Is Having my Partner's Name on a Utility Account Affecting my Credit Score?

mister-callum · 1 May 2020 at 10:14AM

Hello all,

I have noticed that for a long time my credit score has pretty much stayed the same and not really gone up (or down fortunately). I've been trying to figure out why this is and when recently checking my score on Credit Karma I thought I'd do a little digging.
I've long been aware that having shared bank accounts with your partner can have an impact on your credit score if they have a poor credit score. As it happens, my partner has a really bad credit score. Before I met her she had several credit cards, Provident loans, Littlewoods finance, and she had defaulted on several payments on all of them. I ended up dragging her down to Citizens Advice to get them to apply to have the interest frozen and as of a few months ago she has now finally paid off all her debt.
I pay all the rent, bills, council tax and other expenses for our home and decided it would be best for us to not get any joint accounts. When digging around on Credit Karma, under the 'Financial Connections' column, it has her name listed stating we have a joint account with Northumbrian Water (the water company for our area). I don't recall ever doing this but must have done so without realising when we moved in together (3 years ago).
My question is this. Is this 'financial connection' for our water utility account likely to be affecting my credit score? And also, will removing her name from the account resolve this?

Many thanks for any insight on this.

Willing2Learn · 1 May 2020 at 10:18AM

Either you or your partner should remove themselves from the joint account, so that only one of you is responsible. Then you will be able to file a Notice of Disassociation form with the CRA. Have you checked all three CRAs for this financial link? If so, then you should file the form with each CRA.

mister-callum · 1 May 2020 at 11:02AM

That's great, thanks. I've e-mailed Northumbrian Water (don't think they would appreciate me tying up their phone lines with this matter during this difficult period) requesting them to remove her. I'll then file Notice of Disassociation with the CRA (I had to Google what this was haha). I've checked both Equifax and TransUnion, I''m going to set up with Experian as I haven't looked at that one. Much appreciated.