A distinctive feature of Welsh legal systems, as well as the English one, is the system of County Court Judgements, which is also referred to as CCJs. These judgements deal with monetary claims. Unless the lender and the borrower reach an agreement on a sum, the sum is left in the hands of the judge who is ruling the case.
In the latter scenario, it is possible that the debtor feels aggrieved by the court’s decision, and may thus be entitled to file a ‘redetermination’. This involves asking the court to reconsider the sum it set on the ground that the debtor cannot afford it. Such a redetermination does not involve any fees, but it should be filed within fourteen days of receiving the court’s order.
All payments in such cases are recorded in the Register of County Court Judgements. Credit agencies subsequently check their debtors’ reliability in the Register. This is common practice in order to refrain dealing with unreliable clients who have a high probability of not paying their debts.
In cases when the debtor does not pay the sum due, the creditor may again ask for the court’s assistance. There is even the possibility of requesting the debtor’s employer to retain a percentage from his or her wage in order to start paying off the sum due.
In cases where other parties owe the debtor any amounts they may be compelled to pay the debt themselves so as to put the debtor in a better position to pay his own debt. The bailiffs are also responsible to seize any goods owned by the debtor so as to sell them. From the proceeds the sum due is then paid so as to abide by the CCJ.
County Court Judgements should be acted upon earnestly as these judgements are listed under one’s credit file and removal is only affected once payment of the debt is settled. Debtors are given up to a maximum of 28 days to settle the amount.
Unless the debtor complies with a CCJ, the debtor will find it nigh impossible applying for credit within an extensive period of six years. In order to prevent this from occurring, the CCJ payment should be affected within the allotted 28 day period. However, even though payment is made within the 28 day time frame, this will still leave a negative mark on the credit rating file of the individual. Thus it is imperative that regular payments are made so as to counterbalance any negative record.