Help Required - CCJ Removal

[mugzymonster]

Hello,

First of all thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

I need some advice in regards to two CCJs on my credit file:

1. Vodaphone - £984 - Sept 2014 - This was sent to a previous address that i moved out of it December 2013. Only aware of this when checked credit.

2. United Utilities - £334 - October 2014 - Sent to the correct address but genuinely did not receive notification - I was also a customer of this company at new address and this debt was for a previous address but they never linked the two. When i came to pay this amount it was actually only £227 and they agreed on the phone that this was the incorrect amount on the Judgment.

With both of these CCJs i only became aware of these when i did my credit check February 2017 - I immediately got in touch with the crediters and paid these in full on March 2017 and these have been marked as Satisfied. (This may have been a mistake but I have two young children and dont want bailiffs turning up on my doorstep)

I am now looking to purchase my first home and all my finances are in order except for these two CCJs, this had me Googling and i was surprised to find that there are options to have these set aside. I wasnt aware of this last year when i settled them.

In both of these cases there are reasons to have them set aside but i just dont know where to start nor do i know if i have any hope of getting anywhere. I cant see either company contesting these requests as they have both been paid in full. Whats your thoughts?

If you have any questions specifically please ask away and any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

[jaguarsuk]

Hello,

First of all thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

I need some advice in regards to two CCJs on my credit file:

1. Vodaphone - £984 - Sept 2014 - This was sent to a previous address that i moved out of it December 2013. Only aware of this when checked credit.

2. United Utilities - £334 - October 2014 - Sent to the correct address but genuinely did not receive notification - I was also a customer of this company at new address and this debt was for a previous address but they never linked the two. When i came to pay this amount it was actually only £227 and they agreed on the phone that this was the incorrect amount on the Judgment.

With both of these CCJs i only became aware of these when i did my credit check February 2017 - I immediately got in touch with the crediters and paid these in full on March 2017 and these have been marked as Satisfied. (This may have been a mistake but I have two young children and dont want bailiffs turning up on my doorstep)

I am now looking to purchase my first home and all my finances are in order except for these two CCJs, this had me Googling and i was surprised to find that there are options to have these set aside. I wasnt aware of this last year when i settled them.

In both of these cases there are reasons to have them set aside but i just dont know where to start nor do i know if i have any hope of getting anywhere. I cant see either company contesting these requests as they have both been paid in full. Whats your thoughts?

If you have any questions specifically please ask away and any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

The problem you have got is that they have been marked as satisfied, you are supposed to apply promptly to the court upon finding out about them to have them set aside and the court would probably frown upon 30 days as not being prompt enough let alone over a year.

Normally you could just be economical about when you found out, but as you have paid them and the creditors marked them satisfied you'd have an uphill battle to persuade the court you didn't know about them.

Given the other side have nothing to gain by consenting to it and that judges frown upon debtors trying to clean up their credit files the chances are you'd be paying £510 in court fees for a slim chance.

Obviously you can try if you still want to, but I think you might have to accept that these are going to be on your credit file until 6 years from the date of the judgement.

[mugzymonster]

Thanks for your quick reply, i can see your points and was thinking similarly but i actually didnt know that the ability to set aside CCJs even existed until this week.

£510 in fees is definitely a lot of money but at the moment i have saved 10% deposit for mortgage but due to these CCJs most lenders require 20%. These two CCJs have put a pause on my our lives.

From your experience do you think either of these companies would consider a consent especially United Utilities this was for the wrong amount.

[jaguarsuk]

Thanks for your quick reply, i can see your points and was thinking similarly but i actually didnt know that the ability to set aside CCJs even existed until this week.

£510 in fees is definitely a lot of money but at the moment i have saved 10% deposit for mortgage but due to these CCJs most lenders require 20%. These two CCJs have put a pause on my our lives.

From your experience do you think either of these companies would consider a consent especially United Utilities this was for the wrong amount.

The opinion of most judges would be that you should have sought legal advice and then you would have known. Those that don't think that way will be of the mind that the CAB is free and there's government websites provided by HMCTS to find out for yourself. In other words ignorance of process wouldn't cut it as an excuse as to why you didn't apply for set aside at the time.

It's harsh, but they have never been in the position of having to deal with it from your side.

Even if one or both claimants consent the only impact that has is to lower the fees to £100 per application as the judge doesn't have to automatically set them aside. If a judge still says no, then you'd be in the hole for £200 instead of £510, so if you're going to try it's worth attempting to get consent to save money alone.

The main problem you have is that judges see this sort of thing as trying to manipulate your credit file, the fact it's been marked satisfied and now you want to remove it for your own gain would not go down well. I'd be very surprised if you were successful.

Any application to the court carries a risk of costs award, so if you were unsuccessful and got a particularly grumpy judge or even one just having a bad day they could choose to give wasted costs to the claimant = a brand new judgement screwing your credit file for another 6 years. Unless the claimant asks for them chances are line 0.01% of that happening, but it could and I would be doing you a disservice not mentioning it as a possibility.