Bad credit mortgages – what’s a CCJ?

CCJ stands for County Court Judgment. It is a court order against someone who has failed to pay back money they owe.In other words, if you owe money to someone, anyone termed the ‘Claimant’ can apply to the County Court in order to reclaim the owed money. A ‘claim form’ is issued to the Defendant’s last known address and a hearing date it set. Following the court hearing, the court will issue the claim for judgment and the Defendant has 28 days to settle the debt, otherwise the County Court Judgment is entered into the Register of Judgments, which is maintained by Registry Trust Ltd (England and Wales).

If the County Court Judgment is ‘satisfied’ outside the 28 day period then it will remain on the register for 6 years but will show as ‘satisfied.’ As long as payment is made within 28 days then the County Court Judgment is annulled and will not appear on the register.

We advise anyone that has a CCJ to exercise extreme caution if they are paying anyone to ‘clean up’ their credit profile, as only in exceptional circumstances will a court overturn and annul a previous CCJ. However, we recommend that you contact the originating County Court for information on action to be taken if you disagree with the CCJ or were not previously aware of the hearing (for example, due to an incorrect address).

The 3 main credit reference agencies report entries in their credit file searches of any entries in the ‘Register of Judgments’ and lenders use this information to make lending decisions.

Not only will a CCJ give you a bad credit history, it will also make borrowing money in the foreseeable future incredibly difficult; however, there are solutions, especially if you’re looking for a mortgage.

Got a bad credit history due to a CCJ but need a mortgage?

Mosaic Mortgages are specialists in assisting those with a bad credit history and can provide totally independent bad credit mortgage advice from all schemes currently available in the bad credit mortgage market.

We will use the whole of the CCJ mortgage market and are not tied to any one lender or limited panel of lenders – This ensures that we offer you the best CCJ mortgage that is currently available.

Got a bad credit history due to other reasons but need a mortgage?

If you have a bad credit history due to mortgage arrears, rent arrears, missed payments or a default or defaults, we will offer advice and make a recommendation specific to your particular circumstances.