Credit rating when living with partner

Thyrez

Hello all - love the website and forums

I had a question that I can't seem to find a clear answer to.

Backstory:

I live with my girlfriend in a property where we are both named on the lease. We are not married. We do not have any bank accounts and any utilities are either in my name or her name. She pays the total rent from her bank account to the letting agency.

Question:

Am I 'living with partner' in terms of credit checks and requests? If so, does my partner's credit affect mine at all? Basically are we financially linked at all?

Also when it asks for my rent amount, am I putting half of the total (which is my share) or the full total amount? I guess the answer to this question is dependent on the first one.

Thanks in advance

GM1880

I may be proven wrong, but I think you're only linked if you apply jointly for a financial product, i.e. if there's a credit agreement involved in both your names.

[Deleted User]

Yes to Living With Partner.

You're not financially linked unless you have joint bank account or mortgage etc in both your names.

Rent will be your share you pay personally

Thyrez

Thank you for your replies, that clears things up for me.

National_Debtline

Hi Thyrez


Joint tenancies do actually create a financial connection as you share full liability for the rent. However the association will only appear on your credit file if your landlord has opted to share rent payment data with the credit reference agencies. I would say it's not common practice for landlords to do this.


The information can be shared through Experian's Rental Exchange and Callcredit's Rent4Sure, but Equifax do not have a similar service. Hope this helps.


Susie
@natdebtline

takman

Not knowing if you are financially linked or not shows that you don't check your credit reports. So i suggest that you do this as soon as you can and check all three of the main Credit References Agencies to check that all the information they hold on you is correct.

tenchy

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Thyrez


Joint tenancies do actually create a financial connection as you share full liability for the rent. However the association will only appear on your credit file if your landlord has opted to share rent payment data with the credit reference agencies. I would say it's not common practice for landlords to do this.


The information can be shared through Experian's Rental Exchange and Callcredit's Rent4Sure, but Equifax do not have a similar service. Hope this helps.


Susie
@natdebtline

Incidentally, the ICO has ruled that, as a tenant, you can opt out of landlord reporting, should you wish to do so. There are pros and cons to doing this.