So, you’ve won your Money Claim Online (MCOL) judgment, but the debtor hasn’t paid up. What do you do next? The purpose of this blog is to explain your next steps and give you easy-to-follow options on how to enforce my Money Claim Online judgment and turn it into cash.
Enforcing a judgment might sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a straightforward guide based on information from https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment to help you understand your options and get what you’re owed. We should say that the advice in this blog is based on our experience of enforcing thousands of judgments over 30+ years of doing this kind of work and we believe in talking to you about your situation, finding out what you know about your judgment debtor, and then helping you decide on the best way to enforce the CCJ you now have in your favour.
Unlike courts and other providers, we stay connected with our clients, and we keep them updated on progress. We can’t promise that every judgment is enforceable, but we can promise to do our best to help you at every step of the way.
Understanding Your Enforcement Options
Once you’ve obtained a judgment through Money Claim Online (MCOL), there are several methods you can use to enforce it if the debtor fails to pay. MCOL itself makes it very easy to start a claim against your debtor. You input the names and addresses of the parties, the amount owed, and the Particulars of Claim, and MCOL issues the claim. Unfortunately, MCOL, and any court process, stops short of enforcing the judgment. Instead, there is a second stage to the claim process, called “enforcement.”
At this point, the support you had from MCOL falls away and you are left with researching what options you have, and hoping to connect with an organisation who can help you take the next step.
This is where Shergroup can support you. We talk to thousands of claimants in your position every year, and we guide them on the next steps for turning their judgment into cash. Although that may seem a little crass, that is the reason you issued your claim in the first place – to get your money.
So, there are various ways to compel your judgment to pay you the amount you are owed which can be confusing. We’re here to help you choose the best method of enforcement depending on the debtor’s circumstances and the amount owed.
Here’s a breakdown of your main options |
1. High Court Enforcement
If your judgment is for more than £600, you can transfer it to the High Court for enforcement by High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs). Shergroup’s experienced Enforcement Agents can assist with this process, and you might have seen them in action on TV shows such as “Can’t Pay, We’ll Take it Away, or “Call The Bailiffs, Time to Pay Up,” which is now available on Shergroup TV on YouTube. In both series, our High Court Enforcement Officer, Mrs Claire Sandbrook, was responsible for the enforcement of county court judgments which were transferred from the county court to the High Court. When you watch the TV shows you are seeing how enforcement agents carry out the instruction of the High Court to compel the Judgment Debtor to pay the amount owed.
If your judgment is under £600 we have a service for the collection of the judgment which you can talk to us about. All our contact information is found at the end of this blog.
2. Attachment of Earnings Order
This method involves deducting money directly from the debtor’s wages. The court will order the debtor’s employer to make regular deductions until the debt is paid off. It only works for debtor’s who are employed in a salaried role – so if your debtor is self-employed this method of enforcement is not available. We can help you find out the debtor’s employment status through a short report we request from our tracing agents.
3. Charging Order
If the debtor owns property, a charging order can secure the debt against their property. This means you’ll get paid when the property is eventually sold. You can accelerate the sale process by asking the Court to make an Order for Sale. Again, we can help you with the legal steps involved to obtain a Charging Order and then to apply for an Order for Sale. This is done through our law company partner, Shergroup Legal.
4. Third-Party Debt Order
This method allows you to freeze and claim money that the debtor holds in a bank or building society account. It is not the easiest of all the methods of enforcement because to be effective the Third-Party Debt Order has to be served on the debtor’s bank when there is money in the account. This can sometimes be difficult to gauge although there are tell-tale signs such as pay days, and transactional information if the debtor is trading (but just refusing to pay you). Again, we can help you decide if this is the right method of enforcement.
How to Get Started?
Through Shergroup Enforcement and Shergroup Legal we can help you with all the available methods of enforcement.
We are willing to have a no-obligation free conversation with you about your situation and the background to your money claim.
Once we have the facts, we can either advise you on what to do next or invite you to have a legal clinic session with one of our solicitors if we think your case is more complex.
Usually, our first step is to guide anyone with a judgment over £600 to apply for a High Court Writ of Control and use enforcement agents to find out more about the Judgment Debtor and what assets they do actually have. There is a One Time Fee for making this application, which can be purchased on our website to Enforce My Money Claim Online. However, before making any payment, we like to talk to you about your claim and understand what else you know about the Judgment Debtor’s situation before taking the next step.
Because Shergroup combines enforcement expertise with legal advice we will help you decide the best course of action when you get to this stage of compelling your debtor to pay you.
Summing Up
Enforcing your Money Claims Online judgment doesn’t have to be complicated. By understanding the available options and following the steps outlined, you can effectively recover the money you’re owed.
For more personalised assistance, feel free to contact Shergroup at 0203 588 4240 or email us at hub@shergroup.com. You can also use the CHAT function on our website to start a conversation. Shergroup is available on all the usual social media channels such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and don’t forget to tune in and subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel – Shergroup TV – to see our High Court Enforcement Agents in action.
Remember, Shergroup is here to support you every step of the way on getting your judgment enforcement. Our experienced TEAM are ready to help ensure you get what you’re owed. You can read the experiences of our past clients in our Google reviews where we have helped people just like you to enforce their judgment.