Credit reference agencies collect and store information which is used to determine your credit score. The information they hold can affect your chances of being accepted for credit. This could include a mobile phone contract, car finance, a loan or credit card.

We have received a number of enquiries from people who have discovered that they have CCJ’s on their credit files and knew nothing about them. A lot of these CCJ’s have come from claims that were issued to the wrong address and because these claim forms were not actioned, default judgments were obtained.

Also due to Covid-19 and the lockdown earlier in the year, post was not being delivered, leading to some people not receiving a claim form that was issued against them and ultimately resulted in a default judgment being entered.

It is really important to check your credit report regularly and if you see something untoward or something you do not recognise, you should certainly query it. It is also important for checking that you are not an identity theft victim and to prevent future misuse of your identity

Experian and Equifax are the main credit reference agencies, however you can sign up to the likes of Clearscore and Creditkarma which are free to use.