County Court Judgements
If you fail to pay a creditor and don’t reply to their reminders there are several things that they can do.
If it is a secured debt for example, a hire purchase agreement they can repossess the goods without going to court if you have paid less than one third of the total sum. You will still have to pay the majority of the balance.
If you have paid more than one third they will need to get a court order to repossess the goods but you will have to pay them any sum left after they have sold the goods plus the court costs.
If however you default on an unsecured agreement e.g. credit card, personal loan, bank overdraft etc. they must send you a Notice of Default first and if you do not respond within the period stated on the notice they can then issue a claim against you in the county court. Should you receive a claim form you have 21 days in which to respond.
There are 3 choices:
- You could do nothing, in which case the finance company will get a “default judgement” and you will be ordered by the court to pay the outstanding balance plus the costs immediately or,
- you can complete the form admitting the debt and on the last page you can put down details of your financial situation and make an offer of payment. A “ judgement on admission” will still be registered against you but the court will usually accept your offer.
- The only other option is to enter a defence. If you don’t agree with any thing on the claim form then enter a defence and sometime in the future you will be able to put your case but the creditor will not get a judgement until that time and then only if you lose.
If a judgement is registered against you it remains on the register for 6 years from the date of the judgement and then it is removed. During that time you will be refused any credit which is why you should NEVER IGNORE YOUR CREDITORS.
Even if you only send part payments it is unlikely that they will start court proceedings against you.
If you have any questions or if you need any FREE debt advice CALL 0845 466 0364
Our debt expert Wally Stone is an authorized intermediary and has over 20 years experiance in dealing with personal debt.
