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Callcredit highlights CCJ hotspots

28 August 2006

On average, two CCJs were registered for every 100 over 18’s in England and Wales over the last 12 months but in some towns the incidence was as much as three times higher, according to research by online credit report service MyCallcredit.

Its research looked at the number of CCJs registered in England and Wales, by postcode, postal sector and postal town, and the characteristics of people who live in those areas, to determine the households and areas most at risk of defaulting on their credit commitments.

In the period May 2005 – 2006 more than three quarters of a million CCJs were registered in England and Wales. Purfleet in Essex recorded the highest number of CCJs per head of population in a postal town (six for every 100 adults).

Callcredit Director Mel Mitchley says: “Where you live can reveal so much about your life from whether you’re likely to have a CCJ to how likely you are to own a car or have access to the internet.

“Our research found that 55 per cent of the population live in postcode areas where no CCJs were recorded in the last twelve months. We also found that those postcodes with the highest numbers of CCJs per head of population tended to share certain demographic characteristics.”

“But a combination of record levels of personal debt combined with the recent interest rate rise could mean that over the next year we start to see CCJs in neighbourhoods that have so far been unaffected.”

Key Findings

• More than 0.75 million CCJs were registered over the last twelve months.
• 20 CCJs were recorded for every 1000 people aged 18 or over in England and Wales in the last twelve months.
• 55 per cent of the population live in postcode areas where no CCJs were recorded over the last twelve months
• 30 per cent of the population live in postcodes where between one and two CCJs were recorded over the last twelve months
• 15 per cent per cent live in areas where three or more CCJs were registered in that postcode over the last twelve months.

Where are CCJs most prevalent?

Areas with the highest CCJ numbers per head of population recorded in the last twelve months typically share certain geodemographic characteristics.

• Urban and suburban communities.
• Smaller than average semis or terraced properties
• Lower than average value property
• Higher than average council owned or ex-council
• Fewer than average qualifications
• Higher than average use of mail order shopping
• Lower than average levels of car ownership
• Higher than average number with payment protection insurance

Worst post towns by number of CCJs per head of population over the last twelve months

Of the 20 towns with the worst record for CCJs over the last twelve months eight are in the Midlands while four are in the East, three in London, three in Yorkshire and the Humber, one in the North East and one in the North West

Amongst the Midlands towns, there was a high concentration in the West; Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Bilston – all in the former industrial area known as the Black Country.

In Yorkshire, Scunthorpe had the highest density closely followed by Bradford and Dewsbury. In Bradford and Dewsbury there are many single people in terraced homes and almost twice the national average number collect unemployment benefits in these two post towns.

In Purfleet, the town with the worst record – three times the national average – the predominant socio-economic group is single home-owners and renters with pre-school age children.

Tilbury, the town in second place, is a port town in the South East. The town has a large proportion of people who are employed in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs at the port.

Ms Mitchley says: “There are many factors which will affect whether someone gets into difficulty with debt but the geodemographic profile of where you live is clearly one of the indicators that lenders can use to support their responsible lending policies.”

 

Table 1. The 20 post towns with the highest number of CCJs per head of population

Post Town	Region
Purfleet	East
Tilbury	East
Basildon	East
Birmingham	West Midlands
Telford	West Midlands
Hartlepool	North East
South Ockendon	East
Gainsborough	East Midlands
Bilston	West Midlands
Barking	London
Thornton Heath	London
Mansfield	East Midlands
Wolverhampton	West Midlands
Sutton-in-Ashfield	East Midlands
Scunthorpe	Yorkshire & The Humber
Dagenham	London
Bradford	Yorkshire & The Humber
Birkenhead	North West
Dewsbury	Yorkshire & The Humber
Redditch	West Midlands

 

Table 2.         Highest CCJs per head of population - regional ranking

West Midlands

East Midlands

Yorkshire & The Humber

North East

London

Wales

North West

South West

East

South East

 

Editors notes

1. The research was carried out by Callcredit
2. The research relates to CCJs recorded between May 2005-2006
3. It analysed the geodemographic distribution of CCJ registrations generated during the period May 2005 – 2006, using CAMEO, a consumer geodemographic classification system developed by sister company EuroDirect.
4. Under 18s and anyone living in communal establishments such as prisons were deducted from the postcode headcounts.

About Callcredit

1. Callcredit(www.callcredit.co.uk) is the UK's most technologically advanced credit reference agency, providing the market with a comprehensive range of consumer credit information services.
2. Callcredit has harnessed state-of-the-art information technology with an unrivalled knowledge of the credit industry's needs to develop a range of innovative information solutions. Solutions that are enabling major lenders and a host of other blue chip companies to make better credit decisions, target new customers more effectively and manage existing customers more profitably.
3. Callcredit forms part of the Skipton Information Group, together with database management company EuroDirect and market analysis firm GMAP Consulting.

For more press information contact:
Steve Clark or Jo Gill at Source Marketing Communications, Aspect Court, 47 Park Square East, Leeds, LS1 2NL. Tel: 0113 380 1644, Fax: 0113 380 1630, E-mail: steve@sourcemc.co.uk or jo@sourcemc.co.uk

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