What Are the Grounds for Setting Aside a CCJ? Time Limit!

What is a good reason to ask for a CCJ to be set aside? This will be the focus of my post here. This area can be quite confusing, so I hope to break it down and make things easier to understand.

What is a CCJ?

A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is a court order that can be issued against individuals in England and Wales. When you’re given a CCJ, it’s an order to pay a claimant money because you owe them a debt or compensation.

For example, a loan provider might take you to court for failing to repay a loan and failing to come to a repayment solution. If it’s proved that you owe the money, the court will tell you to pay by issuing a CCJ. The CCJ will tell you to pay in instalments or all the money at once.

Some claimants will try to get you to pay without court action by employing debt collection agencies like Global Debt Recovery. But these groups aren’t bailiffs and can only ask you to pay or threaten legal action.

Do you have to pay?

There are ways to have debt written off in the UK.

If you genuinely can’t afford your debt repayments then looking into whether you could have your payments lowered or written off might be just what you need.

If you want to find out whether you qualify for having debt written off or payments lowered then fill out the short form below.

What’s the pre-action debt protocol?

Before a claimant can take legal action to get a CCJ and make you pay a debt, it must follow a series of strict steps. These steps are to try and get you to come to a resolution without the use of the courts, and therefore to ease the pressure on the court system and resources.

The prospective claimant must send you letters to your address, including a default notice and alert you to the fact that legal action is a possibility if you don’t pay. As long as the pre-action protocol is followed, a claim against you can be made.

How is a CCJ issued?

When a claim is made against you, the court sends you a CCJ claim pack. This pack includes several forms that must be completed and returned to either the claimant or the court, depending on your response.

With the forms, you can:

Agree you owe the debt, supply financial information and offer a payment plan
Challenge the amount claimed, known as a partial defence
Challenge the debt entirely, known as a full defence

In any case, the CCJ will be issued. Even if you don’t respond to the claim, it’s likely that the judge will issue the CCJ by default.

Can you lower your repayments?

If you’re struggling to pay back your debt, then you might qualify for a debt solution.

Some solutions lower your monthly payments while others write off a portion of your debt.

To find out whether they could work in your situation, hit the button below.

Get Started

What is setting aside a CCJ?

Setting aside a CCJ is when a CCJ that has already been issued against you is cancelled, or “put to one side”.

This doesn’t stop you from potentially owing the debt, but it does stop you from being legally obligated to pay the debt as part of a CCJ, and it does stop an immediate threat of bailiffs and other enforcement action.

Is it easy to get a CCJ set aside?

There are some applications to set aside a CCJ that the court must agree to. But there are also some arguments to set aside a CCJ that the court may or may not agree with.

What is a good reason to set aside a CCJ?

Good reasons to ask for a CCJ to be set aside are:

The order was made against you while absent (this is in certain circumstances only such as being in hospital for an extended period)
The CCJ includes an error
You weren’t given an opportunity to defend yourself against the claim
The correct process wasn’t followed

Can you get a CCJ set aside if you didn’t receive court papers?

Despite what you might read elsewhere on the internet, the answer isn’t always yes.

Court papers must be sent to your current or last known address, which may not be your most up-to-date address.

You can argue that you never received court papers at the correct address only if the creditor/claimant should know that you live at your current address. This will help you get the CCJ set aside.

But, if there is no way for the claimant to know your latest address and they send them to your old address, you might not be able to get the CCJ set aside for this reason.

When must a court set aside your CCJ

The court must set aside a default judgment made against you where no hearing was made if:

The debt was fully repaid before the judgment was entered.
You submitted a defence within the time limit.
You returned an acknowledgement of service form indicating that you’re making a defence.

As long as you submitted your (intention to make a) defence within the time limit, a default CCJ must be set aside.

When a court might set aside a CCJ

If you didn’t submit a defence on time but the court thinks you have a good chance of winning the case, the court might decide to set aside the CCJ as well. The court can also set aside the CCJ for other reasons if it so chooses.

Setting aside a CCJ – time limit!

There is no fixed time limit on asking for a CCJ to be set aside. However, if you’re using one of the grounds that the court must accept to set aside a default judgment, the court will want to see that you’re making the application “promptly”.

How do you apply to have a CCJ set aside?

You can apply to have a CCJ set aside by completing From N244. This form also allows you to request to have enforcement action stopped – such as bailiffs – while the application is heard.

Support Through Court is one charity that can help with the application forms.

You’ll then be asked to attend a court hearing at your local County Court.

How much does it cost to set aside a CCJ?

There is a £275 fee to ask for the court to set aside a CCJ. People on a low income can sometimes get financial support to cover this fee.

Speak with Citizens Advice for more information on this.

Does setting aside a CCJ affect your credit score?

Source: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6257065/ccj-set-aside

Having a CCJ set aside will get the CCJ removed from your credit report, which will improve your score somewhat and your chances of getting approved for credit.

However, before you get a CCJ your report will have been affected by default markers, which will have significantly decreased your credit score anyway.