Any luck removing a CCJ?!

SDavies84

Hi everyone, hoping for some advice if possible! My landlord is selling our house and me and my partner need to move out at the end of our contract in a couple of months. My partner recently got a CCJ and it is now paid off. (This month). I know this will massively hinder our chances of getting a new rental and wondered if anyone has had any luck getting a CCJ removed?! He got it during COVID where he lost his job and everything just became unmanageable. I keep seeing websites/companies where they say they can remove them, but this seems too good to be true! I read somewhere that they can be removed with 'mutual consent'. Has anyone done this? It's the only thing against us as we have both have steady jobs, fairly good income with about £80000 pa between us, it's just this one issue that is causing a headache. Thanks so much

ciderboy2009

What is the date of the CCJ and when was it paid off?  If within one month then you can apply to the court for a Certificate of Cancellation which wil get the CCJ removed (it may not have even been registered).

Getting a CCJ set aside by consent is possible but you are relying on two things:

1) The claimant agreeing to it.  They are within their rights to refuse as it was correctly entered.  They may also ask for a payment to cover their admin costs.

2) The court allowing it.  Sume judges have become wise to this method of getting around the rules and will refuse to grant the order even if the Claimant has consented.  If refused then your court fee (from memory it's just over £100) will not be refunded.

SDavies84

ciderboy2009 said:

What is the date of the CCJ and when was it paid off?  If within one month then you can apply to the court for a Certificate of Cancellation which wil get the CCJ removed (it may not have even been registered).

Getting a CCJ set aside by consent is possible but you are relying on two things:

1) The claimant agreeing to it.  They are within their rights to refuse as it was correctly entered.  They may also ask for a payment to cover their admin costs.

2) The court allowing it.  Sume judges have become wise to this method of getting around the rules and will refuse to grant the order even if the Claimant has consented.  If refused then your court fee (from memory it's just over £100) will not be refunded.

I will need to double check the date it was issued (believe that it was 2020) and it has just been fully paid a couple of days ago.

Do you know how you would start a certificate of cancellation at all?

Thanks so much

[Deleted User]

SDavies84 said:

ciderboy2009 said:

What is the date of the CCJ and when was it paid off?  If within one month then you can apply to the court for a Certificate of Cancellation which wil get the CCJ removed (it may not have even been registered).

Getting a CCJ set aside by consent is possible but you are relying on two things:

1) The claimant agreeing to it.  They are within their rights to refuse as it was correctly entered.  They may also ask for a payment to cover their admin costs.

2) The court allowing it.  Sume judges have become wise to this method of getting around the rules and will refuse to grant the order even if the Claimant has consented.  If refused then your court fee (from memory it's just over £100) will not be refunded.

I will need to double check the date it was issued (believe that it was 2020) and it has just been fully paid a couple of days ago.

Do you know how you would start a certificate of cancellation at all?

Thanks so much

You need to ignore all that - if the CCJ was correctly issued by the lender (and you don't dispute the debt) then you can't get it removed just because you paid it, the CCJ is an accurate representation of the events. There is no reason for the claimant to agree to remove it given you paid around 2 years after it was issued and no reason for the court to just agree to cancel it just because it's now satisfied, you'll be wasting money trying to get it done.

Exodi

Deleted_User said:

SDavies84 said:

ciderboy2009 said:

What is the date of the CCJ and when was it paid off?  If within one month then you can apply to the court for a Certificate of Cancellation which wil get the CCJ removed (it may not have even been registered).

Getting a CCJ set aside by consent is possible but you are relying on two things:

1) The claimant agreeing to it.  They are within their rights to refuse as it was correctly entered.  They may also ask for a payment to cover their admin costs.

2) The court allowing it.  Sume judges have become wise to this method of getting around the rules and will refuse to grant the order even if the Claimant has consented.  If refused then your court fee (from memory it's just over £100) will not be refunded.

I will need to double check the date it was issued (believe that it was 2020) and it has just been fully paid a couple of days ago.

Do you know how you would start a certificate of cancellation at all?

Thanks so much

You need to ignore all that - if the CCJ was correctly issued by the lender (and you don't dispute the debt) then you can't get it removed just because you paid it, the CCJ is an accurate representation of the events. There is no reason for the claimant to agree to remove it given you paid around 2 years after it was issued and no reason for the court to just agree to cancel it just because it's now satisfied, you'll be wasting money trying to get it done.

Completely endorse Farfetch's reply. CCJ's are not removed unless they are settled within 30 days of receiving the judgement.

You will most likely have to wait six years from issue for it to be removed from your credit file (so around 2026).

I do not see any reason a court would remove it (and you would likely waste money finding this out yourself).

EDIT: I see ciderboy2009 has said the same regarding the certificate of cancellation but you've misunderstood him.

Sorry this probably isn't what you want to hear.

sourcrates

There are four ways a CCJ can be removed from your credit file.

(1) By paying the judgement debt within 30 days of judgement.

(2) By set aside, or set aside by consent.

(3) If the judgement was granted for a debt that subsequently was the subject of an upheld affordability complaint, and the creditor agreed to remove all trace from your credit file (set aside by consent).

(4) Good old father time, 6 years to be exact.

Companies that purport to be able to remove CCJ`s attempt to do so by applying for set aside on your behalf, and then charging you 3/4 times the original court fee for the pleasure.

The set aside may or may not be successful, dependant on the circumstances, but the reason why you should avoid such companies is this, the court forms are downloadable from the web, and come with guidance notes to complete, so they are fairly simple to submit.

A set aside fee is £256, the fee`s these companies charge can be 3/4 times as much, with no guarantee either way.

