Will my housemate's bad credit affect me?

spinningsheep

Bit of a saga this. My credit was awful, but is now on the up. My housemate used to have fantastic credit, but he was stupid and defaulted on his cardit cards,loans and even the household insurance!! I was furious and made him transfer the direct debit for the insurance to my bank account to make sure it would be paid, but in order to do so, AA insurance had to add me on to the policy. Not an issue, so I thought. I am now concerned that because the policy is in joint names, as is the council tax bill, are we "financially linked"?
It seems ironic that his credit is now worse than mine, but I do not want his defaults etc impacting on my recovering score. I have checked my files with Experian,Equifax and Callcredit and none show any financial link between us, but is it something that they can register in the future? I am worried now, and should I tell the reference agencies to not link us? Is this possible?

PixiePie

You can write to them and ask them to add a note of up to 250 characters (I think it's that length) either explaining anything, or to ask them to not associate you with someone. However, I don't know if you can do the association thing before it might have happened. Best to just keep an eye on the credit reports and if you are going to apply for credit of any sort ('they' will tell you if x y z is subject to/will have a credit search) just check it then and if it is associated put a note on the account.
I think.

CAB CSSS etc seem to know these things for sure, and I'm sure someone will be able to put a definate answer on it.

angelavdavis

Two things:

1) Debt is attached to an individual, but you are in danger of being financially associated with him. You have had some advice on putting a note on your files, but it will be worth keeping an eye on your credit files to ensure you aren't associated with him. I don't think you will unless you have a shared financial agreement - such as a credit card, bank account, loan, etc.
2) Companies such as cornhill insurance will allow you to insure your own stuff (only) so you can have separate insurances and don't need to share, might be a bit dearer but it would be worth it for peace of mind.