MONEY TRICKY TRICK : HOW TO HAVE CCJ's LEGALLY REMOVED

People who have CCJ'S (County Court Judgements) for bad debts will always find it very difficult to borrow money from established lenders such as banks and building societies. As outlined in chapter one, it is possible to get around this by using the method of leaving money on deposit as security for any loan.

However, it is always in your best interest if you have CCJ'S on your credit record, to have them removed as soon as possible. Records of CCJ'S are kept by four main credit reference agencies for a period of six years from the date of their inception. After this time they should be removed automatically, and if they have not been, then you can simply write to the credit reference agencies and order that they be removed.

In order to find out what information the credit reference agencies have on you, you should write to them to enquire. Include your full name and address, any previous address(es) you have lived at in the past six years, and £1 to cover administration fee.

The four main credit reference agencies used by lenders to check on your credit history are :

CDMS, Dove Mill, Dean Church Lane, Bolton, Lancashire, BL3 4ET.

CNN, PO Box 40, Nottingham, NG7 2SS.

Equifax, Spectrum House, 1a North Avenue, Clydebank,

Glasgow, G81 2DR.

Infolink, Regency House, 38 Whitworth Street, Manchester, M60 1QH.

Once you have obtained the information you need from these agencies, you can decide what action you wish to take.

NB : In order for any record of CCJ'S to be legally removed, you must be able to prove that at least one of  the conditions below applies :

1) The six year period has expired, and the record should be removed as being out of date.

2) The record should not have been lodged in the first place, as the CCJ does not exist, and the record is a mistake.

3)  The debt to which the CCJ applies has been fully paid off. Here you can insist that the CCJ be removed because you have cleared all of your financial indebtedness.

To apply to have judgements overturned, you should obtain form N244 from your County Court (or Sheriff Court in Scotland).

During the period in which your application is being considered all records of judgements against you are removed from the records of credit reference agencies. Then several more weeks usually pass before the agencies can re-instate these details, so even if your application is unsuccessful you have a period of around 8 weeks where you have no CCJ'S on record.

In order that any judgements against you be set aside you must have a valid reason, such as not receiving the original summons, being unwell or out of the country at the time the summons was issued, or having discharged the debt within a period of 28 days from the original issue of the summons, in which case no record should have been registered.