Fraudulent ex affecting credit score

Sardinianspirit

My partner and I have just been refused a mortgage due to his poor credit score. After obtaining his full credit report it appears that his ex has had several pay day loans and other loans which were paid into their joint account at the time. My partner had no knowledge of this. Furthermore we suspect she has obvtained credit cards in my partners name on which she has now defaulted. Worryingly there is also a satisfied CCJ recorded against my partner at his old address but at a time when he wasn't even living there. He knows nothing about it.
We are working with the lenders to get to the bottom of this but does anyone have any similar experience and can offer advice? How on earth can we show that she used his name fraudulently if they were together at the time?
We have just had a baby and need to move home. The thought of us not being able to obtain a mortgage for at least 3 years because of all this is frustrating beyond belief!

[Deleted User]

You need to check all three of his files to see what products, if any, have been taken out in his name.

Anything in his partner's name won't directly impact him, but if they are financially associated, he should file a notice of disassociation (assuming no current joint products).

Any entries which you believe are not his should be challenged with the lender - they will need to provide some evidence that your partner took out the credit.

Sardinianspirit

Thank you for your reply. We have just submitted the form to disassociate her financially from my partner. It does look like everything is in my partners name so we are going through them one by one. My concern now is even if everything gets removed I guess he has to build his credit score back up and that could take a while!
If this is actually fraud, will the lenders pursue her or should we call the police? My partner has not heard from her in nearly 3 years but we have found her new place of work. I want to give her the opportunity to confess and pay the debts.

[Deleted User]

It's not about the score. That, in itself, is fictional.

It's about credit history. If you get that corrected, then lenders will be looking at the right version of events when considering his applications.

Any fraud that has been committed is against the lender - so they will be the ones to take action, if needed.

You don't want confessions or anything else like that - that won't help you. You want any incorrect data removed from your files.

DCFC79

Sardinianspirit wrote: »

Furthermore we suspect she has obvtained credit cards in my partners name on which she has now defaulted. Worryingly there is also a satisfied CCJ recorded against my partner at his old address but at a time when he wasn't even living there. He knows nothing about it.

So you suspect but not 100% sure she has taken out cards in his name. Is there a record of the credit card applications on his credit file/history ?

Sardinianspirit

We are just in the process of speaking with the lenders. My partner had never had a credit card until 18 months ago. He has a good job and has never had the need for one. We eventually got him one due to his poor credit rating in an attempt to boost it as we were looking at buying a house. So either the dates on the credit report are incorrect or she/someone has used his details to obtain a credit card under his name without his knowledge. We are aware she had issues with debt - hence the 10+ pay day loans she obtained.

National_Debtline

Hi there,


If you suspect fraud then the situation should be reported to Action Fraud - the UK's national fraud reporting centre - www.actionfraud.police.uk - they will issue you with a crime reference number.


Your partner will then need to write to each lender where he suspects there is a problem, with the reference number and ask them to launch an investigation. If they conclude the matter to be fraudulent they should update the credit files, wipe the inaccurate information and they may consider their own action against the liable person. However, in some cases, they conclude that the person named on the debt is the genuinely liable person. In those situations your partner can escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to further dispute it, but unfortunately, that can take time to deal with.


As an additional security measure he could put a CIFAS alert on his credit file, which means more security checks when applying for credit, but please be aware there is a small charge for this.


Laura
@natdebtline

Sardinianspirit

Thank you for this information.
We have already had a response from one of the credit card companies who are going to look further into when the account was opened and how the repayments were made. They did say that the account was opened online.....we are waiting to see how the initial repayments were made. I am hopeful that they were through her own account rather than the joint one they held. We have a long list of other lenders to contact and should we not get anywhere then we will take the action you suggest and get the fraud team onto this.