Will a satisfied CCJ affect my credit?

When your County Court Judgment (CCJ) is marked as ‘satisfied’ (meaning you’ve paid it off in full), it can be cause for celebration. You’ve had debt hanging over your head; it’s gone to court, which can be a bit scary and stressful, and you’ve had to take serious steps to repay it.

Now that it’s been resolved, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start working on improving your credit report and boosting your credit score.

But does a satisfied CCJ affect your credit? Can you get it removed? When will it drop off your credit report? We’ve got the answers to those questions (and more) below.

Can a CCJ still affect your credit rating even when it’s satisfied?

Yes, it will. Even though you’ve paid it off, your CCJ will appear on your credit report for six years from the date it was issued.

That means it’s visible to lenders during that time, and they may consider it riskier to lend you money because of the past CCJ, even if you’ve paid it. This can make it harder for you to borrow money while the CCJ remains on your credit report.

The silver lining is that lenders can look more favourably on a satisfied CCJ than an unsatisfied CCJ (in other words, one that hasn’t been fully paid off), as it shows you’ve taken steps to resolve the debt.

In the meantime, making your monthly repayments on any other credit agreements you have on time should help to reduce the impact of the CCJ on your credit score.

Can you get a CCJ removed?

Potentially. Here’s how:

• If you pay back the debt within one month of the judgment being issued, it will be removed from your credit report. You can apply for a ‘certificate of cancellation’ from the court which confirms that the CCJ has been paid. However, if it’s taken you longer than a month to repay it, you’d get a ‘certificate of satisfaction’ instead. If it doesn’t get updated automatically, you can provide this to the credit reference agencies to update your credit report and mark the CCJ as satisfied.

• If you successfully dispute the debt. If you believe the CCJ was issued incorrectly, you can respond to the judgment and apply for it to be ‘set aside’. If you’re successful, the CCJ should be removed from your credit report.

How long does it take for a CCJ to drop off your credit report?

A CCJ will be automatically removed six years from the date of issue. This will happen whether it's satisfied or not.

Next steps post-CCJ: Improving your credit score

The impact of your satisfied CCJ can reduce over time, as long as you maintain a positive payment history moving forward. In other words, a CCJ received five years ago, that’s been paid, will likely have less of an impact than one received a month ago.

That means your credit report should improve over time, as long as you keep taking the steps to improve your credit report, namely:

• Make sure you’re registered on the Electoral Roll at your current address. This means the credit reference agencies and lenders can match your details when searching your information.

• Keep up the payments on any other credit agreements you have. Every payment you make is a step towards a better credit score.

• Be mindful of your applications for new credit. Applying for a lot of credit in a short period of time can impact your score, as it can suggest to lenders that either you’re over-reliant on credit or you’ve been granted a lot of new credit recently.

Remember: a CCJ doesn’t stay on your credit report forever. And there are a couple of steps that you can take to improve your situation in the meantime, to put you in the best possible position for when that day comes. Growing your credit score can take time, but knowing it is the first step.

County Court Judgement FAQs:

A County Court Judgment – or a ‘Decree’ in Scotland – is a legal recognition of a debt. It’s a legal recognition from the court that a debt is owed, which can be received if someone fails to pay back money that they owe.

They’re typically a lender's last resort, so the person you owe will likely have tried other ways to get their money back. This means you should never receive a CCJ out of the blue.

In fact, lenders can only get the court to issue a CCJ if they can prove they’ve tried to reach an agreement with you first. To do this, they’ll send a ‘letter of claim’ with some options for you to reach an agreement.

If you don’t respond to that letter within a month, the lender must inform you that they intend to issue a CCJ. They can only apply for this with the court after they’ve warned you first.

That’s why CCJs can have a big impact on your credit report – they show that you haven’t responded to other ways to settle your debt.

What does a CCJ mean for your credit score?

It’s one of the most severe items that can be recorded on your credit report. This is because a CCJ shows you had debt, you didn’t repay it as per your agreement, and the lender had to resort to court action to get their money back.

Lenders use your credit report to check if you can borrow money reliably (in other words, you’re someone they can lend money to and trust they’ll get it back). But if they see a CCJ, they’ll likely assume that it would be risky to lend to you, in case the same happens again.

How can a CCJ affect you?

There are a few ways a CCJ could impact you and your finances.

• Lenders may not want to lend to you. For instance, you may struggle to get a mortgage or a loan from a bank.

• You may have to pay a higher interest rate. If lenders are willing to lend you money, they may do so only with a higher rate of interest or a bigger deposit.

• It could affect your career prospects or ability to rent. Some jobs, particularly in the financial industry, will check your credit report when you apply. Landlords will usually check public records like the Electoral Roll and court information to check your reliability.

If you have a CCJ, you can see how it’s affecting your credit score with Checkmyfile, the most detailed credit report in the UK. You can use Checkmyfile to check and compare the data held on you by the three main credit agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

To recap:

Having a satisfied CCJ on your credit report does impact your credit score, but the fact that you’ve paid it off is a big step in the right direction.

It might feel like a bit of a waiting game. But if you keep taking the right steps to build your credit report back up, like making your monthly payments on time, your credit score should gradually increase while you wait for the CCJ to drop off.