// STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
Every legitimate route to removing a County Court Judgment from your credit file — what each one requires, what it costs, and how long it takes.
// FIRST
Check your file with all three credit reference agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. They hold different data, and a judgment can appear on one and not the others. Reports are free.
For each judgment, note the judgment date, the case number, the claimant, the amount and whether it has been paid. The date matters most of all: it decides which routes are still open to you.
If you find a judgment you knew nothing about, do nothing yet — a claim form you never received is one of the strongest grounds for removal, and it is worth having the entry properly assessed first.
// THE FOUR ROUTES
The cleanest route — and the strictest deadline.
If you pay the full judgment amount within one calendar month of the judgment date, you can apply to the court to have the entry cancelled from the public register entirely — as if the judgment never happened. It then disappears from your credit file.
You will need proof of payment and a small court fee. The window is unforgiving: one month and one day is too late, and there is no extension.
Where the claimant agrees to the removal.
If the debt has been paid or settled since judgment, or the creditor accepts the judgment should not stand, they can give written consent to have it removed. You then apply to the court to set the judgment aside by consent.
The HMCTS court fee is £126 per application, and no hearing is usually needed. This is the fastest professional route once consent is secured — the work is in persuading the claimant to consent and filing the paperwork correctly first time.
Where the judgment should never have been entered.
If the claim form was sent to an address you did not live at, you never had a fair chance to respond, or you have a real defence to the original claim, you can ask the court to set the judgment aside. If the court agrees, the judgment is cancelled and removed from your credit file.
The HMCTS court fee is £321 per application and a judge decides at a hearing. Courts expect you to apply promptly after discovering the judgment, and the application — the N244 form, witness statement and supporting evidence — needs to be right first time.
Where removal is not possible.
If none of the above applies, paying the debt after the first month marks the judgment satisfied. It looks better to lenders but stays on your file until six years after the judgment date, when it drops off automatically.
If a judgment older than six years still shows on your file, that is an error — the credit reference agencies must remove it, and it is worth checking all three.
// COMMON MISTAKES
Paying the debt after the first month removes the CCJ. It does not — it marks it satisfied, and the judgment stays until the six years are up.
Writing to Experian, Equifax or TransUnion will delete an accurate, active judgment. It will not — they are required to report what the court register shows. Only the courts can remove a judgment early.
Credit repair schemes can make it vanish. There is no legitimate fourth route. Anything else is either the register being corrected, or marketing.
// DIY OR SPECIALIST
Anyone may file their own application. The difficulty is not the form — it is choosing the right route, presenting the evidence in the order the court expects, and the correspondence that follows. A rejected application costs time and, on the notice route, a fee that is not returned.
Our fixed fee is £249 per CCJ, plus the HMCTS court fee (£126 by consent, £321 on notice). Nothing is payable until your case is accepted — and removal is guaranteed for every accepted case.
Begin your application// QUESTIONS
Yes. Three ways: pay in full within one calendar month of the judgment, apply to the court to set it aside (by consent or on notice), or wait six years for it to drop off automatically.
Only within one calendar month of the judgment date, when it can be cancelled from the register entirely. After that, payment marks it satisfied — better for lenders, but the judgment stays until the six years are up.
Court fees are charged by HM Courts & Tribunals Service per application: £126 for a set-aside made by consent, or £321 for one made on notice. Credit Correct charges a fixed £249 professional fee per CCJ — nothing is payable until your case is accepted.
Not usually. Consent set-asides normally need no hearing. Where the application is made on notice, a judge decides at a hearing — attendance is rarely required in person.
Cancellations after payment within the first month are usually quick. Consent set-asides typically resolve within weeks to a couple of months; contested applications depend on the court's hearing list.