Do missed bill payments affect credit?

newbie_user

Hello. To cut a long story short, I have a mortgage with my ex partner. I moved out 18 months ago and continued to pay the utility bills from my account, and he'd pay me back. I did this purely to ensure they were paid as he is not good at all with money, and my name is still on the mortgage.

I have now decided this is ridiculous, and we are in the process of changing all the bills from my name and bank account to his name and his bank account. (except the mortgage, which will come from his bank account but will obviously still have my name on it.)

So my question is - if he falls behind with bills such as water, gas, electric, Sky - a) am I accountable and b) will it affect my credit rating as ultimately all these utilities are for a property I own - even if my name is NOT on the utility bill itself?

Not sure if this is brilliantly explained, but any advice is welcome. Thank you very much in advance.

Cycrow

You wont be accountable for bills that are not in your name. Who owns the house isn't relevant

As long as the mortgage thats in your name continues to be paid on time, it shouldn't effect your credit file.

Bills and Debts are connected to the person, not the address

Tixy

However if you are financially associated on your credit files (due to the joint mortgage) then any negative on his credit file (either from not paying utilities or his personal accounts/cards etc) could affect potentially affect your ability to get credit.

If a joint mortgage is the only open account linking you to an ex partner and if you no longer live together experian will sometimes allow you to file a notice of disassociation see here - http://experian.metafaq.com/help/Statutory/Credit_report/former_partner
I am not sure if the other 2 agencies would allow a disassociation in those circumstances.