How to remove a CCJ from credit report and stop it ruining your future
Recently during the process of a house purchase, between exchange and completion, a dreaded CCJ popped up on my credit report. I thought this was going to completely derail my house purchase, had it registered before the exchange at mortgage application stage or if the bank had taken another look at credit score, it might have done. Fortunately, that did not happen, but was a week of sleepless nights. Quickly I had to find out more about CCJ’s and how to remove a CCJ from credit report.
What is a CCJ?
Firstly, what is a CCJ? A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is a type of court order in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that might be registered against you if you fail to repay money you owe.
Why I got the CCJ
The CCJ was one from a car parking fine 4 years ago, that I had disputed vehemently with the car parking company (private company). I disagreed I had breached my contract by parking and eating a pizza, but no matter the letters I sent I was still asked to pay it. I was more than prepared to go to court over this and fight my corner.
But it was 2 years ago that they sent their angry letter threatening to take me to court over it. I gave up replying and ignored them. The letters stopped, sure I had been threatened with court action, but I knew this was their tactic and it was unlikely they would take me to court.
Well at some point they must have decided to do that. As when I checked my credit report the day after our exchange of contracts, I saw a CCJ on my file and this scared the living crap out of me. What was I going to do, I convinced myself that the mortgage company was going to pull the offer. We wouldn’t get any more funding, and we would lose the £25,000 house deposit we had worked our butts off for. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
But I had no idea I had been taken to court, I had received no summons, but I had moved house in the last 9 months. Could I have missed an important letter? I think not. We had received letters from the landlord and have been since to the new residents who said they haven’t had any letters other than what they had already passed on. So, I am suspicious that a letter was ever delivered.
At this point I had lost the fight though, it was too late in the day I had to get it sorted, so I had to get rid of it.
How to get rid of CCJ within your credit report.
There are two main ways to get the CCJ removed from your credit report.
- Pay the CCJ within 30 days of judgement
You will be able to see the judgement date on your credit report by clicking on it. You have 30 days to pay the person you owe the money to in full. If you pay in full the CCJ will then be removed from your credit report. (I advise getting the creditor to tell the court that they have received payment.
My report was updated 7 days after payment)
- Get the CCJ set aside.
This means getting the court to set the judgement aside, so that you do not have to pay it.
You will still need to defend it, but if you think there is a reasonable chance of winning and that there is a reason why it should be set aside, then this is an option.
Step change explains 3 situations where getting a judgement set aside would be valid reasons
“What reasons can you give to get a CCJ set aside?
You may be able to get a CCJ set aside if the original judgment was made without your response being considered. This could happen if:
- The claim form was sent to an old address
- You didn’t receive the claim form because of problems with the post
- You replied to the claim form on time, but the creditor ignored this or asked the court for a judgment too early
On top of this, there usually needs to be some argument or ‘defence‘ against the amount the creditor claimed.
There is a risk though that you could have to pay even more fees, if the court disagrees with the application or if you lose the case later.
There is some good information on legal beagles about the appropriate situations about the process.
Set Aside a County Court Judgment (CCJ ) – LegalBeagles
What happens if the CCJ stays on your report and how long will it be on credit report
The reason why I was so keen to just pay this judgement, and have it gone from my report was because I know how much impact it would have on my future financial credit applications.
It would be visible to any lenders when I apply for credit for the next six years.
I have had defaults on my account when paying off my credit in the past. It made any credit application look down on me financially including recent mortgage application. In 2024 I will have a report as clean as a whistle. This would have not been helpful.
A county court judgement shows lenders that you have not paid a debt and had to be taken to court for it to be paid. So even if it is settled this still looks bad to lenders when applications are being done. Will mean many lenders will not entertain your application or will require a higher interest rate as you are seen as higher risk.
This is explained brilliantly in this piece from citizens advice
Prevention is obviously better than cure in this situation, dealing with debts before hand stops them getting to these situations where the impact could be mighty. All over a stupid parking ticket. But being a man of principal was prepared for the fight. Had this come when I was younger I probably would have fought harder at any cost. But the pain later down the line is not worth it. So a small loss but it could have been much more severe for a much longer period.
