I paid off my IVA in January 2011. I am thinking of getting a joint account with my partner, will this affect his credit rating by being associated with me?
Also when will the defaults be removed from my credit report? How soon can I apply for a mortgage?
Defaults will disappear on the 6th anniversary of them be put on your record, as will your IVA.
Gaining a mortgage is possible, but advice would be to use a mortgage broker who knows the whole of the market. There a couple of experts on the forum who deal with mortgages, in particular Ryan comes highly recommended and has successfully helped over. Dozen forum members mov onto the property ladder....me included. Everyone is different so contact him or info on deposit levels etc....details can be found on the left under "ask the experts".
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Your IVA will appear on your credit report for 6 years from the start date of your IVA regardless of wether you paid it off early or not.
If you have a joint account then your partner will be financially linked to you. When they do a credit search on him, your name will pop up and they will do a search on you as well, so his credit rating may be affected. Best to wait until your own credit files are sorted out before you have a joint account.
7 years after starting an IVA I finally received a completion certificate from ClearDebt
I have a joint account with my partner (the only way I could get a new bank account pre IVA). He has had no problems getting any credit. (mortgage, utilities, credit card, starting up his own Ltd Company) This may not be the case for everyone but we have had no problems whatsoever. I was concerned as it shows that we are financially linked on credit report but so far so good.
Once your IVA is over 6 years old it will disappear from your credit file but will still need to be disclosed if you are asked the question. You will be when you make a mortgage application so getting a mortgage isn't necessarily that straight forwards and unfortunately lenders are still working to the date you settled the IVA not when it is registered. I've been campaigning on this point recently. An experience broker with specialist knowledge in this area will be able to help but you are likely to need a 15% deposit minimum. If any defaults for debts included in the IVA are registered after the date of the IVA you should be able to get your credit file amended so that they match the date of your IVA but depending on when your IVA was registered they may have all disappeared now anyway. Get your credit report free from www.noddle.co.uk.
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