Joint Accounts after Bankruptcy

shinyfeet

Hi There,
I am moving in with my boyfriend and the easiest way to arrange our bills would be to have a joint 'house' account and we pay in a percentage of our salaries. However my boyfriend was bankrupt a couple of years ago, he has now been out of bankruptcy for 12 months. He has tried to apply for credit to see how bad his credit rating was and got turned down, so it obviously isnt that great.

How much damage does opening a joint bank account with a former banruptee do to my practically perfect credit rating?

I liked the idea of a joint account as I can check everything got paid on time (a previous partner 'forgot' to pay some of the 'joint' bills he was responsible for) but with a joint bills account I could work out a budget easily, then the money left in our seperate bank accounts would be ours to spend as we like.

Can you think of another way to make sure everything gets paid fairly and a sensible budget is worked out? We would need utility bills in each name for ID purposes and wouldn't having some bills in his name help to rebuild his credit rating? I still have debt in my name that I am trying to clear, but wouldnt want him paying any of it as it was my debt. I would rather the tenancy agreement and all the bills were in joint names, but does that still link me finacially to him?

I appreciate any advice
Thanks

Tixy

Has he checked his credit files post bankruptcy - and done a post discharge clean up of his credit files? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/677875

I would suggest you do not get a joint product with him for 6years from the date of his bankruptcy, but until he checks his files to see what is on them its hard to say.

I would simply open a bills account in your name and have you both pay whatever you agree into it and both have access to it.

shinyfeet

Thankyou for your advice Tixy,

He has 'cleaned' his credit reference file (in accordance with the advice on here - everything said settled ) but still got turned down for a car loan.

The problem with having all the bills in an account in my name is that he would then have no utility bills to 'prove' his address. Plus he believes that having utilities in his name could help his credit rating.

Do joint tennancy agreements and joint bills tie me financially to him?

Could I have joint bills out of an account in my name only?