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"We're seeing more and more parking fines wreak havoc with people's credit profiles"

ended 18. February 2025

Brokers have said they have seen a rise in the number of CCJs being issued for low value parking fines and say it's causing chaos with mortgage apps. Borrowers with CCJs on their credit profiles will generally need to pay much more punitive mortgage rates - or may even not be able to get a mortgage at all. One, Emma Jones, at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk, said: “We're seeing more and more parking fines wreak havoc with people's credit profiles. It's outrageous that a £50 parking fine can snowball into a £1,500 CCJ, wrecking people’s credit and costing them thousands in higher mortgage rates over many years.”

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Emma Jones
Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
We're seeing more and more parking fines wreak havoc with people's credit profiles. It's outrageous that a £50 parking fine can snowball into a £1,500 CCJ, wrecking people’s credit and costing them thousands in higher mortgage rates over many years. The system is broken and it’s time for change. CCJs for minor parking fines should be banned and legal costs must be capped to stop this exploitation.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
This issue is more common than you might think. Often people will dispute a parking fine and refuse to pay on principle, meanwhile the parking company slaps them with a CCJ that massively impacts their creditworthiness for years to come. Sure, people should pay their fines but better regulation is needed, especially for minor infringements. It’s scandalous that your mortgage capability is diminished if you park marginally over a line.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Either CCJs should have a minimum value in order to be lodged, or lenders need to start ignoring CCJs under a low-level amount, as CCJs for things such as parking fines really do not indicate higher risk of non-payment of a mortgage compared to say a CCJ on a credit card in the thousands. Lenders in the most part see all CCJs as equal in their credit scoring calculations, which can unfairly penalise many potentially good borrowers.
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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
Although some mortgage lenders disregard CCJs that have come about as a result of a parking fine, most of the high street lenders will take this into account and it can mean you lose access to the lowest rates. More regulation to ensure CCJs are not brought against someone unneccesarily is a must, but for the time being if you are contesting a fine and a CCJ is taken out, I would ensure you pay this within 30 days so that it gets removed and does not stay on your credit profile for six years.