can my partners credit score affect mine?

IUYS

My partner is due to move in with me shortly and i have always had an excellent credit rating/score. Unfortunately over the last few years my partner has had numerous problems paying back debts etc. What i would like to know is if she has got a bad score/rating can this affect mine in anyway because she is living with me?

thanks in advance

mummytotwo_3

Its normally only affected if you have anything joint - such as bank account, loans etc.

LeeSouthEast

Simply living with you: no.

Having joint financial products - as above - (i.e. loans, credit cards, bank accounts, certain household services): Yes.

Keep all financial things separate, there will be no association, and therefore no impact on you.

MountainOfDebt_2

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Simply living with you: no.

Having joint financial products - as above - (i.e. loans, credit cards, bank accounts, certain household services): Yes.

Keep all financial things separate, there will be no association, and therefore no impact on you.

OK, I get this, but one thing I am nto sure about is the linking. I applied for credit cards, but my wife has her name on some of the cards, but not the agreements. What happens there?

LeeSouthEast

Are they 2nd cards on your account?

50/50, really. Check your credit reports to be certain. Can do them for profit (if you time it right) via Quidco

MountainOfDebt_2

They are second cards on my account.

I am nuking my credit as I have asked for a 6 month break on payments. They've told me the credit file will be affected, but my wife's credit is perfect and I dont want this affected.

LeeSouthEast

Perhaps cancel her cards on your account, check her credit file and see if you're associated, then cancel the association (if one exists). If all joint products are no longer active, you can send a 'Notice of Disassociation' to the Credit Reference Agencies and her rating will not be affected by your actions (if they even will be now. As I say it's 50/50 what they've done on 2nd accounts. To my knowledge most providers do not do a credit check for this).

[Deleted User]

Hmm. So if I've got loads of available credit, this also counts against the wife (whos got zero in her name).

So if she applied for a loan they'd take my available credit into account too? Bummer.

oneminwanda

have just been told by bank they cannot offer me a mortgage as i am linked to my ex partner by our previous address. no sign of this on my credit reports. Got no accounts / cards anything in joint names? Ive got A1 credit. Dont understand where link can be. So simply living with someone with bad credit HAS effected me badly.

Ineedaname

Paulfoel - Doesn't work quite like that. If you have joint accounts with your wife then it's possible your credit scoring would help her get finance, but it shouldn't stop you getting finance the next day for instance. Any credit check for her application will show on your wife's record and the checker will just see the association and that you have a good score. The same in reverse. But her credit check shouldn't show up on your record at all. Make sense?

Oneminwanda - Are you using the same bank that you and your ex used before? The link may just be in the bank's files and nowhere else. Alternatively, have you checked all 3 credit reference agencies? The link may be on the very one the bank uses but not on the other two. See above comments about removing associations if they exist. You may find if you try elsewhere for a mortgage you won't have a problem, decent financial advisors do exist and they don't charge you for their services, they get their fees from the mortgage company.