Recent years have seen a growing industry in credit repair. Regrettably, a number of disreputable companies have emerged, playing on the general public’s lack of knowledge and offering to provide services in ‘managing’ individual’s credit.

In many cases, defendants have paid considerable sums of money to these companies that advertise “Removal of CCJs” or ‘Judgments legally removed’ , often to no avail, and sometimes being encouraged to commit perjury, thus laying themselves open to prosecution. Where an amendment to the Register could legitimately have been undertaken, this could normally have been undertaken by the defendant at very low cost.

During the year 2000, Trading Standards departments reported more than 800 complaints about credit repair companies and during the year 2001 the number was 619.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) warns that “the information given by these companies may be wrong, misleading or guaranteed to get you into worse trouble – and ensure that you are even more out of pocket. They may also be a ‘front’ for a lender or broker who is simply trying to sell you a loan.”

As the Director General of the OFT points out “these (credit repair) companies offer nothing you cannot do for yourself. County court judgments cannot be removed from credit files unless they have been discharged (within a month) or were incorrectly granted.

Unsubstantiated claims that a court summons was not received or that correct procedure was not followed will not persuade a court to remove a judgment from its records.

It is possible to check for yourself what is on your files and request that corrections are made if the information is incorrect. Advice and guidance on this is available from your local trading standards department and local citizens advice bureau.”

If you have serious debt problems contact the Consumer Credit Counselling Service who offer free advice.