County Court Judgements Explained

12 November 2011 by  
Categories: Debt

County Court Judgements Explained

Having a County Court Judgement or CCJ issued against you will have a severe impact on your credit rating, as it signifies that you have had serious problems paying back a loan or other form of credit, to the extent where your creditor has had to take court action against you to try and recover the debt.


If you get into arrears and change to come to a repayment agreement, your creditor might decide that pursuing a CCJ is the only option. The first you’ll hear about it is when you receive a ‘Claim Form’ through the post, sent to you by the county court. This form will set out the details of the claim, including who the creditor is and how much they state you owe them.


If you were unaware of the debt, for instance if you’d moved home and lost contact with the creditor, then repaying the full debt now will stop proceedings going any further. If however you can’t clear the debt, then you should fill out an ‘Admissions Form’ which will also have been sent to you.


This form asks for information about your income and expenses, which the court will take into statement when hearing your case. The Admissions Form should be returned within 16 days of the postmark it holds, even though if you intend to dispute or defend the claim then you can apply to have the hearing delayed an extra 14 days in order to prepare your defence.


Once you’ve filled in these forms and returned them to the court, there will be a easy hearing carried out in private. You don’t have to attend the hearing so long as you’ve absolutely filled in the necessary forms, or unless you wish to dispute aspects of the claim.


At the hearing, the court will objectively review the claim and the information you’ve provided, and come to a decision about the amount of money (if any) you owe, and how it should be repaid. It’s important to note that no one is being found ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’ here, the court is simply trying to evenhandedly resolve a civil financial dispute.


If the decision upholds the claim against you, then the court order or CCJ is issued. Even at this stage you can stop the alteration to your credit record, as you’ll have one month from the date of the court hearing to repay the debt in full to stop the CCJ being place on record.


After a month, the CCJ will be entered on to the Register of County Court Judgements, and from there it will make its way onto your credit files held by the various credit reference agencies.


The presence of one or more CCJs on your credit file will effectively close off most kinds of finance to you, as most lenders will be very reluctant to advance credit to people in these circumstances. Once, however, you’ve cleared the debt, then the judgement will be marked as ‘satisfied’, and while this will not remove it from your record it is a lot less harmful to your credit worthiness than an uncleared CCJ.


If you have a CCJ on your record, you might be tempted by companies promising to remove it and clean up your rating. Unfortunately, this is only feasible in a few cases. Sometimes, the CCJ is entered on to your record by mistake even though you cleared the debt within the one month time limit. If this has happened then you have the right to have it removed from your records.


The only other ways to have a CCJ removed is to show that there was something wrong with the way in which the judgement was awarded. If, for example, you didn’t receive the initial Claim Form, and you were unaware of the proceedings, then you didn’t have the chance to defend yourself and so the judgement is invalid.


In these circumstances, you can apply to the court to ‘set aside’ the judgement and it will be removed from your file, with the whole process starting again with a new claim and hearing. Any attempt to acquire a ‘set aside’ without a reasonable argument could be seen as wasting the court’s time, with all the legal penalties that would entail.


If you receive a Claim Form through the post, it’s important not to panic. Even though a CCJ against your study is harmful to your credit rating, it isn’t a criminal matter and won’t lead to further action such as repossession of your home or bankruptcy. The CCJ procedure is there so that the court can help to resolve your debt in a way that is clean to both you and your creditor.

Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer at 1Stop Finance, where you can read more about CCJs and other aspects of bad credit finance.

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Can You Save Your House in Case You Default Your Mortgage Payments?

28 October 2011 by  
Categories: Debt

Can You Save Your Home in Case You Default Your Mortgage Payments?

-Mortgage payment protection
-County Court Judgement
-Payment holiday

If you have had a large amount of mortgage and are unable to pay back on time, there is a risk of losing your collateral. In case of a secured loan, home is used as a collateral. Remember that if you forget to pay up your monthly dues, you might stand to lose your house. Therefore, it is essential to pay off your bills on time. Think of a worse situation, when you might have lost your job, you are sick and bed ridden. How would you make your repayments?

Simple, you can protect your loan payments in times of redundancy, sickness, accident, loss of job etc. You will not lose your house, if you apply for a payment endorsement policy. You can either apply for a payment endorsement with your loan lender or you can apply with another lender. This payment endorsement insurance, will help you meet up the monthly loan amount. It helps you in a crisis situation, where in you don’t have to fear losing your home as you are unable to repay. Your insurance company will pay on your behalf, and helps replace a portion of your income.

Your secured loan is the most important financial commitment to you. This is because your home is used as a security and in case you change to repay, it will be a disaster if you don’t have a endorsement policy in place. What are you inactivity for, if you are applying for a secured loan, do not forget to protect it. Also remember that it is not mandatory to get a endorsement cover along with your loan. If a lender misleads you that it is part of the loan and you must apply for it, the, be sure he is deceiving you!

