Having a county court judgement (CCJ) registered against you is far more common than you may think.  In England & Wales approximately 1 million CCJs are registered each year. It can happen all too easily, sometimes without you even being aware of it. 

A difficult divorce, unemployment, or perhaps that large bill that you couldn't afford to pay. Whatever the reason once you have a CCJ registered against your name, your chances of getting a mortgage or remortgage accepted by a high street lender are greatly reduced.
 
Unfortunately it's much easier for a lender to simply decline your application rather than investigate the circumstances that led to your problem. Even if you have paid the debt off and the county court judgement is now marked as satisfied, the CCJ will unfortunately remain on your credit file for a period of 6 years.

However, if you have a County Court Judgement you should not automatically assume you cannot get a mainstream mortgage, as some lenders will accept some "minor debt". For example, some mainstream lenders will look at cases where borrowers have a CCJ of up to £1,000, some will even accept two CCJs in the past year of up to £1,000.

Some lenders will approach your application on a case by case basis. If, for example, a person has four CCJs which were issued a couple of years ago and were due to the individual going through a divorce, but prior to this they had an exemplary payment record, a lender may well be prepared to lend at a standard rate.

If a mainstream lender is out of your reach, there are other specialist lenders who have adopted a more relaxed policy in their lending criteria. 

Having a CCJ does not necessarily prevent you from securing a competitive mortgage deal. It is certainly worth chatting through your situation with an expert mortgage advisor. They have access to the entire market of lenders in the UK and will direct you to products which are suitable for someone in your situation.

We'll find the best deals for you

The smart way to arrange your mortgage is to get an expert to do all the shopping around for you. 

An independent mortgage broker, has access to all the mortgage lenders in the UK with over 8,500 different types of mortgage products available.

Contact us and let an expert advisor find the best products for you.

There is no obligation and it costs nothing to see what your options are. 

Help is available even if you've had problems getting a mortgage elsewhere.