Spouse ran a credit check on me

Perceval

Currently separating from my wife. I noticed that there were a couple of entries on our joint account from her card for credit check agencies. When I look at my Experian file I see that these checks have been run vs myself. I appreciate each spouse wants a lot of information at a time like this, but I have to assume this is not legal? I was hoping to avoid any kind of lawyers, but I'm not sure what to do with this. Of course I may be mistaken and find it's legal to credit check your spouse, in which case thanks for letting me know that.

thorsoak

If she has done this without telling you, it would appear that trust has broken down between you both.

Candyapple

From your post I gather you were looking at a bank statement to a joint account you have with your wife and noticed she had purchased membership / ordered a £2 copy of her credit report from Equifax/Experian/CallCredit, and you jumped to the wrong conclusions.

A person cannot credit check another person. As you both have a joint account, you are financially linked in regards to your credit files. Meaning that say your wife had a poor history of late payments, defaults, CCJs etc. and you didn't - if you applied for a credit card/loan - her credit history as well as yours would be searched and the likely outcome would be you wouldn't be able to get the card/loan.

As you are both linked, it means that when she orders a copy of her credit report, it will have details of any credit products you have applied for on there, and vice versa.

If you no longer want to be financially linked you would both need to go into the bank and remove your names from the joint account to close it down. One person will not be able to do this, you will both need to go together and then inform the 3 credit reference agencies that you two are no longer financially linked.

Pixie5740

Her credit file will only show things she has either applied for herself or jointly with others. It will not show anything that the OP has applied for in his name only. However it is true that as you are financially linked your credit file and how you manage credit will have an impact on her credit file and vice versa.

If your wife has requested a copy of her credit file that should not show up on your credit file so if there's an entry showing then she could very well have got a copy of your credit file (she's your wife and probably knows enough about you to get past security) and that is something she should not have done.

Candyapple

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Her credit file will only show things she has either applied for herself or jointly with others. It will not show anything that the OP has applied for in his name only. However it is true that as you are financially linked your credit file and how you manage credit will have an impact on her credit file and vice versa.

If your wife has requested a copy of her credit file that should not show up on your credit file so if there's an entry showing then she could very well have got a copy of your credit file (she's your wife and probably knows enough about you to get past security) and that is something she should not have done.

Not true. When my partner had a joint account with his brother (they used to live together), my OH obtained a copy of his credit report and it showed all the applications for credit cards/loans etc that his brother had applied for as an individual.

An interesting read here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5308171

I doubt his wife would know what month/year(s) he opened his bank/card accounts etc. in order to pass security to obtain a copy of HIS report. She probably just wanted to obtain a copy of her credit report and the OP has jumped to the wrong conclusion all because they still share a joint bank account and they both can see what each other have been spending money on.

fermi

Page 20

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/experian-YCRE.pdf

Rambosmum

Candyapple wrote: »

A person cannot credit check another person.

I'm pretty sure I could run an experian credit check on my husband using his joint account card and his details. In fact, I've done it. But he knew, and he asked (it was when applying for a mortgage I did mine and his)

itsanne

Candyapple wrote: »

I doubt his wife would know what month/year(s) he opened his bank/card accounts etc. in order to pass security

Interesting security - my husband wouldn't have a clue about any of that ......... actually neither would I, and I'm the one who deals with most of our finances. I wonder how many others who've had numerous accounts for years would know the year and month they opened them.

Candyapple

Rambosmum wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I could run an experian credit check on my husband using his joint account card and his details. In fact, I've done it. But he knew, and he asked (it was when applying for a mortgage I did mine and his)

No, you're not running a credit check in the instance you described - you were applying for a copy of your husband's credit report in order to pass it onto either your broker or the bank who you will be lending you the money for the mortgage so they can check there is nothing amiss. The bank will soft search your files initially and then once you've found somewhere and get to the nitty gritty they will do a hard search of both your credit files. They are two completely different things.

Only a company / institution can credit check you. Think about it, you are being checked to see if you are credit worthy. You apply for a credit card/loan/mortgage/rental property etc. You also have to tick a box online or sign a form that you agree to being subject to a credit check being undertaken. Some jobs in the financial sector require employees to be credit checked annually.

MadMat

I did recently run a credit check on my wife - it was ridiculously easy. (With her permission I might add - she was away on holiday and we needed some info from it ASAP)

It was actually harder to close the experian free trial afterwards than it was to sign up to it using her details!

Mat

Candyapple

MadMat wrote: »

I did recently run a credit check on my wife - it was ridiculously easy. (With her permission I might add - she was away on holiday and we needed some info from it ASAP)

It was actually harder to close the experian free trial afterwards than it was to sign up to it using her details!

Mat

:wall: You were not running a credit check on your wife, you were obtaining a copy of her credit report!