CCJ Help/Advice Please?! x

Stephanierebecca

Hi everyone

I am new on here so bear with me

I am 23, and had a CCJ issued against me when I was 18. Unfortunately I was born into a family with rather bad money-management skills, and my understanding wasn't the best!

The situation was that I was taking driving lessons, and cancelled one due to an extra college lesson being added to my schedule. The instructor offered to re-arrange and I said I would call back to confirm yes or no. I couldn't make the rearranged lesson either, but never got to calling back. The driving instructor turned up anyway whilst I wasn't around, and later tried to charge me for a double lesson - which I refused to pay having not confirmed that I wanted the lesson.

He thought it necessary to take it to Small Claims Court, and I did have my defence written up and was all ready to attend Court, however, had to work on the day of the hearing. Due to my lack of knowledge and understanding I just didn't show - therefore lost by default, and I'm still paying for it in my rating now!

The CCJ has now been registered against me for 5 years, and my understanding now, is that they can be removed after 6? I don't know if I'm right, but the thing is I've never satisfied the CCJ. I despised the idea of paying the man who tried to rip of an 18 year old for £36 which become £96... and my anger held me back from paying!

Anyway, years have passed... and my worry now is getting rid of this thing, whatever it takes. I now have a baby, and I need to fix my credit rating so he never suffers for it. I would be grateful for any help and advice on what I need to do with this CCJ now. Whether it would have to be paid before it can be removed, whether it will be removed at 6 years, what I have to do to get it removed?! Anything would help thank you! x

Hannah_10

What a total tw*t, CCJ-ing an 18 year old for £36. :mad:

Stephanierebecca

My feelings exactly! To be honest at the time I wasn't as bothered as I should have been, because I really just didn't understand what it meant! I wish I'd researched now!!!

pipsi_2

I'm also curious to know the answer to this. If i CCJ is left unpaid does it still disappear from you credit file six years after the judgement or is it six years after the final payment is made? If the CCJ is never paid does it stay with you forever? I'm not planning on ignoring a CCJ or anything just curious to know what the answer would be. I've started a thread about a company i used ot work for taking out a CCJ against me for supposed overpayment of salary, i don't accept that i owe the money and i'm currently trying to get it sorted, if i did have to pay it back it would take me years to clear the debt as it's near enough £2,000 with all of the costs etc that they've added. The CCJ was entered just over a year ago so if it took me say seven years to clear, would it then take a further six years for it to leave my credit file after i'd finished paying or would is still disappear six years after the judgement was entered?

Tixy

Hi

What an absolute bstd. Is he still in business? I hope you are still doing all you can to tell everyone in your local area to never use his firm.
After 6years the CCJ will disappear, even if it is unpaid. He could in theory look at taking you back to court but he'd had to have a really good reason for not getting you to pay up sooner and in practice is really unlikely to happen.

So once its gone you then need to start building up a positive rating. If you don't have any financial products you might need to start with a sub prime card, using and paying it off in full each month (so you don't pay high interest ratess), just to show you can handle credit.
Have a read of this article - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score#improve
That way when you actually need credit for something you'll stand a better chance of getting it at a reasonable APR.

Pipsi - it will go from your credit report after 6years from the date if judgement whether paid, partially paid or unpaid.

Stephanierebecca

Thank you so much for that reply! It's exactly what I've been looking to hear! And yes I've bad-mouthed his business just slightly lol

I've already put work into building my credit since obtaining the CCJ. I have a credit card through my bank on which I pay over minimum every month, and I've had a personal loan for 2 years with no late payments. I also joined the electoral role and downloaded my reports to keep watch on! I've made this quite a priority since discovering my pregnancy and having my baby, as everything I do now is in his interests! If there is anything else I can or should be doing though I'll do anything!

On the negative side, I have a rather old default (4/5 years) but I'm ignoring that as I don't want to re-set the 6 years statute barring rule without it being necessary!! And I have a default which I satisfied about a year ago which again was years old but I'd already acknowledged that one so paid up! Both were with mobile phone companies whoops! The mistakes you make in teenage years that can stay with you!

I think my only problem now is housing! Trying to pass letting agents checks with a CCJ, as I have already been refused a mortgage. I can't believe the problems this !!!!!!! caused me over £36!!

Tixy

Sounds like you are already taking the sensible steps with regards to your credit rating.

The old default you can't do anything about but it soon will be gone from you report (and glad you know about limitation act, hopefully they won't contact you and you can avoid them until it become statute barred.

Once the CCJ is gone and the defaults are over say 3-4years old you should find they won't have so much impact on your credit rating - not sure about in terms of letting agents tho, I don't know how strict they are.

Stephanierebecca

I'm slightly confused on the statute barring...

The one which remains unsatisfied, is Carphone Warehouse, which shows on my report as last updated 19-02-2006.
So what stops them updating it in the 6 years, just because I don't acknowledge it? x

Tixy

Only an acknwledgement by you counts towards the 6year limitation. So you would either have to pay something towards the debt or write to them admitting you owe them money.

A default can only legally be entered once on a credit file. But the statute barred date is not from the date of default its from the date you kast paid them, which often might be a month or 2 earlier. So its possible that a debt can be already statute barred but might appear on your credit report for up to mayb 6months later.

Stephanierebecca

Your help has been amazing!!! So thank you!!! I only have one last question lol, do you know whether I have to apply for a default to be removed once I believe it's been 6 years? I don't know when I last acknowledged it, so I'll have to go from a rough estimate.

As with the CCJ will it just come off by itself, or is there any action for me to take? x

Tixy

Nope, it will drop off your report itself, once 6years old.