What should I do if I receive a CCJ claim form letter?
As soon as you receive a claim form, you should talk to a free debt advice service immediately. The letter shouldn’t come out of the blue, as your creditor must send you a warning letter to let you know that you should repay what you owe them, or legal action will begin.
For any credit arrangements under the Consumer Credit Act, you must be sent a default notice at least 14 days before any legal action is taken. This notice should let you know how to respond, and what action will be taken if you don’t.
How do I respond to a CCJ claim?
Getting debt advice will help you to deal with the claim correctly, so that the court can take your circumstances into account when they determine how you shouldpay off your debt. For example, if you can’t pay off the full amount, they may issue an Administration Order. If you simply ignore the letter, the court will still issue the judgement, but without taking your circumstances into account. For example, they might order you to pay back all the debt at once, even if it’s impossible for you to do so.
What is the deadline for replying to a CCJ claim form?
After you receive a claim form, you only have 14 days to respond. You will have to fill in the reply form, including an Income and Expenditure form. This will detail all your income and outgoings. The court needs this, so they know how much money you have to pay off the debt.
Your options are:
Can I dispute a court judgement?
A court can either issue a judgement whereby you pay off the debt over time, or where you have to pay the full amount immediately. If you’ve made a claim and a monthly offer of payment, you will probably be asked to pay in instalments.
But if you don’t respond to the CCJ, the court will still enter a judgement against you. However, you can ask the court to look at their judgement again if the repayments are more than you can afford. This is known as a redetermination.
What happens if I break the terms of a CCJ?
If you don’t keep to the terms of your CCJ, your creditor can ask the court to enforce the debt. They can do this in several ways:
How would a CCJ affect my credit record?
Unless you pay off a CCJ in full within 30 days of your court judgement, it will be put on your credit record, and remain there for six years. It would be entered on the Register of Judgements, which can seriously impact on whether you can get amortgage, acredit card or even a bank account. So, it’s important you don’t ignore a CCJ or you could berefused credit in future.
How can I avoid getting a CCJ?
If you’re struggling with yourdebt management and can’t keep up with payments, you should speak to a free debt adviser. They can help you to make an offer to your creditors, as well as explaining the other options that are available to you. Normally, you should be able to agree on an arrangement with your creditor where you make payments you can afford, thus avoiding court action.
Also, you should always strive to make your loan repayments on time and pay off debts early so you don’t rack up too much interest, to demonstrate to lenders that you’re a sensible borrower. If you’re using savings to pay off your debts, make sure you have enough cash in an easy access savings account for emergencies.