CCJ Register Removal: How Registry Trust, TrustOnline, and Credit File Entries Work

Where CCJ Records Live

Every county court judgment in England and Wales is recorded on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, maintained by Registry Trust Limited on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. The register is a public record — anyone can search it.

Credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) pull data from the Register and add it to individual credit files. A CCJ on the Register shows up on your credit report within days of entry, and it affects mortgage applications, credit cards, car finance, business lending, and even some tenancy checks.

How to Search for a CCJ

TrustOnline (trustonline.org.uk) is Registry Trust's public search portal. You can search by name and address to find any judgments registered against you. A basic search costs a small fee. The results show the claim reference number, the court that entered the judgment, the date, the amount, and whether the judgment is satisfied or unsatisfied.

This is often how people discover a default CCJ they never knew about — after a mortgage application is declined, they run a TrustOnline search and find an entry.

Credit reference agencies also show CCJ entries. Checking your Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion report (free through statutory credit report requests or services like ClearScore, Credit Karma, or Totally Money) will flag any registered judgments.

Three Ways to Remove a CCJ

1. Pay within 30 days — cancellation. If you pay the full judgment debt within 30 calendar days of the judgment date, you can apply to have the entry completely erased from the Register. Submit Form N443 with proof of payment and a £19 fee. Registry Trust deletes the entry, and the credit agencies remove it. The CCJ disappears as if it was never there.

2. Set aside by court order — deletion. If the court sets aside the default judgment under CPR Part 13 (because service was defective or because you have a real defence), the court notifies Registry Trust. The entry is erased from the Register and deleted from credit files. Like cancellation, it is a complete removal — no trace remains.

3. Pay after 30 days — satisfaction only. If you pay the full judgment debt after the 30-day window, submit Form N443 with proof of payment and the £19 fee. The Register entry changes from "Unsatisfied" to "Satisfied," but it stays visible for the remainder of the six-year registration period. A satisfied CCJ still shows on credit reports, though lenders view it less negatively than an unsatisfied one.

The Six-Year Clock

A CCJ entry on the Register expires automatically six years after the date of the original judgment. After six years, Registry Trust removes it and the credit agencies delete it — regardless of whether it was paid.

This means a satisfied CCJ entered in October 2026 drops off in October 2032. An unsatisfied CCJ follows the same timeline; not paying does not extend the registration period.

The only way to remove a CCJ before the six-year mark (without paying within 30 days) is to have the judgment set aside by the court.

What Removal Actually Changes

A CCJ can affect mortgage eligibility, tenancy applications, credit access, and business lending.

Removal — whether by cancellation, set-aside, or six-year expiry — erases the entry from the Register and credit files. However, some lenders retain internal records of previous applications that were declined, so removal does not erase the lender's memory of a past decline.

The Setting Aside a CCJ Guide explains the set-aside route to removal in detail — the application procedure, the evidence needed, and the post-order steps to confirm the entry has been deleted from both the Register and your credit reports.

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