Mortgages and CCJs - Advice needed please

Alis68

Good morning,

We are remortgaging our property and as we have started this with a broker we were rejected by two banks. We always thought we had good credit scores so this came as quite a shock, and then when we used Experian to see our credit history there is a County Court Judgement against my husband. It appears that this is because of a credit card that my husband had put a small sum on to, we moved house and he forgot to update the address or even pay it off. I do not know why they wouldn't have called us or emailed us. We have spoken to Barclaycard but as it was issued a year ago they have said there is nothing they can do.

We are now stuck on a mortgage rate that is a lot higher until we can remortgage so I believe we have two options:

1. Find another mortgage provider who can work with someone who has a CCJ. Our broker is looking at this but the rates will not be as good, and ultimately it will cost us more money. This is not the ideal option because of that. 

2. Fight it and try to get it removed. Our broker has pointed us towards a couple of companies, although he says that he has no experience of them. I have not contacted them as I feel out of my depth and worried about how much it will cost. I have read their websites and it makes sense to a point but I am not a legal expert and I don't want to spend money on something and then we are no better off. The two companies are CCJ Removals Service and Mason Bullock Solicitors I also believe that I can fight it myself, but a quick glance suggests that it might be too complex for me. From what I can see it is based on a N244 form but my worry is that I do it to the best of my abilities, then I've either made a mistake that will take months to fix or I have ruined our chances at getting it removed. This company explains it well, but I have no idea if what they are saying is accurate: https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/ccj-n244-n245-court-forms.aspx

I wondered if anyone had any experience of fighting a CCJ; is it possible, how hard is it and how long does it usually take from start to finish? Who did you use to remove it? I am also going to guess that even if we have it removed, it might take a month or two to then disappear from his credit report, or perhaps even longer. 

Thank you

Hoenir

There's no apparent grounds on which to fight the CCJ. When there's lot of forgetting to do things involved. 

Brie

There's a fair bit on the parking tickets forum about dealing with CCJs - you might want to have a look there.

Stepchange is a highly regarded debt advice agency so I think you can take what they say as accurate.  NationalDebtline is another one that gets a mention in this article from Debt Camel.
"A mystery CCJ on my credit record - I know nothing about it" · Debt Camel

No matter what happens it will take some time for the credit record to be updated.  Most I've seen seem to be a couple of months at least behind the actual date.  So things that happened in January would be obvious now but maybe not things in February.  

fatbelly

I wouldn't touch either of those companies with a bargepole

You can pay off the ccj and it would then show as settled, which may be better.

Or you can apply for setaside on an N244. There is no guarantee it would succeed but the Parking boys have a good success rate and the process is set out on the newbies thread.

I suspect you would not get remission of the fee which means an up-front investment. If you did get it set aside, I presume you would pay it off. You may be able to persuade the claimant not to object to the setaside.

Even so you may have a problem without having a defence with a real prospect of success. That is, the court may not play ball even if the claimant is willing.

chanz4

you could apply to the court for a set a side, on grounds not recieved cost around £300

JustMe18

Pretty sure they won't remove it, especially with this reason, that he forgot to update address etc. Plus it will take months to update your credit file. I tried to fight default, which I had with paypal credit, I did a silly thing, didn't pay for 2 months and then paid in full the whole amount of £5k, but they said they still have rights to issue default. Even after 2 months, whether general rules are 3-6 months for defaults to be issued. Also I didn't receive any letters etc from them. So from my opinion, CCJ will be even trickier to remove.

housebuyer143

You will need to settle it as a minimum as I'm not sure many if any mortgage companies will lend on an unsatisfied CCJ.
Can't you just product switch with your new lender to a better rate? No credit check needed then. 

chanz4

not getting papers even if forgot about the address can be used