Credit score and credit card advice

quilty

Hi all, looking for some help please.

I found out a few weeks ago that my fiance was in quite a lot of debt, mortgage arrears, bills, credit cards and worst of all payday loans!!

I have now paid the majority off out of my savings, the rest will be paid off next month. I have done an experian credit check on myself and my score is 915 which I believe is good, I unfortunately didn't realise that any joint accounts and credit cards we have would go against my score and rating though (if that is correct.)

Our joint account is mainly used for the Natwest advantage gold so my phone insurance and travel insurance ect is cheaper and our wages don't go in there but I have also put him as 'another' user on my credit card months ago before I reasiled the trouble he was in.

My question is, I'm thinking of getting a tesco credit card to use for everything, in my name that I will pay off every month in full, if his credit effects mine then does it work vice versa? Will his credit raise from being a 'user' of my account rather than a card in his name? He wouldn't get one in his name alone so I'm wondering if it will lower mine further or raise his slightly?

Sorry for the long post, thanks for any advice

[Deleted User]

His being an additional cardholder won't have any effect on his rating as the agreement is solely in your name.

Curr946

Though if is a joint account hold on a bank account it will as you will be financially linked. Is his name visible on your report?

quilty

Curr946 wrote: »

Though if is a joint account hold on a bank account it will as you will be financially linked. Is his name visible on your report?

Thanks both, to reply to above message:

His name is visable on my credit report as a finacial link but the credit card isn't through our joint account, it is my person one so he doesnt show on that.

Typical he can lower my rating but it won't raise his at all, can anyone advise how I can raise his rating? He can't get credit through his own name so eveything at the moment goes in mine. We seem to be going round in circles as he can now afford to pay but can't get the credit to build the rating.

boogiemaster

The usual way of building credit is getting a Vanquis or capital one credit card and failing that is getting a catalogue like JD Williams.

People laugh when you suggest catalogues but the thing about catalogues is they report your credit limit and payment history to credit reference agencies.

Once you've been paying a few months your credit limit is increased and this shows on your credit file.

The main thing is to build a payment history to show lenders and by using a catalogue this is what you are doing.

Catalogues build your credit rating and when you apply for a credit card you've a better chance of being accepted due to payments showing on your credit file.

Niddy says catalogues are a shortcut to credit cards

quilty

boogiemaster wrote: »

The usual way of building credit is getting a Vanquis or capital one credit card and failing that is getting a catalogue like JD Williams.

People laugh when you suggest catalogues but the thing about catalogues is they report your credit limit and payment history to credit reference agencies.

Once you've been paying a few months your credit limit is increased and this shows on your credit file.

The main thing is to build a payment history to show lenders and by using a catalogue this is what you are doing.

Catalogues build your credit rating and when you apply for a credit card you've a better chance of being accepted due to payments showing on your credit file.

Niddy says catalogues are a shortcut to credit cards

Glad you said that as I got him a Vanquis and Capital One card, I pay the bill but it's in his name.

I use my cards for points ect though and need a much higher limit so I don't like using his, will just a small spend and pay back every month work in the same way a £1000 spend and pay back would?

[Deleted User]

Yes - just enough to keep it ticking over is fine - spend and repay, rinse and repeat.

jfh7gwa

Is your fiance doing anything to address the causes / repurcussions of his financial mismanagement? I don't want to seem pessimistic, but you (OP) seem to have your head screwed on straight about how to handle this situation.

but be weary of taking control and fixing the immediate credit score/debt problem, only to find that 5 years later you're back in the same situation due to never really making your finance aware of the dangerous path he was going down... i'm worried about this for you.

quilty

jfh7gwa wrote: »

Is your fiance doing anything to address the causes / repurcussions of his financial mismanagement? I don't want to seem pessimistic, but you (OP) seem to have your head screwed on straight about how to handle this situation.

but be weary of taking control and fixing the immediate credit score/debt problem, only to find that 5 years later you're back in the same situation due to never really making your finance aware of the dangerous path he was going down... i'm worried about this for you.

Not to worry, he knows what a mess he was in as he was about to lose the house before I stepped in, I will be taking total finacial control from now on but he does know the consequences of what would of happened if I hadn't of taken over, in fairness to him he wasn't just spending willy nilly, there was genuine reasons as to why he got into that mess.

Going back to an earlier post, thank you for the advice of a catalogue, I need something for Christmas that I can only find in Studio Cards so I'm hoping they class that as a catalogue, kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks for all advice.

JohalaReewi

Just before you go, make sure you don't spend any money buying the scores from credit agencies. They are just a made up number and are not part of your credit history, nor are they sent to lenders.

If you get them free, no problem but don't pay out good money for them.

With regard to your other half having a bad record and you being financially linked to them, some lenders take this into account, some don't.

quilty

JohalaReewi wrote: »

Just before you go, make sure you don't spend any money buying the scores from credit agencies. They are just a made up number and are not part of your credit history, nor are they sent to lenders.

If you get them free, no problem but don't pay out good money for them.

With regard to your other half having a bad record and you being financially linked to them, some lenders take this into account, some don't.

Thanks for that, I have only had a free 30 day report that I will cancel before it's up.

In regards to which companies would take his finacial situation into account on mine, is there a list somewhere or is it just hit and miss?

Thanks for your advice, always needed.