Credit Score Basics > How to get a CCJ removed?

How to get a CCJ removed?

Wollit Team4 minute read · Updated 1st July 2024

Receiving a County Court Judgement (CCJ) may hurt your credit history and score, making it harder for you to get a new mortgage, bank loan, or even a mobile phone contract. It makes sense to want to remove it from your credit history.

There are four ways to get a CCJ removed from your credit report:

You paid the debt in full within 30 days of the CCJ.
You dispute the CCJ, and it is successfully cancelled.
The CCJ was issued through a default judgment, which you dispute, and the CCJ gets set aside.
Six years have passed since the CCJ was registered.

How can I remove the CCJ within 30 days?

The first method is the best since it can remove the CCJ wholly and quickly from your file:

Pay off the total CCJ amount within 30 days.
Download and fill out the court form N443 Application for Satisfaction or Cancellation (PDF).
Send it together with proof of payment (could be a receipt from the claimant or a copy of your bank statement) to the same court that issued the CCJ.
Pay a £14 fee. If you can't afford it, visit this GOV.UK page, which tells you how to get help with fees.
Finally, you'll get your Certificate of Cancellation.

If you pay the full amount of the CCJ within a month of its date and get a Certificate of Cancellation, it will be as though the CCJ never existed. It won't show up in the Register of Debts or in your credit report.

Should I still pay the CCJ if I dispute it?

If you disagree with the debt and you're disputing it, it's still better to pay it within a month. This is especially true for small debts – having a CCJ on your credit record can have a huge impact. The risk isn’t worth it.

In this case, let your creditor know that you're only paying it so it doesn't show up in your credit report and that you intend to claim the money back from them once the CCJ has been removed.

Can I still remove the CCJ if I pay after a month?

If you pay the CCJ after 30 days, it will still appear in your credit report and on the Registry of Debts for the next 6 years. However, it will be marked as "satisfied", reducing the negative impact of the CCJ on your credit score.

A CCJ will not show as "satisfied" automatically, though. You will have to go through the same steps as for the certificate of cancellation:

Pay off the CCJ.
Download and fill out the court form N443 Application for Satisfaction or Cancellation (PDF).
Send it together with proof of payment to the court.
Pay the £14 fee.
Receive your Certificate of Satisfaction.

The Register of Debts will now show the CCJ as having been paid off or "satisfied". This makes it easier to apply for credit during the six years that the CCJ stays on your credit file.

What happens if I wait 6 years?

If you can't pay the CCJ in the first 30 days, it will stay on your record for the next 6 years. After this, even if you didn't pay it at all, it will be removed from your credit file.

This doesn't mean the debt is gone – it’s simply not visible anymore in your credit report. Your creditor can still take action to recover it. The difference is that anything they do won't impact your credit report as long as the CCJ is over 6 years old.

When does a CCJ become "statute barred"?

"Statute barred" means that a debt is old (usually over six years), and you no longer have to pay it. But this doesn't apply to a CCJ - a CCJ can never be statute barred.

However, the debt that led to the CCJ can become statute barred. If you think that the CCJ was issued after the six year period, you can ask the court to set it aside.

How can I have a CCJ "set aside"?

Setting aside a CCJ means that the CCJ will be cancelled and removed from your credit record.

To set aside a CCJ, you must prove that the creditor didn't follow the procedures correctly. For example:

They chased you for debt that became statute barred (older than six years).
They sent the forms to the wrong address.
You were abroad when the letters and court papers arrived.
Or that you showed your intention to repay the amount in full.

Because of these reasons, the judge will have issued a "default judgment", a kind of judgment that a court makes when you don't respond to the claim or don't put in a defence. And only a CCJ issued through a default judgment can be requested to be set aside.

The procedure for applying to set aside a CCJ is simple:

Go to the GOV.UK website and download the form N244 (PDF).
Fill it in and send it to the court.
Pay the court a £275 fee. You can get this back if your application is successful.
If you can prove the procedure was incorrect, the judge must remove the CCJ.
The judge can also agree to set aside the CCJ if the procedure was correct, but you proved that you had a real chance of successfully defending against the creditor.
Once the CCJ is set aside, the court will inform the Registry Trust.
Finally, the Registry Trust will remove it from your credit record.

One thing to keep in mind: a CCJ can be set aside even if you've already paid it. So, if you disagree with the debt but still pay the CCJ, make it clear that you are paying without admitting that the debt is valid. This will make it easier for you to apply for it to be set aside later.

What happens if I can't remove a CCJ?

If you can't remove or set aside a CCJ, it will stay on your credit record for 6 years. During this time, your credit score will take a hit (by about 250 points, according to Experian), and you will find it harder to get a credit card or loan, or even to open a new bank account or get a mobile phone contract.

But you can do a few things to reduce the impact of a CCJ during this time.

First, pay the debt in full. The CCJ will be marked as "satisfied", which will both improve your credit score and be seen as a positive step by most lenders.

Second, add a Notice of Correction to your credit report. This is a 200-word note that you can ask the credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) to add to your report. In it, you can explain why you couldn't pay the debt that led to the CCJ, such as if you lost your job or fell ill. Lenders will be able to see this.

Finally, keep improving your credit score.

Consider a credit-building card (but be careful; they often carry high interest).
Sign up to Experian Boost (it's free).
Download a credit-building app like Wollit – it reports your monthly subscription as a loan repayment to all three agencies, slowly rebuilding your credit score.