SDavies84

Exodi said:

Deleted_User said:

SDavies84 said:

ciderboy2009 said:

What is the date of the CCJ and when was it paid off?  If within one month then you can apply to the court for a Certificate of Cancellation which wil get the CCJ removed (it may not have even been registered).

Getting a CCJ set aside by consent is possible but you are relying on two things:

1) The claimant agreeing to it.  They are within their rights to refuse as it was correctly entered.  They may also ask for a payment to cover their admin costs.

2) The court allowing it.  Sume judges have become wise to this method of getting around the rules and will refuse to grant the order even if the Claimant has consented.  If refused then your court fee (from memory it's just over £100) will not be refunded.

I will need to double check the date it was issued (believe that it was 2020) and it has just been fully paid a couple of days ago.

Do you know how you would start a certificate of cancellation at all?

Thanks so much

You need to ignore all that - if the CCJ was correctly issued by the lender (and you don't dispute the debt) then you can't get it removed just because you paid it, the CCJ is an accurate representation of the events. There is no reason for the claimant to agree to remove it given you paid around 2 years after it was issued and no reason for the court to just agree to cancel it just because it's now satisfied, you'll be wasting money trying to get it done.

Completely endorse Farfetch's reply. CCJ's are not removed unless they are settled within 30 days of receiving the judgement.

You will most likely have to wait six years from issue for it to be removed from your credit file (so around 2026).

I do not see any reason a court would remove it (and you would likely waste money finding this out yourself).

EDIT: I see ciderboy2009 has said the same regarding the certificate of cancellation but you've misunderstood him.

Sorry this probably isn't what you want to hear.

Hi, yes you're right - I did misunderstand, but makes sense now.

To be honest, I thought this may be the case, I am just grasping at straws! I read somewhere that if the debt letter when to an incorrect address or something then you could potentially get it removed. I think this did happen... The original request for money went to our old address, but went it went to a CCJ, that letter came to our current address. So my partner was not aware of it until it was at that stage and just started paying it off. 

I thought these companies are likely to not work, but I did have a small glimmer of hope! Just really worried and trying to think of anything 

Exodi

SDavies84 said:

Hi, yes you're right - I did misunderstand, but makes sense now.

To be honest, I thought this may be the case, I am just grasping at straws! I read somewhere that if the debt letter when to an incorrect address or something then you could potentially get it removed. I think this did happen... The original request for money went to our old address, but went it went to a CCJ, that letter came to our current address. So my partner was not aware of it until it was at that stage and just started paying it off. 

I thought these companies are likely to not work, but I did have a small glimmer of hope! Just really worried and trying to think of anything 

I understand why you'd want to explore all avenues.

Regarding the incorrect address, were they notified of the change of address? If not, unfortunately creditors aren't psychic and moving house without telling them does not automatically absolve people of their debt obligations. If the CCJ (and the preceding paperwork) correctly came to your address to enable you file a defence (which it sounds like it did) then I don't see that there is anything to explore here. You also seem to be accepting that the CCJ and the debt is completely valid. 

EDIT: that sounded more hostile than I intended it to be, sorry. If I was in your shoes, I'd absolutely be looking at every option!

sourcrates

Exodi said:

Regarding the incorrect address, were they notified of the change of address? If not, unfortunately creditors aren't psychic and moving house without telling them does not automatically absolve people of their debt obligations. If the CCJ (and the preceding paperwork) correctly came to your address to enable you file a defence (which it sounds like it did) then I don't see that there is anything to explore here. You also seem to be accepting that the CCJ and the debt is completely valid. 

So the fact they couldn't find the OP`s current address to send the court papers to, and sent them to an old address, but then miraculously found his new address to send the county court judgement to him, doesn't ring any alarm bells with you ?

Its called due diligence, its not hard to trace someone these days, sending court papers to an old address is a trick creditors use that`s as old as the hills, to obtain a judgement by default, and for the record, you are not under any obligation to update a creditor with your current address, its up to them to make sure any papers are sent to the correct address, but this system is very flawed, as we have seen.

OP for a set aside application to be successful, you need to satisfy two pre-requisites -

(1) A good reason why you did not respond to the original court papers

(2) Have a defence to the claim which has a reasonable chance of success

You must tick both boxes, otherwise it won`t be accepted.

Exodi

sourcrates said:

Its called due diligence, its not hard to trace someone these days, sending court papers to an old address is a trick creditors use that`s as old as the hills, to obtain a judgement by default, and for the record, you are not under any obligation to update a creditor with your current address, its up to them to make sure any papers are sent to the correct address, but this system is very flawed, as we have seen.

Whenever this forum discusses, say a tenant in mountains of rent arrears, or a father dodging their CMS liabilities, the general view is 'good luck, you'll never find them, tracing agencies are incaccurate' but here we suggest it's not hard to trace someone?

This sounds like making a rod for your own back. Wilfully avoiding telling creditors new addresses, but simultaneously being annoyed that they post to old addresses.

[Deleted User]

SDavies84 said:

Hi everyone, hoping for some advice if possible! My landlord is selling our house and me and my partner need to move out at the end of our contract in a couple of months. My partner recently got a CCJ and it is now paid off. (This month). I know this will massively hinder our chances of getting a new rental and wondered if anyone has had any luck getting a CCJ removed?! He got it during COVID where he lost his job and everything just became unmanageable. I keep seeing websites/companies where they say they can remove them, but this seems too good to be true! I read somewhere that they can be removed with 'mutual consent'. Has anyone done this? It's the only thing against us as we have both have steady jobs, fairly good income with about £80000 pa between us, it's just this one issue that is causing a headache. Thanks so much

Just for reference, you don't need to move out at the end of your contract unless you are choosing to do so, after a contract ends it simply becomes a rolling contract and landlord would need to evict you. See the housing forum for advice