She said it could come from a council, company, landlord or an individual person
More than 270,000 people in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have received letters through the post, a BBC expert has said – and anyone ignoring them could face ending up in court. BBC Morning Live viewers were recently told how thousands of letters relating to county court judgements have been sent in the last 12 months.
A County Court Judgement (CCJ) is essentially a court order that’s issued in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland when someone owes money and then doesn’t pay their debt and the company then takes enforcement action, expert Laura Pomfret explained to viewers. She said it could come from a council, company, landlord or an individual person – and if it doesn’t get paid it can go on the person’s credit reports.
She said: ”I think that’s what a lot of people resonate with that they’ve heard of CCJs can be bad for your credit. They stay on your credit report for six years. It can impact you getting a mortgage, even getting um a rental property. Sometimes credit checks are done, even when getting a mobile phone contract.
“It’s definitely something to avoid if someone can avoid it, and worryingly, in the first quarter of this year, over 270,000 new CCJs were registered, and that’s 17.5% up on last year. So this is obviously showing that people are struggling and in the energy industry is something that you know it’s it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
She said they’re often issued for people getting behind on paying power bills – and latest Ofgem figures show debt at £4.5 billion – with Energy UK putting it even higher at £5.5 billion. She added: “That’s like such a big bill that lots of people are pay and people pay every month clearly struggling with it. And interestingly as well, credit card transactions in February were up 6% versus last February whereas debit transactions were only up 1%. And that also shows, you know, that people are having to rely on credit for even the most basic of bills.”
If someone receives a CCJ Ms Pomfret said it often follows lots of threatening letters – so the householder will already be worried. She said: “Firstly, it is upsetting to receive a formal document like that. If you get that through the post, it’s got a court seal on it it’s very formal. It might have followed you, you know, debt demand letters with red writing all over, which is overwhelming.
“Firstly don’t be overwhelmed is easy to say but don’t be alarmed like it’s just a formal process it’s essentially a document asking you asking you for money and so it if it comes through the post you it will tell you what you owe it’ll tell you how to pay it and it will also tell you the deadline by which to pay so you have a few options when you receive a CCJ.”
She said the first option was to pay it back – and if someone does it could be removed from their credit file if done within a month. She said: “After that, it stays on your report, but it says that you paid it. So, please make sure you prioritise paying it.”
It’s also possible to vary the terms of a CCJ, she said, which means speaking to the court to try to change the terms of the judgement. “Another thing that you may be able to do is apply for what’s called breathing space. So this is formerly called in England and Wales the debt respite scheme. “What this does is it gives you space from creditors, including the CCJ, and maybe gives you time to make a plan to pay it back or speak to a debt advisor, which is super helpful. The last thing that you may be able to do is you may actually be able to get the judgment or CCJ set aside. or recalled if you believed um that it’s an error.”
She said there would have to be a genuine reason to apply for it to be set aside, including providing evidence, mainly that the person doesn’t owe the money or it’s a mistake. She added: “Another reason is that you didn’t receive the original claim form. So before a CCJ is issued or a decree is issued, you will get a claim form put forward and there’s an opportunity to respond.
“So you could have, for example, the wrong address, it could have been sent somewhere else. You may not have received it. Now, the court’s not going to take kindly to just saying, ‘I didn’t receive it.’ It’s kind of like the dog ate my homework sometimes for some people, but you may genuinely not have done. So that could be an option. Ultimately, you’re going to need evidence, you’re going to have to fill in the correct forms. You may have to pay fees to get it set aside, but you know, in the long run, it may be worth doing tha if you don’t want it to damage your credit.”
To find the steps and court forms involved in asking a court to vary the terms of a CCJ or decree, such as requesting to pay in instalments, or even how to get a judgment cancelled, you can click on the links below.
For England, Wales and Northern Ireland you can click here.
For Scotland you can click here., external
There temporary protection from your creditors while you get debt advice and make a plan.
In England and Wales this is called Breathing Space, and you can find information on that by clicking here., external
In Scotland this is called a moratorium, and you can find more information on that here.
