CCJ and Forthwith Judgement

Paul40

Hello again.

Does anyone know much about CCJ's?

I have spoken to a couple of people today that seem to have experienced a quite nasty shift in the way creditors are dealing with County Court Claims.

I thought that Creditors had to send out the relevant forms (via court) and then you state how much you can afford to repay, etc. And, then it goes to Court and the Judge decides, if you cannot reach an agreement. But, I thought that a Judge can only decide on an amount based on what a Debtor can realistically afford.

In the 2 people that I have spoken to today, A CCJ with a 'Forthwith Judgement' was ordered. This obviously makes the debt immediately repayable. But, these people do not own homes, one is working, but the other is unemployed and on benefits. Both filled in the forms and sent them back within good time.

Is it possible that Creditors are getting very clever and perhaps not passing the proposed Debtor payment offer to the court...effectively, making the Judge order a judgement in default?

I can see why they would, as it does tend to force the issue a bit more quickly. But has anyone else experienced this?

GeorgeUK

Not experienced this but when people have been unable to meet the payments required by a judgement, they may be able to get a redetermination. It may be that those you spoke to didn't attend the court which may be why a forthwith judgement was given.

fermi

Paul40 wrote: »

Is it possible that Creditors are getting very clever and perhaps not passing the proposed Debtor payment offer to the court...effectively, making the Judge order a judgement in default?

That at least is common practice I'm afraid.

The system is set up so that you are supposed to send any offer to the creditor who should then pass that on to the court. But if the creditor pretends that they have not heard from you, then they can just ask for the judgement by 'default'.

Not saying that is what has happened in these particular cases, but it does often happen like that.

It is probably a good idea to send the CCJ paperwork back to creditor by special delivery, and send a copy to the court as well (just so the creditor knows you have ). The court won't do anything with it, but it may dissuade the creditor from trying to pull a fast one.

If it happens to you, then you need to ask for a redetermination, which will require the court/judge to look at it properly.

----> CCJ Redetermination under CPR rule 14.13

That must be received by the court within 14 days of the judgement date for it to be "free". Otherwise you will have to pay court fees to try to get the judgement changed to instalments.