County Court Judgement
A County Court Judgement is issued by the Court in response to an application by one of your creditors where you have defaulted on the payment terms set out in the agreement between you and your creditor.
Before making an application to Court, the creditor the ("claimant") must have issued you with a default notice. The claimant may then apply for the form to be issued, which will give all the details of the debts. That form is known as County Court Summons which is usually printed on blue paper.
You will receive a copy of the form which will be stamped by the Court, together with a response pack comprising:-
- A defence form http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/nll_0406.pdf which you need to complete if you disagree with the amount of the debt.
- Admission Form http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/forms/n2lO-0301.pdf which you complete if you agree with the full amount owed.
- Acknowledgement of service http://hmcourts-service.gov.uk/forms/n210-0301.pdf which you complete if you require a longer period to agree with or dispute the claim being made. This will allow you 28 days rather than 14 days to complete the paperwork and return it to Court.
You must respond to the Court Summons with 14 days (28 if you return the acknowledgement of service) otherwise an order maybe made against you, regardless of whether you owe any money. If you have completed the admission form, then the Court will require details of your income and expenditure so that it can arrive at an amount that you can reasonably afford which you will be ordered to pay until the judgement debt is paid in full.
If you do not pay the amounts ordered by the Courts, it may lead to a number of enforcement procedures.
- Issuing of Bailiffs.
- A "charge" being placed on your home (Charging Order).
- Monies being deducted straight from your wages (Attachment of Earnings Order).
If you have creditors in addition to the one applying for a County Court Judgement, you may need to consider alternative courses of action such as:
- Consolidated loans.
- Re-mortgage your home.
- Debt management plans.
- Individual Voluntary Arrangements.
These options are explained more fully in "Comparing IVA's to other debt management solutions "http://debtlifeboat.co.uk/ivacomparison.html. An IVA can include judgement creditors, but not those with charging orders.
