Court Judgments, Bankruptcies and Insolvencies: What They Mean for Your Credit Rating

Court judgments, bankruptcies and insolvencies on your credit report can have a significant influence on lending decisions. Here’s how long they stay, how they affect you, and the routes to getting them updated or removed.

A Court Judgment is a court order that may be issued when money is owed and legal action has been taken. A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is the term most consumers are familiar with and is the most common type of Court Judgment in England and Wales. In Scotland these judgments are known as Decrees, while in Northern Ireland they are known as Money Judgments.

Most Court Judgments remain on your credit report for six years from the judgment date. If a judgment is paid in full within one month of being issued, it may be removed from the public register and your credit report. Over this time, your attempts to get a credit card, mortgage or even a bank account can be seriously impacted.

Credit reference agencies keep a record of any court judgments issued against you and will display it on your credit report for potential lenders to see.

When you apply for a new loan, mortgage or even a mobile phone contract, lenders may consider court judgements information from your credit report as part of their assessment in making a decision on whether to lend to you or not.

If you repay the full amount within a month of receiving your Court Judgement, it will be removed from the register and no record of it remains on your credit file. However, if you take longer than a month to repay the amount, a record of this court claim will stay on your file for six years. And even though it will show you’ve paid, organisations searching your credit report will still see a court judgement against your name.

In most cases, you’ll be told about your Court Judgment as soon as it’s issued against you. However, if your court papers are sent to the wrong address, you may not be aware of it. So, if you’re having trouble getting credit and you’ve missed repayments in the past, check your credit report to make sure you don’t have any Court Judgments on your credit file.

Court Judgments, bankruptcies and insolvencies appear on your credit report for six years from the court order date, with some exceptions:

• A Court Judgment is paid in full within one month may be removed from your credit report
• A Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) or Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking (BRU) can stay on your credit report for up to 15 years
• An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) can stay on your credit report for up to 15 years if you do not meet the IVA criteria.

Most judgments are automatically removed six years after the original judgment date, with a few exceptions:

• The courts will also allow a judgment to be removed entirely when it’s paid within one month and is therefore set aside by the court.
• If the judgment is not yours, in the sense that it’s not in your name at an address you have been financially known at, you should raise a dispute against it.
• If the judgment belongs to a family member with a similar name, or identical name, the consumer must provide a signed letter from the relative confirming that the judgment does not belong to them. This letter must include both parties’ signatures.
• Judgments issued by a Sheriff Court (known as Decrees) will require you to supply them with evidence from the plaintiff to confirm the debt has been paid before it will be marked as satisfied.
• Judgments included in an insolvency or bankruptcy are not automatically marked as satisfied when the insolvency or bankruptcy ends. You’ll need to contact the issuing court with evidence of the insolvency or bankruptcy ending and ask them to update their records.

Financial account information included in a bankruptcy or insolvency will not be marked as closed and satisfied until after your bankruptcy or insolvency has been completed or discharged and the lender has been notified of this. You can contact your lender with evidence of the bankruptcy or insolvency ending for them to mark these accounts as closed and satisfied.

Most bankruptcies and insolvencies are automatically removed from your credit report six years from the date of order with a few exceptions:

• Individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), which could remain on your credit report for longer where criteria of the IVA have not been met
• If you’ve been found to be dishonest or to blame in your bankruptcy and are therefore placed in a bankruptcies restriction order or undertaking (BRO or BRU), your bankruptcy will be on your credit report for longer than six years

If your bankruptcy or insolvency was annulled and therefore should be removed from your credit file before the six-year period, please raise a dispute against it on your credit report and provide TransUnion with the relevant Certificate of Annulment from the issuing court or confirmation from the supervisor quoting the dispute reference number — or send a copy of your evidence to: TransUnion Consumer Services Team, PO Box 647, Unit 4, Hull HU9 9QZ.

To mark a bankruptcy as discharged, TransUnion will need to see the relevant Certificate of Discharge. For an IVA to be marked as completed, TransUnion will need written confirmation from your insolvency practitioner. In either instance, please also raise a dispute against it on your TransUnion credit report. Once you’ve done so, please contact the TransUnion data disputes team quoting the dispute reference number — or send a copy of your evidence to: TransUnion Consumer Services Team, PO Box 647, Unit 4, Hull HU9 9QZ. 

If you’re having trouble getting credit and think a court record may be the reason, start by checking your free statutory credit report. If anything looks wrong, you can raise a dispute and TransUnion will investigate.