A County Court Judgment (CCJ) can be made against you if you failed to respond to a warning letter or default notice from a creditor informing you that you need to repay what you owe, otherwise legal action will commence.
If you receive a CCJ, it means the court has decided that you owe the money. It must be paid within one month of the judgment or it will remain on your credit record at the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for six years.
If you pay the debt in full within one month of the date of the CCJ, you can apply to the court to have your entry in the Register removed.
You’ll need to send proof of payment from the person or business you owed money to. If you cannot get proof from the person or business you owed money to, you can apply for a certificate of cancellation or satisfaction using form N443.
You’ll need to send evidence of your payment to the court through, eg a bank statement. If you don’t have this evidence, explain this on the form.
If you want proof from the court that you’ve paid, you can apply for a certificate of cancellation which costs £15. However, payment for the certificate may be waived or reduced if you’re on a low income.
A CCJ will appear on your credit report and could affect your credit rating making it difficult for you to borrow money, obtain a mortgage and, in some circumstances, could have an effect on your potential employment.
To establish whether a CCJ has been made against you, you can search the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines or get a copy of your credit report. You will have to pay a small fee for either of these. You can also obtain a copy of your credit report from a credit reference agency such as Experian, Equifax etc.
Your options:
1. Pay in full
If you do not dispute the debt, you can pay the full amount of the debt. If this is done after a month the CCJ will remain on your credit report however it will appear as “satisfied”. This may still affect your credit rating.  You will not be able to make an application for the CCJ to be set aside and removed from the register after payment is made.
2. Apply to set aside the CCJ
You can make an application to the county court to set the CCJ aside. The application to set aside can be made where you think there is an error. To successfully set aside the judgment, an application must be made showing you have a real prospect of defending the claim, that there is a good reason why you should be allowed to defend the claim eg, the claim was served at the wrong address and you didn’t have opportunity to defend the claim or the Claimant did not follow the correct protocol.
If the application is successful, the CCJ will be removed from the register. This will be for the judge to decide upon review of the application. The current application fee for setting aside a CCJ is ÂŁ255.00.
Article provided by Summerfield Browne Solicitors
DISCLAIMER: This article should not be regarded as constituting legal advice in relation to particular circumstances. It is merely a general comment on the relevant topic. If specific advice is required in connection with any of the matters covered above, please speak to Summerfield Browne Solicitors directly