A county court judgment (CCJ) is a type of court order in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that may be registered against you if you fail to repay money you owe.

Unless you repay the full amount of the CCJ within one month, it stays on your credit file for six years. Over this time, your attempts to get a credit card, a mortgage or even a bank account can be seriously hindered.

CCredit reference agencies keep a record of any county court judgments (CCJs) issued against you and will display it on your credit file for potential lenders to see.

When you apply for a new loan, mortgage or even a mobile phone contract, lenders use the information on your credit file to assess whether you’re ‘creditworthy’ or how likely you are to repay money you’re borrowing.

If you repay the full amount within a month of receiving your CCJ, the judgment will be removed from the register and no record of it remains on your credit file. This means it won’t affect your credit rating at all.

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 say you’ve paid, people searching for your credit history will still see a CCJ against your name.

In most cases, you’ll be told about your CCJ as soon as it is 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 haven’t got any CCJs on your file.

If you’re looking to find more information about your credit profile, apply for our statutory credit report for a basic credit report and to check fraudulent activity is not happening in your name. You have the statutory right to access your personal credit information.

Get more information on how to check your credit report.