I've been awarded a CCJ, how do I now get the money I'm owed?

I've got an unpaid invoice from a client that was due 5 months ago. I've been through the rigmaroll of Money Claim Online and have been awarded a CCJ. I elected for immediate payment terms, but the client has still not put his basta*d hands in his pockets.

Where do I go from here? Am I right in believing that I can apply for a warrant and then call someone in to give him a visit?

What are the costs involved with warrant application/collection companies etc...?

I am a bit blind to this so some direction would be good.

Many thanks - James.

I have a CCJ and I'll use it...

I imagine that there is a process to go through, the first step of which is to phone the guy up and tell him that you now have your CCJ, and ask him to send you the money. Make a (written) note of everything he says and then follow it through from there.

If he says he will send you the money, and does, no need for anythng else, if he doesn't then after a short period of tme on to the next step, which may involve a return to court to apply for the warrant...

Others may have a different perspective.

Because the debt is only £80 - I understand that it won't be financially sound at our end for us to employ professional services of debt collection?

Is there any other way I can enforce this judgement? It's now got to the point where the £80 is totally not a concern, but I just want to get the guy to pay for self pride.

James.

I'll be interested to hear the outcome of this as we have to go to court (after starting with moneyclaim online) to claim back over £2000 we are owed. The guy who owes us has basically said that even if we do win, he is only obliged to pay £10 a month anyway. I just want to send the boys round!!

Wow, that must be frustrating Kim. I wish you the best of luck also.

Our situation is that we provided some services to this guys clients, and he says he can't pay us as his clients haven't yet paid him. I fail to believe however that 4 of his clients would take 5 months to pay him just £20 each. Plus, our agreement was with him and not his clients.

Grrrr!

Hi James,

You have a number of options but I would go for a baliff's warrant as he only owes £80. This does cost £100 but is added to the debt. You need to fill in a form which you can download off www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk (application for a baliff's warrant) and pay the fee. The court will send their baliffs to the debtor's house and try to realise the money by seizing saleable assets. Often this leads to the debtor paying up to avoid losing a tv or car or whatever. You should only take this step if you know the address for the debtor and believe he has the assets/funds with which to pay.

If you know where he works you can apply for an attachment of earnings order so the money is taken directly out of his wages. The form is on the website above and the fee is again £100 but is added to the debt.

Hope this helps. Let me know how you get on.

Regards,

Grant

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/index.htm

Shows the various options open to you. Once you have CCJ you cannot use a private debt collector. You can issue the warrant( bailiff) but most find this, unless you have a lot of information to give to the bailiffs on the defendant's assets, phone numbers etc to be a very poor way to collect. For £80 the bailiff is not going to bust a gut to collect sadly. All enforcement fees are paid by you, the claimant, up front, you only get them back if the defendant pays up. This is a constant issue for the serial debtor cares nothing about another CCJ and £80 is too low to collect with any teeth ie transfer to High Court or threaten insolvency. An order to obtain information which requires the defendant to attend court see here:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/information/index.htm

Can be very useful as if there is a failure to attend the court can be asked ( again at cost to you initially) to issue a warrant for arrest for contempt proceedings. I have used this to great effect for clients where a point of principle rather than the amount involved was worth investing time and funds in the defendant. For most small businesses you really need to look at whether you are throwing good money after bad on this level of debt.

Is there a way you can go for a winding up petition, Sue?

I seem to remember from years back doing this...but it was for a slightly larger amount

There is a minimum value for a winding up petition - £750

Feel free to give me a ring if you want, just to discuss how fantastic the court service is as there's nothing can do for you....sorry!

It's £80, you have the CCJ that could potentially be a pain in the bum for him, if he isn't going to pay I wouldn't waste any more brain space on the moron. Chasing him will just prolong the agony and wind you up. Enjoy a few moments on the moral high ground and move on.

// I do apologise for the most unhelpful comment in the forum!

You may have already been advised but....

I would recommend the first step would be to ring the debtor and demand payment reminding them, if they pay within a month of the Judgment Order, the Judgment can be removed from the Register of County Court Judgments and it would not affect their credit rating and give them a deadline to pay by and warn that, if they do not, you will take further enforcement action and claim that expense from them. It might be worth doing this in writing ie following up your telephone conversation.

You could apply for a Warrant of Execution from the court which is effectively asking the court bailiff to go round to the debtor's premises/home and ask for payment or seize goods to the value of the CCJ. The fee for that Warrant is £100.00 which clearly outweighs the amount of the CCJ but that court fee can also be claimed from the debtor.

You could apply to ask that the debtor attends court to provide his financial information to the court so that he can explain why he cannot or has not paid the CCJ but, again, there is a fee of £50.00.

If the debtor owns property, you could apply for a Charging Order but, again, there is a fee payable of £100.00 and such a course of action does not produce payment and is fairly long winded process and does not automatically produce payment of the CCJ.

Obviously, because of the amount of the CCJ, it is not benefical to instruct Solicitors but, if I can assist you in any way, please contact me.

Interesting point this, as I am in a similar situation - this time the debtor owes me £3600. The court has agreed they can repay this debt at just £1 per month - obviously with interest this means it will never be clear. It turns out this person also has 2 other CCJ's against their name and they are continuing to obtain goods & services from people with no way to pay.

As a sole trader, this person lives at home with their parents and they apparently have no assets. They are already in default for the first two CCJ's.

Apparently my options from here would be to get them declared bankrupt - at a cost of around £600 to me, which tbh isn't worth the effort, as I still wouldn't get my money back, and would be a case of throwing good after bad. Justice eh?

You do look like Harry Potter, James!

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Obviously this is extremely frustrating for us. It's a matter of good faith at this point - we want to be paid for the work that we completed. It's ridiculous that he won't pay for what we did. Argh.