CCJs

CCJs are County Court Judgements. These are legal actions that can be taken against you if you owe money to a creditor. The first stage of a CCJ is a County Court Claim. Here an individual or company to whom you owe money can apply to the County Court to get their money back.

When a creditor takes this action you will be sent a Claim Form that states their case. You can then:

Pay back what you owe
Dispute the creditor’s case
Accept the creditor’s case

If you do not pay back what you owe then the court will hold a hearing where suitable action will be decided. If the court decides that the creditor is in the right then they will then try to get you and your creditor to come to an agreement or they will order you to pay off the debt in full (if you can afford it) or to make monthly payments.

The order that a court gives you to pay back what you owe here is the CCJ. If you have been taken to court by multiple creditors then all your debts may be rolled up into an administration order and the court will set a single payment that you must make every month which will then be shared by the people to whom you owe money.

If at all possible CCJs should be avoided - it is always better to try and come to an informal agreement to repay what you owe to creditor if you can. These judgements will be listed on your credit record and will have a negative effect which can prevent you from taking out credit products in the future.