If after issuing Court Proceedings the debtor has not responded within 14 days as explained in step 2, then our team can enter a County Court Judgment (CCJ) for you for a low fixed fee of £22 (plus VAT). This amount (exc. VAT) will be added to the amount of the CCJ, which by this stage will include the main debt, interest and the value of your legal costs to date.
If a CCJ is not paid by the debtor within 1 month from the date that it is entered by the Court, then the CCJ will remain on the debtor’s credit file for 6 years which will make it very difficult for the debtor to obtain credit. This is what is meant when reference is commonly made to being ‘blacklisted’. When any lender, credit card and store card companies or other parties run a credit check on the debtor after the CCJ has been entered, the CCJ will show up on the debtor’s credit file.
If the debtor pays you within 1 month he can avoid the CCJ affecting his credit rating and he can obtain what is known as a ‘certificate of satisfaction’ from the Court so long as you confirm that the debt has been paid.
Entering a CCJ does not necessarily mean that the debtor will pay the money due but ‘Step 3’ is essential if you wish to proceed to the next step of the enforcement of the debt.
