Who Does Bankruptcy Affect?

Exhortation

My daughter's partner is in a mess. He owes in the region of £25k and is unable to meet the repayments. He has been to the CAB and an organisation run by his local council and both have told him his best course of action is to go bankrupt.

To cut a long story short, who will the bankruptcy affect? They aren't married but do live together and have a six-month old: they don't own their home. Will my daughter's ability to get credit etc be affected by this or does it purely affect her partner? My mother is worried sick about this because she thinks the guy is going to go bankrupt at my daughter's address then do a runner and leave my daughter in a mess. I honestly don't have a clue about this kind of thing and if any of you could enlighten me I'd greatly appreciate it, if only so I can stop my mother and daughter from crying.

dojoman

As long as they are not financially linked it will not affect her.

Exhortation

Thanks. Under what circumstances could they be "financially linked"? Do you mean things like loans taken out in joint names?

Ineedaname

Loands taken out in joint names or joint bank accounts, anything financial they have done together from which there will be a record held.

It's probably best if your daughter applies for her Statutory Credit Reports from Experian, Equifax and CallCredit so she can check them. These are the £2 reports, not the more expensive bells n whistles ones.

LilacPixie

joint bank account (even a basic one for bills will create a financial link)

dojoman

Anything that is joint, loans, bank accounts, mortgages these will provide a financial link between them.

Exhortation

Thanks, everyone. I'll speak to her later and tell her to get the credit reports.

Exhortation

I've just swapped texts with my daughter and the only thing they have that connects them is the council tax. Presumably, this isn't classed as a financial link as she is legally obliged to declare that he lives there, although the rental agreement is only in her name.

Ineedaname

That shouldn't cause a financial link so she's fine, her credit record should not be affected by her OH going BR.

Still worth getting her credit reports though. I have never had a financial connection with my mum, but one time I got my reports I found they had linked my mum to me when she applied for a bank loan! It was very easy to clear up though, just wrote a letter to the relevant credit reference agency and job done.

Exhortation

Thanks (again). I've sent her a text saying she needs to get the files from the credit reference agencies and I'm going to speak to her properly later today. I also have to convince her grandmother that bankruptcy isn't the end of the world.

alastairq

Certainly no worse than divorce......for more information on the BR process, why not have a look at the stickies at the top of the page?