A judgment usually stays on your credit report for a period of 5 years. However, once the judgment has been paid up it can be removed from the consumer's credit report. Up until March 2019, judgments needed to be rescinded in order to get them removed from the credit report.
A court judgment, for example – where a court issues an instruction to you to pay an outstanding amount – will remain on your credit report for five years.
A judgment is granted by the court when legal summons is issued and you fail to defend the summons or make payment of the amount claimed. A judgment remains on your credit record for 5 years or until it is paid in full or a rescission is granted by the courts.
Renew the judgment
Money judgments automatically expire (run out) after 10 years. To prevent this from happening, the creditor must file a request for renewal of the judgment with the court BEFORE the 10 years run out.
But after a judgement ruling, the creditor can take steps to seize part of your salary, freeze your bank account, or even haul away your belongings. It can also charge interest at a court-approved rate, typically in the range of 5 percent to 10 percent, until you pay up.
A judgment usually stays on your credit report for a period of 5 years. However, once the judgment has been paid up it can be removed from the consumer's credit report. Up until March 2019, judgments needed to be rescinded in order to get them removed from the credit report.
Though you cannot go to jail for debt, you can be imprisoned for owing money to SARS. If this is the case, you may also be without any other option than to find out how to declare insolvency in South Africa. Keep in mind that the sequestration process is in place to ensure creditors can receive the minimum benefit.
Once a court has granted judgment in a civil matter, there will be an accompanying court order which will be signed and stamped by either a magistrate, judge or registrar depending on where the matter was heard and the nature of how the matter was heard.
A CCJ will stay on your credit report for six years, even if you pay it off during this time. After six years it will no longer appear on your credit report, even if you've not paid it all off by then. If you want to get an idea of how a CCJ is affecting your ability to get credit, check your Experian Credit Score.
Most judgments remain on credit reports for seven years and six months. If this period of time has passed, you should contact the credit agencies and make sure they remove the judgment.
A consumer has not made any payments/acknowledged the debt directly or indirectly for the time periods specified below: Personal loans, credit cards, retail accounts and vehicle loans: three years. Mortgage loans, debts by court orders and money owed to the South African Revenue Service (SARS): 30 years.
The debts will not automatically be written off – depending on how desperate you are, you will need to approach the National Credit Regulator (NCR) to be sure the debts won't be automatically erased. It is estimated that the law will take effect in four years.
If the defendant fails to serve and file a Notice of Intention to Defend after 10 (ten) court days, the plaintiff is entitled to submit a request for default judgment to the clerk of the court.
A record of outstanding judgment will need to be removed from your credit report after five years, but it will remain active for thirty years afterward.As the result of all the years of activity, a credit provider theoretically can claim for debt owed to you for a certain period of time.
Unpaid credit card debt will drop off an individual's credit report after 7 years, meaning late payments associated with the unpaid debt will no longer affect the person's credit score.
You might be asking 'how long does debt review stay on your name? '. This usually takes five years as your borrowing history will indicate your default and payment history.
For most debts, the time limit is 6 years since you last wrote to them or made a payment. The time limit is longer for mortgage debts. If your home is repossessed and you still owe money on your mortgage, the time limit is 6 years for the interest on the mortgage and 12 years on the main amount.
If you ignore the letter or notice, the court will still issue the judgment but they won't be able to take your circumstances into account. They could, for example, order you to pay back the debt all in one go when it would be impossible for you to do so.
If you don't owe the debt
You can ask the court to set aside the CCJ by filling in form N244. You'll probably have to pay a fee for your case to be looked at again. If the court agrees that you don't owe the money, your CCJ will be removed from the Register. Removing the entry could take up to 4 weeks.
Two-part test for rescission
First, the applicant must provide a reasonable and satisfactory explanation for its absence or default. Second, the applicant must show that it has a bona fide defence (or grounds for opposition) which exhibit reasonable prospects of success in the matter.
The court may order the sale of assets to pay a judgment against them. Their wages may also be garnished until the judgment is paid. It can be difficult to enforce these methods though, and they are often time-consuming. It can take years to receive the amount due you because the payments made may be small.
Judgment proof is a description of a person who does not have enough assets for a creditor to seize when a court order requires debt repayment. A debtor who is broke and unemployed can be considered judgment proof, as can a debtor who only has certain legally protected types of assets or income.
A debt collector is not allowed to:
Use force or threaten to use force against you or your family. Physically threaten you or your family. Give, or threaten to give, information to the consumer's employer that may affect their opportunities as an employee. Serve any false legal documents.
Can you go to jail for not paying debt in South Africa? The kind of loan that you owe determines if you will go to jail for not paying it or not. If you refuse to pay your taxes or child support, for instance, you might be sent to jail.
Can Old Debts be Written Off? Well, yes and no. After a period of six years after you miss a payment, the default is removed from your credit file and no longer acts negatively against you.