A County Court Judgement is an order by the courts for one party to pay an amount owing to another party. County Court Judgements, or CCJs, affect people's credit files and will normally require the applicant to abandon the prospect of applying for traditions mortgage products and instead apply for bad credit mortgages.

When the order is given by the County Court, the creditor will be required to repay the debtor within a specified period of time. If this is not done, a County Court Judgement will be recorded on the creditor's credit file. This entry can remain on the credit file for six years if it is not settled in the meantime. Having impairments to a credit file such as CCJs can make it extremely difficult to obtain standard mortgages from high street lenders.

Because County Court Judgements are so common, a large number of people are unable to apply for standard mortgages. This could be viewed as unfair as CCJs can be recorded on a person's credit file for trivial amounts of money and sometimes without their knowing. The massive growth in the number of people who suffer from this form of adverse credit has lead to incredible growth in the market for bad credit mortgages in recent times.

In addition to mortgage applications being affected by outstanding County Court Judgements appearing on a credit file, CCJs that are paid in full at a later date can remain on the credit file for up to six years. Lenders will therefore be able to see that there was once an outstanding debt despite the fact that is has since been cleared. Although the entry will indicate that the debt has been settled, it may not be removed completely. This means that a person may be forced to apply for bad credit mortgages several years after paying off their County Court Judgements.

Many lenders will now consider mortgage applications from people who suffer from bad credit. In fact dozens of specialist lenders that focus solely on bad credit mortgages have appeared in recent years so individuals who have bad credit will not necessarily be unable to buy a home. Although the recent credit crunch has seen such lenders dwindle in numbers in recent times, specialist lenders still exist and offer mortgage products.

Because the market for bad credit mortgages is highly specialised and many of the lenders are too small to open their own branches to the public, it may be necessary to apply for bad credit mortgages through a mortgage broker.

An independent mortgage broker will be able to search the entire market for bad credit mortgages using special software. This can save both time and money when compared to searching for a mortgage on your own because an independent mortgage broker will have access to the entire mortgage market and will be able to find the most suitable bad credit mortgages to suit your personal situation. If you require a bad credit mortgage product contact an independent advisor today for impartial advice.