Has your credit rating been affected by a court judgment? Maybe you’ve been refused a mortgage or other loan? We explore your options for removing entries in the Register of Judgments below.
What is the Register of Judgments?
In Scotland, when an order (or court judgement, often referred to as a ‘CCJ’) is granted against you or your business, an entry is marked in the Register of Judgments (“ROJ”). The ROJ is effectively a database of monetary court judgements maintained by Registry Trust Ltd (“RTL”) – the entity tasked with maintaining the applicable registers in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, and Jersey.
The ROJ and equivalent registers are accessible to banks and other credit and lending institutions and the information contained in them is used to support millions of lending and credit decisions in the UK & Ireland every year.
An entry in the ROJ or equivalent registers may materially impact on the credit rating of an individual or business, affecting their ability to obtain finance (including a mortgage or other loan).
What can you do about an entry in the ROJ?
An entry in the ROJ may be removed or marked as satisfied by RTL in certain circumstances. Alternatively, an entry will automatically be removed upon expiry of 6 years from the date of the judgment.
Removing an entry
RTL may remove an entry at the request of the party against whom the judgment was granted in the following circumstances:
Criteria
Option 1
- The full sum due in connection with the relevant judgment has been paid to the satisfaction of the party in whose favour the judgment was granted
AND
- The above took place within one month of the date of the judgment being granted.
Option 2
The order was recalled by the relevant court.
Evidence
In order to facilitate RTL removing an entry in the above noted circumstances, it is advisable to provide RTL with as much information and supporting documentation as possible, including:
- Details of the court, case number, date of decree, amount of decree, date that the debt was repaid in full.
- A copy of the relevant Extract Decree.
- Evidence that the relevant sum was paid in full within one month (i.e. a letter of satisfaction or equivalent from the party in whose favour the judgment was granted or their appointed solicitors; or bank statements or similar vouching)
- Evidence that the relevant judgment was recalled (including, for example, an interlocutor (i.e. order) from the applicable court to that effect).
Marking an entry as ‘satisfied’
If the above noted circumstances do not apply and RTL are not prepared to remove an entry, it may be possible to have the entry marked as ‘satisfied’.
Please note, an entry marked as ‘satisfied’ will remain on the ROJ or equivalent register until expiry after 6 years. Such entries will still be visible to banks and other credit and lending institutions and may affect credit ratings.
Criteria
- An entry may be marked as satisfied when the full sum due in connection with the relevant judgment has been paid to the satisfaction of the party in whose favour the judgment was granted.
AND
- The above took place more than one month after the date of the judgment being granted.
Evidence
In order to facilitate RTL marking an entry as satisfied in the above noted circumstances, it is advisable to provide RTL with as much information and supporting documentation as possible, including:
- Details of the court, case number, date of decree, amount of decree, date that the debt was repaid in full;
- a copy of the relevant Extract Decree;
- evidence that the relevant sum was paid in full (e.g. a letter of satisfaction or equivalent from the party in whose favour the judgment was granted or their appointed solicitors; or bank statements or similar vouching).
What if you or your business has been impacted by Covid-19?
The Coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic has affected countless individuals and businesses throughout 2020 and beyond. If a court judgment was granted against you during this time and you or your business were affected by the pandemic, it may be advisable to bring this to the attention of RTL in connection with an application to remove an entry from the ROJ or equivalent register (albeit, there is no guarantee this will be taken into account).
Relevant circumstances may include the examples below:
- Where court papers were not received timeously due to you being unable to access premises where they were served during the pandemic, resulting in a judgment being granted against you without your knowledge.
- Where you were unable to settle the full sum due in connection with the relevant judgment due to impact of coronavirus on you/ your business.
- Where your ability to defend a court action or otherwise engage in court proceedings was adversely affected by coronavirus.
For the avoidance of doubt, notwithstanding the examples provided above, the full sum due in connection with the relevant judgment ought to have been paid to the satisfaction of the party in whose favour the judgment was granted or the judgement ought to have been recalled by the relevant court prior to making an application to remove an entry from the ROJ or equivalent register.
Other factors
It is often beneficial to engage openly with the party in whose favour the judgment was granted (or their solicitors). Their cooperation, including, providing a letter of satisfaction, may assist in expediting the removal of an entry in the ROJ or marking an entry as satisfied.
If you require assistance with applying to have an entry in the ROJ removed or marked ‘satisfied’, our dispute resolution and litigation team may be able to help.
For further information on the services our dispute resolution and litigation team can provide, please click here.
