Joint Bank Account Disassociation

karen99

Hi

Please can someone help i had a joint bank account with my husband for financial reasons it was changed into my sole account in 2012. My husband has recently looked at his credit file and it is still showing as a joint account with a financial link to me, he has spoken to Experian who have advised him that only the Halifax can remove this information.On speaking to them this morning they have advised that the account is in my sole name however as we are married we are financially linked even though we have no joint accounts is this correct? They have escalated my querie to a complaint as even though my husband is not on the Halifax account he can log in to his experian account and see the balances and status on my sole account surely a breach of data protection
Thanking you all in advance

grumbler

karen99 wrote: »

.... they have advised that the account is in my sole name however as we are married we are financially linked even though we have no joint accounts is this correct?

Pure bu11shit. Only active joint credit accounts create association.

They have escalated my querie to a complaint as even though my husband is not on the Halifax account he can log in to his experian account and see the balances and status on my sole account surely a breach of data protection

This is arguable, but IMO it's worth playing this card if you start a formal complaint.

innovate

grumbler wrote: »

Pure bu11shit. Only active joint credit accounts create association.

I am sorry, but you are badly informed about associations.
http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/faq/AR3.html#q1016. Please do check your facts.

grumbler

Yes, I simplified this a little, but I don't see how I was miles away. "This is created by joint judgments, joint accounts, joint credit applications". I am pretty sure that marriage by itself doesn't create a financial link.

In fact the joint account that has been erroneously reported to the CRA remains the main problem here, not the marriage. Without this account the association can be easily broken by the CRA.

nearlyretired2004

Innovate - which bit of this are you interpreting as saying they are financially connected - I too read it that this is only the case if they currently have a joint account (or have had a joint account and been separated for less than six months).......

nearlyretired2004

Grumbler - Ha ! we replied at the same instant!

innovate

Please read what I said. I commented on this statement you made:

grumbler wrote: »

Pure bu11shit. Only active joint credit accounts create association.
.

Which is just plain incorrect, as you have now found by reading the Experian document.

I had not previously commented on the OP's situation, but I will now. I believe the reason there is an association is that they used to have a joint account. I also believe the reason the husband can still see details of the account on his credit file is that Halifax have not informed Experian (and probably the other CRAs) that the account is no longer joint. Experian can't just take off an association on the say-so of an associate. The removal needs to come from Halifax in this case - though good luck with convincing them to do so, their CS is generally terrible when it comes to anything out of the ordinary.

eskbanker

innovate wrote: »

Experian can't just take off an association on the say-so of an associate. The removal needs to come from Halifax in this case

The last part of the FAQ section you quoted suggests otherwise:

If your credit report shows a financial connection that is no longer correct, you can ask us to remove it in the following ways.
Online. Click here to open our Financial connections questionnaire and disassociation form.
Via post. Print a copy of our disassociation form and send it to us. (The address is on the form.) You need Adobe® Reader® to open the printable form

However, you have to declare that you don't live at the same address as the other person, so they seem to set the bar pretty high!

grumbler

innovate wrote: »

Which is just plain incorrect, as you have now found by reading the Experian document.

No, I have not found anything essential.

Experian can't just take off an association on the say-so of an associate. The removal needs to come from Halifax in this case

That's not what I "have now found by reading the Experian documen" and already knew anyway.

eskbanker wrote: »

However, you have to declare that you don't live at the same address as the other person, so they seem to set the bar pretty high!

What they say is unclear IMO:

" We cannot do this if you still live at the same address and share a financial link e.g. joint account."

"Or" would be more appropriate here as if you 'share a link' the address is irrelevant.

karen99

Hi
Thank you for all your comments Halifax complaints department have just called me to advise me that they will update my credit file to show as a sole account however they cannot update my husbands credit file as he has no accounts with
them!They have said that by updating my file it should remove it from my husbands although it wont show for 4 weeks and they cannot guarantee it. They have offered me compensation and the financial ombudsmans details if i am not happy HELP!!!!

innovate

grumbler wrote: »

Pure bu11shit. Only active joint credit accounts create association.
This is arguable, but IMO it's worth playing this card if you start a formal complaint.

grumbler wrote: »

No, I have not found anything essential.

For goodness sake, you obviously only apply your perfection to other people, not to yourself. You said "only active joint credit accounts create association" - which is just totally wrong because e.g. a simple joint application for a current account creates an association. Also, the CRAs keep an association even after accounts have been closed, and you need to actively request the removal. But I suppose this doesn't fit with your expectations and therefore can't be true.