CCJs against consum

consumers reach 10-year

year peak
16 May 2017 Amber Ainsley Pritchard

The number of county court judgments (CCJs) against consumers reached nearly 300,000 in the
first quarter of 2017 – the highest in more than a decade.

The figure was published by Registry Trust, a non

non-profit
profit company that maintains public records
of judgment and decree information for most jurisdictions in the British Isles and Ireland.
Irelan

In the first three months of 2017, nearly 298,901 debt judgments were registered against
consumers in England and Wales – a rise of 35 percent compared to the same period last year.
The trust said this is the highest figure for a single quarter in mor
more
e than a decade.

The trust also found that CCJs against businesses increased by nearly 40 percent for the first
quarterr of this year, compared to the same period last year.

Registry Trust said for every 1,000 people in England and Wales around five received a
judgment, compared with about four the year before.

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The average value of a consumer CCJ fell for the eighth consecutive year, decreasing 17 percent
in the first quarter of this year to £1,495. The average value of a judgment in the same period of
2008 stood at £3,662.

The number of judgments marked as satisfied during the first three months of 2017 was close
to 12 percent, compared to around 13 percent for the first quarter of 2016.

In contrast to the increase of CCJs against consumers, the first quarter of this year had the
lowest total of number of high court judgements registered against consumers for a single
quarter on record.

The average value of a consumer judgment in the high court fell 44 percent year-on-year to
around £446,000.

The total value of debt judgments against consumers in all courts in England and Wales during
the first quarter of 2017 was £462.5m.

Malcolm Hurlston CBE, chairman of Registry Trust, said: “People who don’t pay their debts are
increasingly likely to be taken to court.

“CCJs can seriously damage credit ratings and good lenders rightly avoid people who have
shown they can’t manage debt. This may seem like bad news on the surface but judgments for
smaller sums are protective for the people concerned.”

In December last year, the Ministry of Justice pledged to crackdown on unresolved debt claims.

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