Was the joint account a bad idea?

kev1691

Hi,

Firstly can I just say that if this is not in the right section, I apologise now. The concern that I am having after watching the Martin lewis money show on TV the other night, is that my new wife and I made a large mistake by opening a joint account. I have always had a good credit rating and never experienced a problem getting credit anywhere, my wife however has never had any loans, mobile phone contracts, etc, so has a difficult time getting credit. when we got married we made my account a joint one just to make things fair, however now I am concerned that this could have a rather large negative impact on our eligibility to receive credit. Should we cancel the joint account now, or is the damage already done?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Kev

notanewuser

kev1691 wrote: »

Hi,

Firstly can I just say that if this is not in the right section, I apologise now. The concern that I am having after watching the Martin lewis money show on TV the other night, is that my new wife and I made a large mistake by opening a joint account. I have always had a good credit rating and never experienced a problem getting credit anywhere, my wife however has never had any loans, mobile phone contracts, etc, so has a difficult time getting credit. when we got married we made my account a joint one just to make things fair, however now I am concerned that this could have a rather large negative impact on our eligibility to receive credit. Should we cancel the joint account now, or is the damage already done?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Kev

Damage already done. Live and learn.

CLAPTON

kev1691 wrote: »

Hi,

Firstly can I just say that if this is not in the right section, I apologise now. The concern that I am having after watching the Martin lewis money show on TV the other night, is that my new wife and I made a large mistake by opening a joint account. I have always had a good credit rating and never experienced a problem getting credit anywhere, my wife however has never had any loans, mobile phone contracts, etc, so has a difficult time getting credit. when we got married we made my account a joint one just to make things fair, however now I am concerned that this could have a rather large negative impact on our eligibility to receive credit. Should we cancel the joint account now, or is the damage already done?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Kev

does she have a credit card: if not then best she apply for one and start to build her credit record.

[Deleted User]

This might help:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

kev1691

no she doesn't have a credit card and would struggle to get one because she doesn't have a job at the moment. If we cancelled the joint account, how long is it before I can remove her as an associate on credit file?

lazer

kev1691 wrote: »

Hi,

Firstly can I just say that if this is not in the right section, I apologise now. The concern that I am having after watching the Martin lewis money show on TV the other night, is that my new wife and I made a large mistake by opening a joint account. I have always had a good credit rating and never experienced a problem getting credit anywhere, my wife however has never had any loans, mobile phone contracts, etc, so has a difficult time getting credit. when we got married we made my account a joint one just to make things fair, however now I am concerned that this could have a rather large negative impact on our eligibility to receive credit. Should we cancel the joint account now, or is the damage already done?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Kev

I don't her not having a credit history will affect you much, it would be differnt if she a bad credit history though.

GooliesOfFire

Domino9 wrote: »

This might help:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

I looked at that.. Why having a landline phone is so important? I don't want to pay for something I don't use.

InsideInsurance

lazer wrote: »

I don't her not having a credit history will affect you much, it would be differnt if she a bad credit history though.

My understanding is the same as this.

As to removing her from the account and how long it takes to get through to your records then it can be up to 3 months from when you give the instructions (at worst case) but you could try and accelerate it by also filing a notice of disassociation with the CRAs at the same time.

Of cause if my understanding is wrong and her lack of history would negatively effect you then you still need to balance your ability to get a loan -v- the fairness which drove you to create the joint account to start with

benjus

Regarding the landline phone - you can get a free number in any UK area code from Sipgate. You can then forward it to your mobile phone (at a cost) or use it for free with SIP-compatible software, or just set it up to record voicemails and email them to you.

Of course, it's possible to determine that this isn't a BT-issued number, but I don't know how sophisticated these systems are...

kev1691

InsideInsurance wrote: »

My understanding is the same as this.

As to removing her from the account and how long it takes to get through to your records then it can be up to 3 months from when you give the instructions (at worst case) but you could try and accelerate it by also filing a notice of disassociation with the CRAs at the same time.

Of cause if my understanding is wrong and her lack of history would negatively effect you then you still need to balance your ability to get a loan -v- the fairness which drove you to create the joint account to start with

if it is only 3 months then that doesn't seem to bad as we are not immediately seeking credit of any kind

premierfella

I really wouldn't be at all concerned in terms of the credit score (there are more significant arguments against joint accounts, but that's by-the-by).

Your credit score will take a modest short term dip, but you're not looking for credit in the short term anyway and I doubt many lenders would have credit scoring systems that were so draconian as to refuse credit to an otherwise creditworthy individual only on the basis of a new association to someone with no credit history (except in the immediate months after the association).

And on the plus side, your wife surely now DOES have a credit history - being built on the joint account?!