The other option to save your home in case of loan defaults is CCJ (County Court Judgement). You can file for County Court Judgement if you want to save your house. The court will set your repayments based on information you wage about your income and spending. You can request for a payment holiday till the date you get another job. No lender will harass you or run any court proceedings against you while you have asked for a payment holiday or file a CCJ. This way you can protect your valuable collateral from being confiscated by the lender.

For most people, their mortgage is the most important financial obligation because their homes are secured by it.  Failure to meet mortgage repayment guidelines can result in repossession.  Many properties have been saved by the assistance provided by mortgage insurance.  Mortgage endorsement insurance is routinely sold in combination by banks and lenders, but this packaging of loans and insurance has come under fire in current years.

Vijay Koragappa Shetty, Expert Author, Platinum Status. Get more information on: Immediate Unemployment Insurance Quote

Find more information on: Instant Quotes for Loan Protection Insurance

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Secured Loans Primer

15 October 2011 by  
Categories: Debt

A secured loan is essentially a loan that is taken out against your home or other collateral. In the context of this guide, when speaking about secured loans and secured lending, reference is being made to that of a lender placing a legal charge over a property.

The most common type of secured loan is that of a mortgage. It is not within the financial ability of most people to buy a property outright so most of us will therefore need to secure a mortgage.
Again, in the context of this guide, when speaking about secured loans and secured lending, reference is being made to secondary secured loans, or second charges as they are commonly known within the industry. Borrowers who apply for a secured loan/second charge are doing so to follow that of their first mortgage.

How Do Secured Loans Work?

To the average lender, secured loans offer a very appealing prospect. They are healthy to lend out massive sums of money with the additional security of a property – They will subsequently have open to them a number of legal remedies in the event of the borrower defaulting there obligations and payments. This will of course include home repossession.
A lender will register a secured loan by way of a legal charge with which the individual must give consent to in order for an application to complete. The charge is then registered at the Land Registry by the lenders solicitors.

When it comes to remortgaging, most secured lenders will require the outstanding equilibrise to be redeemed at the same time as the first mortgage. An exception to this is when a second charge lender allows a deed of postponement, thus allowing the existing second charge loan to run alongside that of the new mortgage lender.

What Are The Characteristics Of A Secured Loan?

The characteristics of a secured loan share many similarities to that of a mortgage. The most common one being that if your do not keep up the repayments on the secured loan, your home might be repossessed.
In the case of taking out a secured loan, it is a common myth that your home will be innocuous so long as you meet the repayments on your first mortgage. This is not true. If you change to meet the repayments on your secured loan, even if you are up to date on your mortgage, the lender can seek possession of your property through the courts.
Secured loans can be arranged on loan sizes that usually range from 5,000 to 250,000, depending on the lender.

Flexible terms are also acquirable on secured lending, ranging from 5 up to 30 years. Some lenders will have schemes acquirable allowing you to borrow more than the value of your property (combined with that of your first mortgage) of up to 125%. These schemes are not too common and it is believed that this is more of a marketing ploy rather than a viable or an advisable option to many borrowers.

How Does A Debt Consolidation Secured Loan Work?

A debt consolidation secured loan enables borrowers with significant levels of debt to consolidate some or all of these outstanding commitments into one loan amount and subsequently, one monthly payment. Debt consolidation is seen by many as an extremely effective short term solution to relieving the pressures of debt.
It is highly likely that by arranging a secured loan to clear off other unsecured debts such as credit cards, individualized loans and hire purchases, the borrower is healthy to achieve a lower rate of interest than that applied to their unsecured commitments.

Not only will this take the effect of reducing the monthly payments but also secured loans can be arranged over a longer term than that of their unsecured counterparts. By extending the term of the loan will also mean that lower monthly payments can be achieved.

This is often viewed as a short term solution as in the long term, increasing the term of the debts might mean that you end up paying more interest. The other potential disadvantage of these types of loans is that consolidated debts that were once unsecured would then transform to being secured on the property.

What Are The Benefits Of A Secured Loan?

There are many benefits to be realised in taking out a secured loan. Many lenders and brokers alike will not charge any upfront fees, home valuation costs or legal fees. Compared to the fees associated with a remortgage, the secured loan option can be a very appealing one to borrowers.

Such fees associated with a remortgage will include valuation and administration fees, higher lending charges, discharge fees, title insurance and telegraphic transfer fees. This list is by no means exhaustive however they might not all be applicable in each case.
The timescales involved along with the various fees involved can be a place off for some homeowners considering a remortgage.

Perhaps the biggest appeal to most homeowners who are seeking finance is the speed at which a secured loan application can complete. At the top end of the scale, an application can take just a matter of days to complete. However for the majority, two to three weeks is a sensible timeframe to look for.

The benefits of secured loans when looked at against comparable unsecured loans are that it is highly likely that you will obtain a more favourable rate of interest on secured lending. As discussed earlier, this is due to the fact that the lender will in this case secure the loan by legal charge over the property reducing their perceived level of risk and subsequently reducing the rate of interest.

