Change single account to join account, with poor credit history ?

[sam1974]

My partner has a current account with Lloyds TSB, complete with debit card and cheque book. He has a pretty ok credit rating himself, although his ex has many debts of her own and sometimes he gets linked to that address.

However, my credit rating is awful!

Does anyone know if Lloyds TBS would let him change his single account to a joint, adding me with such a poor credit rating?

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Firstly, have you got hold of your credit history and seen how bad is it or are you assuming you have a bad one?

My DH, some years back when we met, thought he had a bad credit history because he had an overdraft and had missed some payments on some bills. However, there was no problem with him becoming a joint holder on my account and has in fact picked up a better credit worthiness from my account!

Just ask the bank and see what they have to say.

Also your partner can disassociate himself with the debts of his ex by applying to the credit report companies equifax and experian.

[sam1974]

Firstly i know my credit rating is bad. My EX left me in a lot of debt and with that brought the CCJ's as i simply could not afford to pay them off.

I am kinda shy at the best of times and going to the bank and being turned down would be horrifiying for me, to say the least!

Has anyone else had similar problems ???

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

[Killerschick]

The bank may well turn down a request for you to be added to your partner's account if you have CCJ's. As a former bank employee who dealt with current accounts, the policy of the bank I worked for would have been to decline such an application but to offer an alternative basic account.

One idea might be for the two of you to apply for a basic bank account from the outset if you are worried about a request to be added to your partner's account being turned down. These accounts require no credit score just proof of ID and address. It is a government initiative that all banks must offer these accounts as benefits now have to be paid into bank accounts and, obviously, the majority of people on benefits would not pass a credit score. However, banks do not exactly publicise these accounts as they don't make them a lot a money so you will probably have to push the bank to admit they offer them.

The account would have no credit facilities i.e. overdraft or cheque guarantee card but would normally allow direct debits & standing orders if you were looking for a way to pay joint bills. The account would also normally offer you a cashcard for access to your money and may include a debit card facility of the type that doesn't allow you to go overdrawn eg the Solo version of Switch.

Hope this helps