Will her bad credit affect my existing mortgage?

StarsDie

I have a mortgage for myself already but I'm concerned having a joint account with my girlfriend might affect my mortgage in the future. Do they check your credit out after the fixed rate term is up? Will my credit cards interest rates suddenly shoot up when it is renewed? I have no plans to apply for any credit in the near future and we would both like a shared account. Is this not wise? We would like our wages to go into this account to cover all bills and then pay ourselves a weekly spending allowance by standing order into our personal accounts. We feel this is a sensible way to accumulate savings in our joint account and pay each other the same amount every week regardless of our salary so it all feels fair.

-Cheryl-

Me personally I would'nt do a shared account etc... with my other half as u never know what is around the corner.

My brother did and his gf ruined his credit rating and he can't get a mortgage now.
But not saying don't do it but it's all built on trust but u just never know...

Tixy

When the fixed term of your mortgage ends you will (likely) revert to the lender's SVR. Your mortgage lender won't perform a credit application search at that time.
If you wanted to switch to a different mortgage product, either fixing again or moving to a different lender then that would involve a credit check.

If you have a joint bank account and are financially associated on your credit files then everytime any lender performs a credit application search for you they will also check your partner's credit file.
How much it will affect your ability to get credit likely depends on what is on her file and how 'bad' those things are.

JimmyTheWig

Tixy wrote: »

If you wanted to switch to a different mortgage product, either fixing again or moving to a different lender then that would involve a credit check.

I don't believe that lenders always do a credit check when offering you a new deal on the existing mortgage. In fact, I believe that the _norm_ is that they don't.
But I might be wrong.

But I agree with Tixy that moving to a new lender (or borrowing more money from the existing lender or porting your mortgage to a new property) would involve a credit check and so being associated with bad credit would limit your options when your deal has finished.

How bad is your girlfriend's credit record?
Is it all past things, or are there ongoing issues?
When does your current mortgage fix end?

StarsDie

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

How bad is your girlfriend's credit record?
Is it all past things, or are there ongoing issues?
When does your current mortgage fix end?

Her record is pretty bad. She lost her job and couldn't afford to pay her loan or store cards so she joined payplan and at the moment she is paying only £60 a month which is nothing coming off what I believe is a £4000 debt. She's likely to be paying pretty much interest only in such a small payment. We are looking to increase the payment and get it cleared asap, which with a joint fund we could easily budget for.


Mortgage I believe was fixed for about 4 years and I've only had it 6 months so far.


In regards to credit checks, if I expect to be having one I can easily remove her from the joint account and re-open another later. I had to cancel a previous joint account with her in order to get my mortgage. About a week after I cancelled the account my credit report was clean again and I was accepted. Maybe this answers my own question. Though my other concern is my credit card, which I find extremely useful at times.

JimmyTheWig

I don't believe that credit card interest rates are renewed, so that shouldn't be an issue.
And if you pay the balance off in full each month (if not, why not!) then the interest rate doesn't matter anyway.

I'd concentrate on clearing the debt, then see what rates you're offered by your mortgage company on renewal. If they're bad then think about closing the joint account, etc.

Sinhanada

StarsDie wrote: »

I have a mortgage for myself already but I'm concerned having a joint account with my girlfriend might affect my mortgage in the future. Do they check your credit out after the fixed rate term is up? Will my credit cards interest rates suddenly shoot up when it is renewed? I have no plans to apply for any credit in the near future and we would both like a shared account. Is this not wise? We would like our wages to go into this account to cover all bills and then pay ourselves a weekly spending allowance by standing order into our personal accounts. We feel this is a sensible way to accumulate savings in our joint account and pay each other the same amount every week regardless of our salary so it all feels fair.

I would advise against a joint account. Like you, my wife has a great credit history and mine is incredibly poor. We have a bills account which is in my wife's name and all bills come out of this account. I transfer in my share of the bills and money for food and a little extra each month to ensure that this is covered and it has worked brilliantly. I suppose it all comes down to a matter of trust