First-time buyer Eren Mehmet was rejected for three mortgages because of a small County Court Judgment (CCJ) linked to unpaid parking tickets. Despite the relatively minor debt, many high street lenders automatically declined his applications. However, with the help of a specialist broker, Mehmet eventually secured a mortgage and bought his first home.
How a Parking Fine Becomes a Mortgage Barrier
According to Emma Jones, managing director of Runcorn-based WhenTheBankSaysNo.co.uk, parking-related CCJs are a surprisingly common reason buyers are declined, particularly by lenders that rely heavily on automated underwriting systems. She said: "We see cases like this far more often than people realise. A relatively small parking fine can snowball into a CCJ if it's ignored or forgotten, and once that appears on your credit file it can trigger an automatic mortgage rejection. Most high street lenders will say ‘no’ if you have a CCJ."
Jones emphasised that the biggest issue is not the size of the debt but how mainstream lenders assess applications. "A CCJ tells a lender there has previously been a debt that wasn't paid when it should have been. Automated underwriting systems don't always look at the story behind it – they simply identify the CCJ and, in many cases, the application is declined," she added.
Eren Mehmet's Experience
Eren Mehmet faced exactly this situation. After being turned down three times, he said: "After being turned down so many times, I started to feel hopeless. It felt like lenders only saw that one issue rather than my overall financial situation."
But Jones stressed that a parking-related CCJ should not automatically end someone's chances of buying a home. "One lender saying no doesn't mean every lender will. There are specialist lenders who are prepared to look at the whole picture, including why the CCJ happened, how long ago it was, whether it's been satisfied and how the applicant has managed their finances since," she explained.
How to Secure a Mortgage with a CCJ
That approach worked for Mehmet. Jones described how they presented his full financial background to a lender whose criteria better suited his circumstances. "Rather than focusing on one historic issue, we presented his full financial background to a lender whose criteria better suited his circumstances and who was prepared to look beyond the CCJ, which was relatively minor. They could see he was otherwise a strong borrower and were happy to lend," she said.
Mehmet has now bought his first home and said the experience transformed his life. "Even when everyone else had said no, they made me feel like 'no' wasn't necessarily the final answer. They looked beyond my CCJ and found a lender willing to support my application," he said.
Don't Give Up After a Rejection
Jones believes too many buyers give up after their first rejection. "Automated underwriting has an important role, but it can't always distinguish between someone with a minor parking-related CCJ from years ago and someone with ongoing financial problems and who had serious levels of debt," she said. "That's why it's worth speaking to a broker who understands the whole market and knows which lenders will accommodate people with blips like parking fines. More often than not, the right lender simply isn't the first one you ask and won’t be found on the high street."
