A creditor has filed a County Court claim against me

When a creditor issues a County Court claim against you, the court sends you a Claim Form (N1). The date printed on the form is not the date of service — service is deemed to occur two business days after the date on the form. You have 14 days from service to acknowledge the claim (buying you an extra 14 days to file a defence) or to file a defence or admission directly.

If you do nothing within 14 days (or 28 days if you acknowledged service), the claimant can apply for a default judgment — an automatic CCJ entered against you without a court hearing.

Your options are: (1) Admit the debt and pay in full; (2) Admit part of the debt and dispute the rest; (3) Offer to pay in instalments using Form N9A/N9B — the court will consider this and may enter judgment by consent on instalment terms; (4) File a full defence if you dispute the claim — this includes raising any limitation period defence (if the debt is statute barred), challenging the amount, or disputing the debt entirely; (5) Seek set-aside if the claim was served at a wrong address and you missed the deadline.

If the claim is for £10,000 or less and is straightforward, it will likely be allocated to the Small Claims Track where costs are limited and you can represent yourself.

Always read the Particulars of Claim carefully — what is the claimant actually claiming, and is the debt correctly calculated? Are there any unlawful charges included?

Act immediately. Do not wait until the deadline has passed.