Is your address on a credit blacklist?

If an address is blacklisted, it means you won’t be able to get credit if you live there, right?

Wrong. That’s a load of rubbish.

There’s no such thing as a blacklisted address. And there definitely isn’t a long list of addresses somewhere that lenders check when deciding whether to lend to you or not.

The fact is that it doesn’t matter who has lived at your address in the past. Even if Mr and Mrs Smith who rented the property 3 years ago never paid their bills, their financial mistakes won’t be linked to you just because you live in the same house.

Your credit rating is based on you, not your address

Each lender makes their own decision about whether or not to lend to you. They base this on lots of different information about you, including:

-          the details you give on your application form

-          information provided by the credit reference agencies

-          their own lending policies.

But what if I live with someone and they have bad credit?

Unless you have a ‘financial association’ with them, for example, a joint loan, mortgage, bank account or credit agreement, they won’t have an impact on your credit rating either.

However, if you are financially associated, this will show up on your credit report, so the way that they manage their finances may have an impact on whether lenders accept you for credit or not.

If they have bad credit, you could be tarred with the same brush and it could be impacting whether or not you’re accepted for credit. 

How can I check if I have a financial connection?

Check your credit report for free using one of the links below. Any financial connections will show up on there.

CreditAbility 

ClearScore 

How do I get rid of a financial connection?

If there’s someone on your credit report that you don’t want to be connected to financially anymore, like an ex or old housemate, you can fix this.

As long as you no longer have any joint credit agreements, you can close the account and ask the credit reference agencies for a ‘notice of disassociation’. If you do still share the debt though, you’ll have to pay it off before you can close the account down. You can read more about this here.