Defending a CCJ

Have you defaulted on your debt repayments and been threatened with a County Court Judgment (CCJ) by one of your creditors? If so, Harrington Brooks may be able to assist you in preventing this. This means you could protect your credit rating and your creditors would be unable to take further enforcement action to seek repayment of the debt.

What is a CCJ?

If you fall behind on debt repayments to your creditors, they may apply to the County Court for a Judgment (CCJ) against you to claim payment of the outstanding debt. It is up to the Court to decide whether there is a debt to be paid and, if so, how best it be repaid. A CCJ is a judgment which has been issued by the county court because you have failed to pay money to your creditors.

If the court sends you an order to pay, but you do not pay, the claimant can ask the court to enforce the judgment to ensure that you make the required payments. Court bailiffs could be sent to your home to remove items belonging to you in order to repay the debt, or the Creditor may apply for a charging order against any property you may own. Don't let this happen as we could still assist you in defending the claim.

How can Harrington Brooks help?

When a Claim has been issued against you, there are six main options for you:

The most important thing to remember is that you must act as soon as possible. But no matter what stage of the Claim process you are at, Harrington Brooks is here to help. If our solicitors successfully defend your CCJ, the amount that you owe to your creditors is not recoverable by them. This means the creditor will not be able to enforce recovery of the amount that was owed.

• Pay the debt in full. If you can afford to pay the debt (including any interest and court fees occurred), there does not need to be a court hearing and no CCJ will be recorded against you.
• On Judgment pay the debt, interest and costs within 30 days so that no CCJ will be recorded against you.
• Pay the debt after 30 days post Judgment either in full or by instalments ordered by the Court. In this case a CCJ will be issued which will remain on your credit file for 6 years but can be enforced by the Creditor for however long it takes to pay the debt. However, it may be that there is a defect error in the Claim that has been issued against you, meaning you can:
• Dispute the amount owed - Explain to the court why you think you owe less than the creditors are demanding. Ensure that you pay the amount of debt that you believe that you owe the creditors and, if the court decides in your favour, you won't have a CCJ issued against you.
• Dispute the full claim. If you are advised by our solicitor that you do not owe anything to your creditors, it is essential that your side of the argument is presented to the court.
• Counter claim against the creditor. You may think that you do not owe your creditor any money but in fact they owe you. If this is the case you need to again refer the claim form to us which we will forward to our solicitors who will decide whether or not to act on a no win no fee basis and/or ensure you are aware of any costs that may be incurred.