Credit Rating hit by my partners mismanagement

Mykey

I am looking for a little help with a credit issue.

My wife had a Halifax Bank Account that we converted into a joint account over 10 years ago. She pretty much kept track of all the household bills which came out of it.

About 5 years ago she lost her job and entered into a Debt Management Plan and was advised to include the overdraft from this account which was over £4000.

Now despite being told by the Debt Management Company that it wouldnt effect my credit rating it is showing as in default and in arrears, although my wife has not missed any payments.
At the rate it is being paid back it will be another 4 years before its cleared and then the additional 6 years it will remain on my file.

I am assuming there is zero point in contact the DMP company and asking for my name to be removed so wondered if there are any option open to me to either remove my association or speed up the process.
Many thanks.

[Deleted User]

You could file a notice of disassociation, but only if you no longer have any joint financial products.

However, I am not sure that it would remove the marker for the joint account, as that was in your name, as well as hers. But it will stop you being impacted by any other defaults on products she solely holds.

SeduLOUs

I think you are stuck. Your name was on the account when it defaulted so there's no way of getting your name off now.

You should have been advised to disassociate before the DMP was put in place, and if the overdraft was to be included it should have been in her name only - i.e. remove you from the account before the account went into any sort of 'difficulty'.

As poster above mentions, ALL of her defaults will be affecting your file as you are financially associated by the joint account. If you have any spare money, the best thing you could do is pay off the overdraft ASAP, get that account closed (along with any other joint products you have) and then file notices of disassociation with all three of the credit reference agencies so that you are only dealing with one default.

On the good news side, the account will be removed from your files 6 years from the date of default, not 6 years from the end of the DMP as you seem to understand it.

Mykey

Thanks for the quick replies.
You have pretty much confirmed my suspicions.
Although she is paying off the overdraft through her DMP it still shows every month as being in default so surely it will be 6 years after she has cleared the debt before it is removed from my history?

SeduLOUs

Mykey wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies.
You have pretty much confirmed my suspicions.
Although she is paying off the overdraft through her DMP it still shows every month as being in default so surely it will be 6 years after she has cleared the debt before it is removed from my history?

Ignoring the monthly markers for a second, in the general info about the account (account start date, type etc) there should be a line stating the date of default.

It will fall off your file 6 years from this date.

Are you are saying that they are updating this date every month with a new date, i.e. re-issuing the default?

It's OK for them to send more default markers for an account that is 'still' in default, but they shouldn't be updating the original default date.

Thrugelmir

Mykey wrote: »

Although she is paying off the overdraft through her DMP it still shows every month as being in default so surely it will be 6 years after she has cleared the debt before it is removed from my history?

Then perhaps you should help clear the DMP. After all it was your debt that got written off at the time.

Mykey

Her DMP is for over £20,000. The joint overdraft was less than £3,000 of which I had zero knowledge so not really all my debt but thanks for the helpful instruction.

Sorry, Yes its the monthly markers that show as being in default. I will have to sir down with my wife and discuss increase the payments to clear it quicker, Hopefully this wont cause issues with other creditors in her DMP.
Thanks for all the help.