A County Court Judgment is an order by a county court for one party to pay a sum of money to another party. This usually occurs because a dispute over an alleged debt has not been settled by the parties outside of the court system. County Court Judgments are also called CCJs and having one against your name can affect future mortgage applications.

If you have a CCJ on your credit history you will most likely be unable to apply for a standard mortgage product. Instead, you will be regarded as have an impaired credit file and will only be able to apply for a bad credit mortgage product. This can make life difficult for potential borrowers as bad credit mortgage products typically charge higher fees and interest rates than their standard counterparts. It is also becoming more difficult to find products targeted towards home owners with impaired credit.

It is therefore vital that any disputes over debts are settled outside the court system. This could be through any number of solutions such as a full and immediate repayment of the debt, and arrangement, or a debt management program. However if the parties cannot come to terms the debtor may apply to the county court to settle the matter one way or another.

Contrary to popular belief, contesting a debt in a county court will not automatically lead to a CCJ being entered on your credit file. If this were the case people would not be inclined to dispute a debt in a county court that they genuinely believe they do not owe. Similarly, if the court rules that you are to pay a sum of money to another party and therefore enter a judgment against you, your credit file will also avoid having a CCJ entered onto it if you pay the creditor within one month. This also helps encourage people to fight their creditors if they do not believe they owe them money ? even if you lose, your credit file can escape without any impairment.

Therefore, if you have a judgment entered against you, it is vital you pay the money to the creditor as soon as possible. If you fail to pay within one month, details of the judgment will be entered on the Register of county court judgments. A negative entry will appear on your credit file and will remain there for up to six years. This can make it difficult to obtain credit in the future and you may therefore be relegated to apply for bad credit mortgage products for many years to come.

If a judgment is registered against you there is still a chance to have the impact to your credit file softened. By paying the debt after the initial month has expired, you can apply for the entry on the Register to be marked as satisfied. While the entry will remain on the Register and on your credit file, lenders will be able to see that you have paid the debt and rectified the situation. Ultimately, however, it is wise to pay the debt within one month of the judgment to avoid future complications.

Bad credit mortgage products are not as widely available as they once were so it is more important than ever before to keep a clean credit file. If you are being chased for the repayment of a debt you should first do all you can to come to terms with the creditor outside the court system. If this fails and a county court issues a judgment against you, the debt should be satisfied as soon as possible.