must be directly sent to the lender or creditor via the address shown on the bottom of the Claims form and received within the deadline. With this in mind you will need to allow for postage time/delay and of course time for the cheque to clear in the lender or creditors account. Equally it makes sense to get a receipt or proof that they have received the cheque and once cleared confirmation that the account has been settled in full and that no further action will taken.

Defending against the claimant

You have the option to dispute the claim by returning the Defence Form (N9B) to the Court that issued the Judgment by covering all of points and allegations raised by the lender or creditor, equally if you disagree with the amount claimed to be outstanding you have the opportunity to return what figure you believe is correct with an offer to pay the outstanding in full or enter an amount that you feel you could comfortably afford to repay each calendar month.

If you feel you need more time to address the matter for the purpose of seeing independent advice you can file for an Acknowledgement of Service by using the N9 form included in the original Claim form pack issued by the court, this and as long as it is received within the 14 day deadline will entitle you to another 14 days to complete your defence.

Seek professional advice...

Before considering your options on issues that may affect your short or long term financial stability it makes perfect sense to seek professional advice on your situation and consult:

An Independant Financial Advisor: more information

The Citizens Advice Bureau: more information (opens in new window)