Depending on how serious a debt might be, it might require a CCJ or county court judgement from the local court in order to get the debtor to pay what they owe. CCJs are used in England and Wales when a lender is owed money by someone and is unable to recover it by themselves. Once someone has a one against their name, it stays there for six years and is visible to credit reference companies who check to see if people are eligible for credit.
A person may be threatened with a CCJ if they fail to make payments on a credit agreement which they have taken out. This doesn’t happen immediately though and the creditor will normally either contact the person for payment multiple times as in most cases it will be a one off or a mistake by the person. If the person persists with non-payment and makes no contact or arrangements to repay their debt then the creditor can contact the court and ask for a CCJ to recover the outstanding money.
A person who has a CCJ will have it on their file for six years and it will be visible on the Register of CCJs so that any credit suppliers whom they apply for credit from will be able to see it and make a decision based on that. If a person’s situation changes and they pay off their debt within that six year period then they can apply for a certificate of satisfaction which will remove the judgement.
Courts have a number of ways to recover a debt depending on how cooperative the debtor is with their proceedings. If the debtor is happy to make substantial and routine payments then the court may agree to this. If the debtor isn’t cooperative then the court may ask the debtor’s employer to remove an amount from the person’s earnings each month and pay it to the creditor. Failing this there is also the option of recovering the debt through using a bailiff to recover property to the value of the debt.
There is no way that a person can get around a CCJ other than by paying whatever money it is they owe. Because of the added financial difficulties it will create for a person in the future, it is a much better option for them to be cooperative and arrange to make payments before it reaches this stage.