North / South divide on CCJs

Households in certain post towns in Yorkshire and the Midlands are more likely to have County Court Judgements (CCJs) registered against them than anywhere else in England or Wales according to research by online credit report service MyCallcredit.

It found that on average one in every 11 adults in the UK has a CCJ registered against them, which equates to one in every ten households in England and Wales.

And of those households that do have a CCJ registered against them the average number of registrations is 1.6.

MyCallcredit director Alison Nicholson says:

"These findings are surprising because the post towns which top the tables for CCJ registrations by household are concentrated around the Midlands and the North. In the 20 worst post towns for CCJ registrations only Plymouth, South East and East London fall outside this geographical area.

The Home Counties and other places within commuting distance of London, have some of the lowest levels of CCJ registrations by household with the residents of Stevenage, Reading, Ipswich and Brighton all falling in the bottom 20 post towns for CCJ registrations.

Anyone who has a CCJ registered in their name may find it difficult to get further credit. But as there are many other factors that can affect your credit rating it's important for people to know what information is held about them before they apply for credit, that way they'll make sure they get the best deal for them."

Key Findings

• Wolverhampton has the highest proportion of households, 16.89 per cent (1 in 6) and individuals, 16.01 per cent (1 in 6), with CCJs registered against them in the UK.
• Of the top 20 places with the highest number of CCJ registrations by household six are in Yorkshire. These are Bradford, Leeds, Hull, Doncaster, Huddersfield and Halifax.
• Fourteen of the bottom 20 post areas for household CCJ registrations are in or within commuting distance of London. They include East Central London, Oxford, Kingston upon Thames, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and Bromley.
• Someone living in Wolverhampton is nearly three times more likely to have a CCJ registered against them than someone in Bromley.
• Chester, Truro, Milton Keynes, Bath and York represent the UK average by proportion of households that have a CCJ registered against them (1 in 10).
• Exeter, Milton Keynes, Shrewsbury, Bolton and Peterborough represent the UK average by proportion of individuals that have a CCJ registered against them (1 in 11).

Editors Notes

1. The research was carried out by Callcredit.
2. It analysed the number of individual CCJ registrations by postcode against adult population figures taken from the 2001 census to produce the percentage of individuals in a postcode who have a CCJ.
3. It analysed the number of household CCJ registrations by postcode against the number of Royal Mail postal delivery points to produce the percentage of households in a postcode which have a CCJ.
4. The average number of CCJ's by household was determined by dividing the number of individual CCJ registrations by postcode by the number of households with CCJ registrations.