A country judgement can destroy a person's credit score they might not even aware of it.
That was the unfortunate reality for IT worker Steve Miller-Flynn. Steve got into a dispute with his mobile phone provider in 2011.
They had promised him coverage in Spain where he was working at the time. When the phone didn't work, Steve tried to cancel but they wouldn't let him break the contract.
Eventually, Steve refused to continue paying for his phone. But that's when they hit him with the threat of a county court judgement if he didn't fork over £380 by the end of the month.
Steve said he and his wife paid the amount in full and believed the incident was behind them.
But in 2013, Steve was rejected when he tried to rent a new flat due to a failed credit check.
Despite paying off the amount the mobile phone company had requested, they had slapped on an additional charge of £76.
As Steve had not been aware of this additional debt, they had issued the county court judgement against him.
Steve said: "I would have paid the £76 had I known. Having this against your name affects so much. It's the monkey on your back.
"Simple things like car insurance, you need credit checks on them.
"Career wise, I went into security clearance. You have to put down that you have a county court judgement against your name."
Michael Green has started the company CaseHub, which aims to bring justice to those who feel they have been unfairly treated by the courts.
Michael said in many cases, people have county court judgements against their name without realising.
He said private companies have been known to send letters to old addresses so they won't be received by the relevant person.
But there is a way to overturn a county court judgement.
Mark Gander of the Consumer Action Group said you can do what's called a ‘set aside'.
You need to argue that you were not aware of the mark against your name. Being able to provide concrete proof of this will significantly help your case.
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