Will bad credit rating affect my wife?

[Leepy]

I have been living with my partner for three years and we got married last year. We are both on the Council Tax register paying full CT at our address. The house is in my name as I bought it a few years earlier.

I want to put her on the electoral register this year but I have a problem in that I have a bad credit rating since I went on a Debt Management Plan four years ago and I have kept this from her as it will all be resolved in two years time. I don't want her to be affected in any way so is it OK to put her on the electoral roll or does this create an 'association' for bad credit? Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks

[sandmaster]

Putting your wife's name on the electoral register will not affect your wife's credit rating.

[daffy654]

I thought it was a legal requirement to have your name on the Electoral Role if you are a UK citizen???

[sandmaster]

I don't think it is a requirement that you must have your name on the electoral role - but the house owner/tenant must list all people resident in the house and over 18 years of age on the registration form when required. So in theory everyone should be registered but many slip through the net.

[Buenchico]

It's a criminal offence not to provide complete and accurate information on an electoral registration form. The maximum penalty is a fine of �1000.

Credit reference agencies are obliged to ensure that they do not create an 'association' simply because of a common address. (e.g. If Fred Bloggs moves into a house formerly occupied by Joe Smith, who had bad debts, Fred mustn't be blacklisted for credit just because of his address). However, they are permitted to create an association where there is reason to link the finances of two people at the same address. (Marriage is an obvious reason). So it's extremely likely that your wife would be refused credit if she applied for it.

However, the first thing that credit reference agencies do when assessing people for creditworthiness is to check that their name appears on the electoral register. If your wife applied for credit (and you'd failed to include her name on the electoral register), the agency would see that her name was not listed at the address she gave on the application form. So she'd almost certainly be refused credit anyway.

Chris