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Receiving a county court judgment

A county court judgment will come in the post and it will explain:

• how much you owe
• how you should pay (in full or in instalments) and the deadline
• the details of who you need to pay

Records of county court judgments are kept for six years unless you pay the full amount within one month. A judgment can make it difficult for you to get credit, like a mortgage or a credit card.

If you get a judgment don’t ignore it - you’ll probably end up paying more in future and you’ll risk getting a bad credit rating.

• Paying your judgment - what do I do? Opens new window

• Registered judgments - what do they mean? Opens new window

• I cannot pay my judgment - what I do? Opens new window

Paying your county court judgment

The judgment form will tell you how to pay. You’ll usually pay the person you owe or their solicitor, not the court.

Make sure you can prove that you’ve paid - send cheques or make a bank transfer and don’t send cash through the post. Keep a record of your payments and pay well in time.

If you can't pay your county court judgment

If you really can't pay your county court judgment you can ask to:

• make regular payments
• change the amount of the regular payments
• put the judgment on hold until you can afford to pay

You’ll need to tell the court what you earn and what you need to pay, for example rent and gas and electricity bills. You’ll say how much you can pay towards the judgment each week or month. The person you owe might agree. If they don't, the court decides how much you pay.

If you still can’t afford what the court decides, get back to the court quickly. The court will arrange a hearing with you, the person you owe money to and the judge, and you’ll agree on a regular payment.

You have to fill out a form to change the judgment, and may have to pay a court fee.

• Apply to reduce your payments - 'varied order' Opens new window

• Court fees - do you have to pay them? Opens new window

If you’re struggling with debts

If you’re struggling with debts, you can ask to pay nothing for the moment. This is called a 'stay of judgment or execution’ and you’ll need to go to a court hearing to get one.

You can also ask the court for an 'administration order' where you can pay all your debts by one regular payment to the court. Your creditors can't take further action against you without asking the court and you will not pay interest. You must have at least one judgment and a maximum total debt of £5,000 to get this.

You may need to pay a court fee to make any of these changes to your judgment. Follow the link 'Court fees - do you have to pay them?’ below for more information.

• Apply for an administration order (form N92) Opens new window

• Court fees - do you have to pay them? Opens new window

Disagreeing with a county court judgment

If you’ve got a good reason, you can ask for the judgment to be ‘set aside’ so it doesn’t take effect straight away. You’ll have to pay a fee. The case then goes back to the start of the claim process. You have another chance to explain your situation and the judgment is taken off the register unless a new one is made.

• Apply to set aside a judgment (N244) Opens new window

If the payments are not what you offered

If the payments on the judgment form are not the amount you offered to pay you can apply to the court to change them.

County court judgments and your credit rating

Judgments stay on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for six years. Banks and loan companies use this information to help decide whether to give you credit or loans. Your judgment is only removed from the register if:

• you paid the full amount within one month
• it is set aside (withdrawn) by the court

If you pay the full amount within one month you can remove your judgment by sending a fee and proof of payment to the court.

If it takes you more than a month to pay the judgment, you can send a fee and proof of payment to get the judgment marked ‘satisfied’ on the register. It’ll stay for six years but people searching the register will see you have paid.

You can search the register yourself for a fee. If your details are wrong you can get your entry checked with the court. Some companies offer ‘credit repair’ checks, but you can usually sort things out yourself with the court more cheaply.

• The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines - search the register online
  Opens new window