A secured loan will also offer a more flexible repayment period than that of an unsecured loan between 5 and 30 years with many lenders. If it is the intention of the borrower to obtain the very lowest monthly payment then this could be massive benefit to them.

How Do I Know Whether I Should Take Out A Remortgage Or Secured Loan?

Each case must be assessed on its own merits. It is impossible to answer this question without careful consideration and assessment of the borrowers circumstances, needs and objectives.

The obvious example would be where a borrower seeking finance has a massive primeval repayment charge to redeem their mortgage. In this case it might not be appropriate to remortgage. ERCs (Early repayment charges) can be as high as 7% of the outstanding mortgage equilibrise which can of course result in thousands of pounds.
By arranging a secured loan in this instance might mean that you would be paying a slightly higher rate than that of the mortgage, however it could potentially save thousands of pounds of charges.

Another example of when taking out a secured loan might be of more benefit to the borrower would be a case where the first mortgage was originally taken out before the individual started to miss payments or run up another form of bad credit. It is highly likely in this instance that raising finance through a remortgage would mean paying a higher non-conforming/sub prime rate on the entire amount of borrowing.

By arranging a secured loan might mean that the borrower can still enjoy the prime high street rate applied to the first mortgage whilst only paying a higher non-conforming/sub prime rate on the new secured loan the additional finance.

Can I Apply For A Secured Loan With A Bad Credit History?

There are many schemes acquirable this day to cater for almost each type of borrower regardless of credit history. If there is acquirable equity in your property and you can meet the affordability criteria then it is highly like that you will be eligible for a secured loan. Bad credit will usually be defined between having one or more of the following:

  • Mortgage arrears
  • Rental arrears
  • Secured loan arrears
  • County Court Judgements
  • Individual voluntary arrangements
  • Bankruptcy

The more severe your credit history then the higher the interest rate that you will be charged. This again is a reflection of the higher level of risk perceived by the lender.

Your Credit Rating and Loans – The Facts

21 September 2011 by  
Categories: Personal Finance

In the modern world this day many people have massive debts hanging over their heads and consequently suffer from having a bad credit rating. Because of the shear number individuals with a bad credit history, lenders have been forced to change their lending criteria to accommodate them.

There are a number of issues that will have an affect over your credit record, these range from the obvious to the not so obvious. These issues will become known to you when you go and apply for a mortgage or loan.
Bad debt management is the most obvious bourgeois that will affect your credit rating such as missing your monthly payments on your mortgage or loans. This in turn will lead to higher borrowing costs at a later date.

It is extremely difficult to generalise but two major factors in having a bad credit history can be unemployment and matrimonial disputes. There are, of course, many other causes:
- Bad money management. Some people are unable to plan their finances wisely or prioritise their debts correctly
- Over-borrowing
- Bankruptcy
- Death of the breadwinner. A massive number of borrowers have no life assurance even though a easy mortgage endorsement policy costs very little
- Imprisonment
- Over-commitment. The borrower might have taken a larger mortgage than he can afford
- High interest rates for variable rate borrowers, high interest rates can be a disaster, particularly if the borrower could only just afford the mortgage when interest rates were low
- Will not pay. There are some borrowers who will not cooperate with the lenders

There are however many other factors that to the average mortal might seem absolutely irrelevant but to the credit scoring companies state a lot about how you are likely to manage your finances. For example, an individual with a mobile phone but no telephone landline might be seen as a evenhandedly high risk to the lender. This is because lenders worry that if you only have a mobile phone, you would be harder to locate if you were to default your secured loan payments.

Whether you rent or own your own home could have a great influence. Being a tenant is not looked upon favourably. If you are a temporary worker, unskilled workman or self employed, this could also count against you.
Another circumstance which could affect your score is down to where you live in the country. Postcode profiling is becoming an important part of the credit scoring process. In this way lenders can look to refrain lending to those who live in less desirable neighbourhoods.

The following gives a list of the common ways to blacklist your credit rating:
- Living abroad
- Not staying on the electoral roll for long enough
- Moving frequently
- Renting a flat
- Becoming a victim of indistinguishability fraud
- Reapplying for a secured loan immediately after you have been refused one
- Not paying your yearly automobile tax to the DVLA on time
- Signing up for lots of credit cards within a short period of time for the free gifts and special offers

Most high street banks and building societies will only grant secured loans to those who have either good or excellent credit. There are specialist lenders however that would be willing to accept applicants with poor credit records. These are know as bad credit loans.

For those with an impaired credit history, the process of credit repair is achievable over time. The first step to recovery is to settle your bad debts and meet payments on your existing mortgage and secured loans.
All unpaid credit and county court judgements (CCJs) will stay on your credit file for 6 years. These will be marked as settled as and when they are paid. This is usually taken into statement when youre making future credit applications.

Lenders will often grant you to write a statement to equilibrise out a bad report, which could explain circumstances that might have tarnished your credit rating.

So next time you are looking for bad credit loans make sure you comprehend the factors that will affect not only your chances of being accepted but also the rates.

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