Ex wife and joint loan 30 November 2018 at 8:02AM in Credit file & ratings 6 replies 608 views

LostMeWay

Morning everyone and thank you in advance for any help or advice I receive. It's truly appreciated.

So my marriage has recently broke up. Ex wife done a runner with our son and I'm now involved in a rather ugly legal custody battle.

We both have numerous separate credit accounts for various amounts. We also have one joint loan with an outstanding balance of around £8K from the Natwest.

When she done her runner, she also walked out of her job. So she now has no substantial income. I envisage sooner rather than later she is going to miss payments on her individual credit accounts. Will this affect me and my credit worthiness in anyway?

The joint loan payment comes from my bank account and I probably can sustain these payments until hopefully the bank of mum and dad write it off at the beginning of next year. I've been talking to a financial advisor and he said, the bank won't split the loan 50/50 into two separate loans and two separate monthly payments. They don't care who pays the full monthly payment just as long as it's paid. He also said that if the full monthly loan payment is not made, then me and her both take a credit worthiness hit. Advice please and thank you for reading.

[Deleted User]

Your financial association means that her credit history can drag you down to an extent.

With regards to the joint loan, the bank are right. You're both jointly and generally responsible for it. There is no 50/50 split.

LostMeWay

I really do not want her missing payments on her individual accounts to affect my credit worthiness in any way. Is there anything at all I can do?

If the joint loan was paid off, would this eliminate our financial connection? Then I could perhaps legally pursue her for her half of the loan?

boo_star

LostMeWay wrote: »

I really do not want her missing payments on her individual accounts to affect my credit worthiness in any way. Is there anything at all I can do?

If the joint loan was paid off, would this eliminate our financial connection? Then I could perhaps legally pursue her for her half of the loan?

If you pay off the joint loan you can issue a notice of disassociation which will remove the financial links to your ex wife (assuming of course that there are no other joint financial products that you hold.)

LostMeWay

So her missing individual payments will affect my credit worthiness, until such times the joint loan is paid off and the financial tie is severed?

boo_star

LostMeWay wrote: »

So her missing individual payments will affect my credit worthiness, until such times the joint loan is paid off and the financial tie is severed?

That's correct.

D_M_E

As well as the loan if there's anything else in joint names, such as bank account(s) or credit card(s), contact the companies concerned and tell them you want any such account closed.

If you have a joint mortgage, you could be a bit stuck with that.

If you are now living on your own, don't forget to tell your local council and ask for the single person's 25% discount on council tax.