Will a joint mortgage affect my credit score?

hazysunshine

Hello everyone!

Got a question for you all - my credit score is pretty good at the mo, haven't missed a payment, no CCJ's etc My girlfriends isn't great - she has a few missed payments, a CCJ, and generally has a bad credit score and has trouble getting credit.

We are about to apply for a mortgage together - assuming that we don't miss any payments, will her score improve and my score stay the same or improve? Or will i be 'coupled' with her bad credit history, and subsequently will my score drop?

Does my score stay the same, but only drop if payments are missed, or, once we have a joint mortgage, are all her previous bad credit slip-ups associated to me as well?

Any help or advise always appreciated!!!

spurs_nut

Although your score will not drop, you will be deemed financially associated with your girlfriend so they will take this into account and could effect future credit applications.



Marriage doesn't hurt, joint finances does. Simply marrying or living with someone with a bad credit score shouldn't impact your finances, as recent changes means third-party data (i.e. someone else's info) doesn't appear on your file.

Yet if you’re 'financially linked' in any product, it can have an impact. Even just a joint bills account will mean you are co-scored. If one partner has a poor history, keep your finances rigidly separate, and it should maintain access to good credit for the other. As a note, there’s no such thing as a ‘joint’ credit card; technically it’s one person’s account and the other just has access to it.

If you split up with someone you've joint finances with, once the accounts are separated, always write to the credit reference agencies and ask for a notice of 'disassociation', to stop their credit history affecting yours in the future.


And a final thought. Though it may be tempting, lying on your application form doesn’t help. Firstly it’s an offence, but also if lenders can’t corroborate your information it’s normally not used for credit scoring anyway.

quoted from here

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1101485056,23650,

hazysunshine

Cheers for the info!!

So if my girlfriend and I dont miss any payments with our mortgage, but she gets a CCJ for something competely separate, will this affect me or my score?

Thanks

MortgageMamma

In a word, yes. Its not the mortgage account itself that affects your credit score its the financial association in general. You may even be financially associated already (you can find this out by ordering a copy of your respective credit reports) and looking under financial associates. If you have had any credit searches done jointly with someone already that will create an association.