It`s fair to say that it can be all too easy to find yourself on the wrong end of a CCJ. So how can you go about removing it? You may suddenly find yourself in a financial tight spot through no fault of your own through accident, illness, redundancy or even a separation - that puts you in a scenario where you end up incurring a UK County Court Judgement from a creditor.
If you are unable to pay your debts and you are unable to find any common ground with your creditors, a possible course of action for your creditor will be to turn to the courts. For homeowners any unsecured loan / credit could become a virtual secured loan via a court charging order - which puts a charge against your property for the amount owed from the CCJ. This way the creditors stand a better chance of getting their money back, as if you sell the property their charge will need to be repaid.
So if you find yourself with a CCJ the one thing you can do is take steps to try and settle it as soon as possible - so that although it will still be on your credit record at least it will show as `satisfied`. This shows any third party that needs to look at your credit file that you have paid off the amount due under the CCJ awarded. At My Sort of Loan we have a panel of lenders who may enable you to obtain a loan to assist you in settling your County Court Judgement and begin repairing up your credit file.
Time is always of the essence when dealing with CCJ`s, so speak to our UK loan team about your options to remove or settle your CCJ via a loan. Call for free on a mobile or landline using 0800 0159 295 or dial 0330 0536001 (mobile friendly) and speak confidentially with one of our experienced friendly loan advice team. Alternatively complete our short online enquiry form (don`t worry no credit search will be carried out with this form) and we will contact you.
So you`ve fallen off the horse, you`ve taken the damage and now you want to pick yourself up and get back in the saddle but suddenly all the doors to finance and loans that were once upon a time open to may be closed. Indeed thanks to automatic credit scoring and algorithms you might not even get to hear `no` from a real person. So if you find that nobody will even talk to you and you need a loan - what can you do?
Well in the first instance talk to the right people. If you have a regular income you may be able to obtain a loan via My Sort of Loan. The first thing you`ll find is that you could get to speak to a person who wants to talk to you and is interested in what you have to say. If you are a home owner who is looking for a secured loan we will try to help by giving you advice on loan lender products from our lender panel.
When your creditor issues proceedings against you the first thing you may try is to borrow enough money to offer a settlement before the case gets to court. If you can make a sensible acceptable offer to your creditor before the court date your creditor may accept this in full and final settlement of the debt due. If possible this may be a good time to get in touch with My Sort of Loan because if you are able to act quickly enough we could save you the trouble of having a CCJ before it happens. If in doubt as to your next steps you should seek independent legal advice.
If your creditor does obtain a CCJ against you all may not be lost, it could still be made to go away so long as you can pay the judgement in full within a month and you ask the court ( and they agree) to remove the judgement. Again time is of the essence so you may want to get in touch with a legal adviser or try My Sort of Loan as soon as possible to discuss your options.
If you aren`t able to settle the judgement quickly or if the CCJ has been there for some time there is still the possibility of damage limitation. If you are able to agree a settlement with your creditor or even pay the CCJ in full you can ask the court to mark the CCJ as satisfied on the CCJ register. This won`t make the judgement vanish from your credit file but it will show that you have taken steps to put things right and that can make a difference. Usually a CCJ will remain on your credit file for up to 6 years - thereafter it will drop off and will not be seen by third parties looking at your credit record. This is an important milestone, so even though it may seem a long way off, keep track of this date as more doors may well open to you on the loan / mortgage front after this point.
Of course that isn`t the only reason you`ll want to satisfy your CCJ, obtaining the judgement can be just the first step in the process. For example if you are a homeowner the point in obtaining a CCJ may be so that your creditor can get security of debt recovery from the equity in your house, they do this by applying for a charging order. Once they have a charging order on your home you will not be able to sell your home or usually borrow finance against it without paying them back.
These sizes of big loans are generally reserved for a multiple purposes in one go or for larger more significant purchase such`s has a home extension, loft conversion, refinancing all credit, financing a high end vehicle or chattel, land scaping or major renovations. It is worthwhile remembering (as with the smaller loans) there are very few restrictions as to what a big loan can be used for provided you can meet the repayments and loan plan criteria. However, in line with responsible lending practices ourselves and our lenders will work alongside you to make sure you can afford the repayments involved of any big loan My Sort of Loan arranges. A very important point is to borrow only what you need for your goals.
Of course it`s not easy to stay on top of things in the midst of a crisis, after all if you were busy trying to sort out a matter of separation, dealing with a painful injury or coming to terms with a life altering job crisis it`s easy to miss what`s coming through the letterbox so you might not even know if you have a CCJ.
The simplest and best way to find out if you have a CCJ, how much it is for and who had it awarded it against you is by looking at your credit file. There are a few credit reference agencies who hold this data and they all have an obligation to provide this to you for a nominal cost. One of the longest standing is Equifax - who will provide you with a copy of your credit record for a small fee of just 2 pounds. You can visit them at Equifax.co.uk or write to them at:
Equifax Ltd
Customer Service Centre
PO Box 10036
Leicester
LE3 4FS