How to check for and remove a CCJ

County Court Judgements (CCJs) are court orders when money is owed. They are used across England, Wales and Northern Ireland when one party can prove to a court that they are owed money by another party. The court will hear the case and rule in favour of one party: either the defendant (the individual or entity who owes the money) or the complainant (the individual or entity who is owed money). 

A CCJ is a serious matter for consumers. The agencies who hold credit records will be aware of any CCJ, and it will be reported to any organisation that runs a credit check on an individual. This means that if you apply for a loan, insurance, credit card, or bank account, the company providing those services will be aware of the CCJ, and in most cases, they will either deny you access to a service outright, or move you to a different product with punitive terms or rates. 

One of the challenges with CCJs is that whilst the process itself is fair, in that the two parties go to court in order and have a voice, that fairness comes from both sides knowing that a court case will take place in the first place. If the defendant does not respond to the court, then the complainant will win the case, and the defendant will have a CCJ placed on their record.

Whilst it might seem incredulous to think that this could happen, the reality is that taking legal action against a company and an individual is very different. Companies do not tend to move address often; they are also more diligent when it comes to updating other companies with their new address. Consumers, on the other hand, can move more frequently. People living in big cities, especially those that are younger, could move every six to twelve months. The moving process is busy, and often, the process of updating companies with their new address is overlooked or not fully completed. 

This means that a reasonable number of cases involving CCJs are not known to the defendant. They first become aware when they apply for a financial product, and are declined because of a CCJ that they did not know about. 

There is one final way that the address changes can be a problem for consumers, and that’s with motor vehicles. If your address is not updated, or not updated quickly enough, after you sell a car, you may be liable for parking tickets issued after you sell it, and before the new owners’ address is updated. If the car was to attract a car parking ticket that went unpaid by the new owner, then the company that runs the car park may use DVLA information to get the consumer’s address and issue a legal letter. If that consumer has moved.

It is also worth saying that in a very small number of cases, CCJs can end up on someone’s credit record due to fraud and identity theft. You can sign up for credit checking services for free, and they will alert you if there are any significant changes to your credit account, for example, if a new bank account is added under your name or a new mobile phone contract. 

The above may come across as if these issues with CCJs are edge cases, however, they are far more common than you think. The impact is also significant, especially if the individual is considering moving home and applying for a mortgage. Being declined for a credit card is annoying and can have a financial impact, but mortgages are often considered just as someone is about to move house. Finding out that a CCJ exists on a credit file could mean that the consumer is declined for the mortgage, and their house sale, and purchase of a new home falls through.

There is no automatic way to have a CCJ quashed, even if there were errors in the process. There are mechanisms for doing it, but they are not quick and certainly not easy. Whilst it is possible for a consumer to go through this process, it is recommended that an expert is engaged as they can ensure that the forms are filled in correctly and there are no additional delays in the process.

CCJ Removal Services, a third party site, has an informative guide to checking for and removing a CCJ. If you have had a CCJ put on your credit file and you were not aware of it due to addressing issues, then this will be helpful.

Finding out that you have a “surprise” CCJ can be very stressful, especially when it’s found during the process of buying a new home. 

The advice given is to act quickly and decisively and to remove any emotion from the issue. Whilst it feels unfair, the court will have made sure that the claimant followed the rules. The issue was not the company who was chasing the debt; it is with the courts’ process of not allowing for addresses to be checked and in some cases not using obvious alternative methods of communication such as SMS or WhatsApp. 

If you have a CCJ on your credit record then you might feel embarrassed. Whilst it is a significant black mark on your credit record, the reality is that many people have CCJs. An estimated 8million people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have a CCJ on their credit record, which is roughly one in thirteen people.