DEBT
What the people you owe money to (your creditors) can do to get their money
The creditors can
apply to the County Court to claim the money you owe them. If the court
agrees with them, you will have a county court judgement (CCJ) registered
against you.
A CCJ (county court judgement) is a claim against you for money you owe that has been made official by the county court. This will go on your credit file and will affect your credit rating – it will probably be more difficult for you to get a loan, credit card or mortgage in the future. It will also increase the total amount you owe, because you will have to pay the creditors court costs too. You must pay what the court orders you to pay. The only advantage of a CCJ is that the creditor should stop adding interest to the money you owe them, and the court will decide the repayment plan not the company you owe the money to. As long as you keep paying the amount that the court said you should, there should be no more trouble from the company you owe the money to.
What if I don’t pay the amount the court said?
If you don’t pay what the court orders you to pay, the creditor
can use other ways to make you pay.
Bailiffs are special firms that collect goods to the value of the debts
owed. They will call at your house.
Despite what they might try to tell you, bailiffs are not allowed to
force their way into your home, as long as they have not been inside
before. Therefore do not let them in. If you do let a bailiff into your
home, they will ask you to sign something called a walking possession
order.
What is a walking possession order?
A walking possession order is a list of the valuable things in your
home and means that if you miss a payment on your debt in the future,
then the bailiff is legally allowed to force their way into your home
and take away the things on that list. It is not a good thing to sign.
If you do not let the bailiff inside your home, they won’t be able
to take ‘walking possession’ of your things – they can
however take things not inside your home like your car.
For most types of debt, bailiffs can’t take ‘basic household
items’. This means that they could not take your bed – but
they could take your television.
What are county court bailiffs?
County court bailiffs work for the courts, they may call if you have
had a CCJ and you haven’t kept up the payments. You get a form
called a ‘warrant of execution’ before they come.
Can I stop county court bailiffs coming?
You can fill in a form sat the court with a statement about why you
didn’t pay what was ordered and how much you can afford to pay.
The human rights act has had an n effect on the use of bailiffs. Courts
and public authorities should only use bailiffs as a last resort, and
should try to use less upsetting ways of getting you to pay.
The court can make an order to take regular payments from your wages
if you have any. They will send you a form to fill in. The form asks
for certain details so they can take the payments.
What if I don’t fill the form in?
Of you don’t co-operate with the court and fill the form in, you
could be sent to prison for up to 14 days.
The court will set a minimum amousks for certain details so they can
take the payments.
What if I don’t fill the form in?
If you don’t co-operate with the court and fill the form in, you
could be sent to prison for up to 14 days.
How much can they take on orders
If you have at least one CCJ against you, and your total debts are no
more that £5,000, you can apply for an administration order
(AO). This allows the court to send payments to all the companies you
owe money to. You make one payment to the court, and this is then split
between all the people you owe in a way that the court decides.
One this happens, the people you owe can’t take any action against
you and they will stop adding interest to your debt. An administration
order can include:
Council Tax
Gas, electricity, phone and water bills
Fines
Social fund loans
Companies may not want to be included on the administration order –
but it is the court that decides whether or not to include them. The
advantage of an admin order is that the people you owe will not be able
to keep hassling you, proviDed you keep up the payments – and your
payments are sorted out by the court rather that you having to decided
who to pay when.
Individual Voluntary arrangement (IVA)
An IVA is a legally binding arrangement between you and your creditors
that is drawn up by a qualified person – usually an accountant.
You must agree to pay money as a lump sum or instalments. In return
the companies you owe money to will write off part of the debt and not
take court action against you or make you bankrupt.
You will have to pay all the costs and also a large amount of the debt.
This option is only realistic if you have quite a lot of spare money
or things you can sell to pay your bills. If you are considering this
option you should shop around for someone to do it hould shop around
for someone to do it