What Is A CCJ And How Might It Affect My Chances Of Getting A Mortgage?

CCJ is short for a County Court Judgement issued by the court on behalf of someone who is owed money and against the person or business that owes it to them.

The CCJ is one of the last steps in the debt recovery process, so it is unlikely that you will have one without knowing about it as there would have been many letters and phone calls trying to resolve the debt before the CCJ was issued. Once a CCJ is issued it is noted against your credit record, even if you subsequently clear the debt.

The effect it has on your credit record is that you are less likely to be offered a mortgage, particularly from the high street banks and building societies. This will restrict your choice of lender to those who specialise in dealing with people with bad credit histories. You may still be able to get a mortgage, but the rate is likely to be higher, so you will pay more each month. You may also find that if you get into trouble with the payments, the lenders may not be as lenient and helpful as a larger, more public-facing institution with a reputation to protect.

A CCJ is rather like having a long, thick black line through your credit rating. It shows that you are not a good payer, and that this process has been going on for some time. If it gets to the point where you have a CCJ issued against you, you are unlikely to be the sort of person anyone would consider offering many thousands of pounds to on a piece of property which needs to be paid back over a couple of decades.