Credit Card Quandry (v.odd)

BatCat

Hi Folks,
This is an odd one, but I'd appreciate any help!
My husband and father in law have the same name except for an initial. While my Father in Law was staying with us a few weeks ago he went to the M&S sale and they told him 'ooo you will get so much off if you apply for our credit card' so my FIL did. But, because he doesn't live in the UK (he lives in Ireland) he applied for it under his name, minus the initial and with our address (great). He then took the discount and went back home. A couple of weeks later, this mastercard arrives with 8000£ credit on it. I make angry noises and tell my husband to say something to his dad.
Nothin happens, so next time my FIL comes up, I mention it to him. He says 'oh it doesn't matter because I will never activate the card'.
We're still getting promotional material from M&S. Now I've heard that merely the act of applying for a credit card is recorded by the credit reference agencies.
Is this credit card going to show up if we apply for credit ourselves (I have a few credit cards of my own and we have a mortgage)?
Thanks!
BatCat

Newbird

I think what you suppose is probably correct, as your address and your name was used, as FIL didn't give his initial!

Nothing you can do about a credit check being done, but get your FIL to cancel the card if you don't want it.

Actually....You may be able to do this yourselves, as they think its your husbands card anyway.

Also, the M&S card has problems if you try to do BTs. I read on here that someone tried to do a BT to another card and the new card told them that M&S would not accept their pay off, so th BT could not be done. This is at present un-resolved, but....

If I were you, I'd get rid of it.

Keep FIL under closer control next time he comes to stay, go shopping with him!

Sub_2

Essentially, the answer is no, it shouldn't make any difference to your husbands credit record. However, given the similarity between the names it might be worth checking that this hasn't been recorded on your husbands record by mistake.

Credit records of individuals living under the same roof nowadays have to be treated seperately, so nothing your FiL does should be registered anywhere other than on his own record. The factor here that will distinguish him from your hubby is his date of birth, which the referencing agencies use as primary identity information.

Your hubby can apply to the major credit reference agencies (Equifax and Experian) for a copy of his credit record, which will show any searches (and most acitve credit cards) registered to him. The cost of this is only £2 per report, and is well worth doing from time to time anyway, just so you can keep an eye on what is being recorded.

If there has been any cross over between his record and this application your FiL made, then you can have the agency remove it from hubbys credit file, they will be obliged to comply by law. It's a simple process.