Introduction

A County Court Judgement (CCJ) is a court order that may be lodged against you if you fail to repay your debts. It is one of the actions that creditors can take to make you pay your debt to them. Before a creditor can approach the courts, they must issue you a notice stating their intent. This allows you to arrange a repayment solution with them which in turn will avoid them lodging a CCJ in the first place.

If you and the creditor cannot arrange a repayment solution, you should understand your options when dealing with the CCJ. Essentially there are three options: -

1. Pay the CCJ as the court has ordered;
2. Apply to change the payment terms if you can't afford them; or
3. Apply to have the CCJ 'set aside' if it should not have happened.

 

It is usually a good idea to avoid having a CCJ lodged against you and such we would always suggest trying to work out a solution with your creditor to avoid this as the judgment will be recorded for six years. This will have a detrimental effect on your credit score which could make it harder to get credit or make you subject to a higher interest rate for any future lending.