A county court judgment can be wiped completely if you act inside one calendar month — and merely marked “satisfied” for six years if you don’t. Enter your dates and see exactly which route is still open to you, what it costs, and which form to send. Free, instant, and nothing is recorded.
Not sure whether you even have a CCJ? Here's how to check for free — we can't search the official register for you, and neither can anyone else without charging you.
Court fees are the published England & Wales figures for 2026 (N443 certificate £19; N244 application £321 on notice, £126 by consent or without notice) — check the current EX50 fee list before you pay, and ask about Help with Fees if money is tight. This is general information, not legal advice, and nothing you type here is stored or sent anywhere. For free, independent debt advice speak to StepChange or National Debtline.
A CCJ is a matter of public record, so there is no secret about it — but there are exactly two ways to look, and one of them is free. Start on the left.
Want the longer version, including what a CCJ looks like on your credit report and what to do if you’ve never heard of it? Read the full guide: how to check if you have a CCJ.
£0 — your credit report
Every CCJ registered against you is copied to the credit reference agencies, and it shows in the public records (sometimes called "court information") section of your report — with the amount, the court, the case number and the date.
Check all three agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — because a creditor may only have reported to one. For the vast majority of people this is the whole answer, and it costs nothing.
£6–£10 — per search
TrustOnline, run by Registry Trust, is the only public search of the statutory Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines — the actual source the credit agencies copy from. Roughly £6 for one register, up to £10 for all of them.
Worth the money when you're checking someone else (a builder, a supplier, a company you're about to trade with), or when a free report shows nothing but you're still not convinced.
There are only four ways a county court judgment leaves the register, and which one applies to you is decided almost entirely by dates — not by how sorry you are, how much you argue, or how much you pay a removal company. Here they are, cheapest first.
This is the big one, and it is routinely missed. If you pay the full judgment amount within one calendar month of the judgment date, you can apply for a certificate of cancellation and the CCJ is removed from the register entirely — not marked paid, not marked satisfied. Gone, as though it never happened.
It does not happen automatically. You must apply to the court that issued the judgment on form N443, with proof of payment and a £19 fee. People pay the debt in time, assume the record clears itself, and then discover six years later that it never did. If that is you and you paid inside the month, you can still apply.
Miss the one-month deadline and full removal is off the table. The best available outcome is a certificate of satisfaction: the entry stays on the register for the full six years, but shows the debt as paid. Same form (N443), same £19.
Don’t dismiss this as a consolation prize. To a lender, an unpaid CCJ says the debt is still outstanding and you ignored a court; a satisfied one says you settled it. It is the difference between an automatic decline and a conversation — particularly on a mortgage.
If the claim form went to an address you had left, and the first you knew of the whole thing was the judgment itself, you can ask the court to set the judgment aside on form N244. If it succeeds, the judgment is cancelled and wiped from the register regardless of how long ago it was entered. The same route applies if the debt genuinely isn’t yours — mistaken identity and identity fraud both end up here.
Two honest warnings. First, the fee is £321 if you apply on notice, or £126 by consent or without notice — so it is always worth asking the creditor to agree first. Second, setting a judgment aside revives the original claim: the creditor can pick up where they left off, and you’ll need to defend it or settle. And you must move quickly. Courts weigh how promptly you acted from the moment you found out, and sitting on it for months is the commonest reason these applications fail. Get free advice from StepChange or National Debtline before you file.
Every judgment leaves the register six years after the judgment date — not six years after you paid it. Nothing is required of you, and no one can accelerate it. Note that this clears your credit file, not the debt: a judgment debt stays legally enforceable, though a creditor needs the court’s permission to enforce one older than six years.
Be very careful. The paid removal industry exists because the rules above are obscure, and its pitch depends on you not knowing that a certificate costs £19 and a set-aside costs £126–£321 paid straight to the court. Nobody has a back channel to the register. Only a court can change an entry — Registry Trust, which maintains the register, cannot amend one on request, and neither can anyone acting for you. If a firm promises to remove a valid, properly-served CCJ, they are promising something they cannot do.
If the money is the problem rather than the paperwork, the court’s Help with Fees scheme can reduce or waive the fee entirely, and a debt charity will help you fill the form in for nothing.
Yes — through your credit report, not through the register. Every CCJ is passed to the credit reference agencies, so it appears in the public records section of your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion files, which you can see for free. The official register itself (TrustOnline) always charges, roughly £6 to £10 per search. Check the free route first: it answers the question for almost everyone, and it gives you the case number you'll need for any court form.
Six years from the date of the judgment — not from the date you pay it. It then drops off the register and your credit file automatically, and you don't need to do anything to make that happen. The only ways it goes sooner are a certificate of cancellation (you paid in full within one calendar month) or a successful set-aside application.
Because paying doesn't update the record — you have to tell the court. Send form N443 with proof of payment and the £19 fee, and ask for a certificate of cancellation if you paid within one calendar month of judgment, or a certificate of satisfaction if you paid later. This is the step almost everyone misses. If you paid inside the month and never applied, you're carrying a six-year mark you're entitled to have wiped completely.
Cancelled means the judgment is removed from the register entirely, as though it never existed — available only if you paid in full within one calendar month, or if the judgment is set aside. Satisfied means it stays on the register for the full six years, but marked as paid. Satisfied is much better than unpaid in a lender's eyes, but it is still a visible CCJ. The one-month deadline is the difference between the two, which is why it's worth knowing your exact judgment date.
Possibly. If the claim was sent to an old address and you had no real opportunity to defend it, you can apply on form N244 to have the judgment set aside. The fee is £321, or £126 if the creditor consents or you apply without notice. If it's granted, the judgment is wiped from the register — but the original claim comes back to life, so you need to be ready to defend it or settle. Apply as soon as you find out: delay is the most common reason these applications fail. Get free advice from StepChange or National Debtline first.
Almost never. The firms advertising "CCJ removal" charge hundreds of pounds to file the same forms you can file yourself: N443 costs £19, and a set-aside on N244 costs £126 to £321 paid directly to the court. Nobody has a special relationship with the register — only a court can change it, and Registry Trust cannot amend an entry on request. If a company promises to remove a valid, properly-served, unpaid CCJ, they cannot deliver it. Spend the £19 yourself, or talk to a free debt charity.
Not automatically, but it narrows your options and raises your rate. An unpaid CCJ is the real problem — many high-street lenders decline outright. A satisfied one, especially if it's small, old and isolated, is workable with specialist lenders and a bigger deposit. Once it's more than three years old the impact softens considerably, and at six years it disappears. If you're planning to buy, clearing and satisfying the judgment is the single highest-value thing you can do.
No. Coming off the register after six years affects your credit file, not the debt. A judgment debt remains enforceable, and creditors can still pursue it (though they need the court's permission to enforce a judgment over six years old). If you're being chased for an old judgment debt, get free advice before you pay or acknowledge anything — what you say can matter.
No. Everything runs in your browser on this page. Nothing you type is stored, sent or shared, and there's no email wall — which also means we genuinely cannot look your judgment up for you.
A CCJ is usually the end of a longer story. Work out the fastest, cheapest order to clear what you owe — and how many months it saves you.
