Hell yeah. Will certainly do. Thanks.

Mark

Regrettably, as you have a mortgage and current account in joint names there will be a couple of financial connection between you and your partner so her credit file will be reviewed if you apply for a bank account or credit even in your own name.

I'm not sure if it's available in Northern Ireland but I've found the Experian Credit Expert site to be pretty good. It's free to try for the first 30 days and you can get an idea of what your credit score is likely to be (at addition cost, £5 from memory) that will give you some idea as to how likely you are to be able to obtain credit in the future.

Whatever you do don't try applying for several new bank accounts as this will trigger a lot of activity on your credit report that will likely be viewed dimly by banks and further erode your credit rating (it looks like desperation).
It would be worth contacting smile and asking if they will tell you why they refused to give you a bank account. You can probably already guess but it's worth confirming your suspicions.

I'm not sure what effect your partner declaring bankruptcy will have on your credit score (I doubt it will be good). Information stays on your credit report for 6 years, including financial connections, but it will show that they have been terminated once any joint accounts (like your mortgage) have been closed. It may be worth putting a Notice of Correction (NOC) on your credit file to explain the circumstances that have lead to the blemishes on your report. Financial institutions are obliged to review a NOC when you apply for credit and that means your application is referred to an actual person rather than an automated system.

I hope things improve for you.

If they tell you "adverse information". That's the code for your credit report. Each institution uses their own scoring, but the stuff that Experian or Equifax hold (if it's bad) will be termed adverse information. If Smile tell you something else, there's every chance it was their specific scoring system that didn't like you.

That said, Davros is right, multiple applications in close succession rings alarms bells.

Life would be so much simpler if you could fix problems like this by punching the bad guy's lights out and blowing some stuff up.

Unfortunately, that usually makes things worse. I know this from experience...

I can't help thinking that it's in no one's interest to sell a house in negative equity, so I'm really hoping the mortgage lender sees it that way. If they just sign it over to you, then the joint claim is gone and there's a good chance you'll get another job and pay it off. The house+mortgage is worth less than nothing and the mortgage lender has first dibs on it, so it's worth nothing to "her" debt collectors.

For you, it might actually be better if you could sign it over to her and write the whole experience off. I have no idea if that's even possible.

Whatever happens, you'll never be alone. And I mean that in a comforting way; not a freaky stalker in the shadows kind of way. Not wishing to sound too weird, there's a hell of a lot of love for you around here. People you've never even met would happily put you up indefinitely in any of several different counties. Just a shame there aren't more seriously good pro-bono lawyers around here!

Ah, what it must be like to be Michael Bay …I think we're past that stage now. She's obviously been planning this for some time, but didn't tell me at any stage before it was too late, otherwise we could've done this.I know.
Awesome people are awesome, and this pace has those in abundance.

Mark

Just about to say, if you want to move to Oz, we've got a spare room (and could potentially organise work too).

(Semi) joking aside, I genuinely wish you all the best.

*sigh*
Pissed off now.
I went in to the Co-Op on Wednesday to speak to an actual living and breathing human being about opening an account with them.
We went through the process and she told me to come back in a couple of days to make sure the approval process had taken place and to lodge my cheque.
Went back today only to be told that it was refused. Again.
I asked why. They couldn't tell me.
Not because they didn't want to, but because there was no reason given.
I asked for the number to call them on so I could find out. There wasn't a number, just a P.O. Box address that I have to write to.
I've given up trying now and I'm putting the cheque in a mates account.

Angry from Belfast
(Mark)

That seriously sucks, dude.

Effin' banks. We should close them all down and be done with them.

You'd think that they wanted money these days.
I told them on Wednesday I had a cheque and what that cheque amount was, why don't they want my money?!?

Mark

Have you tried getting a basic bank account? The ones they setup for people who couldn't get bank accounts.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/bankin ... k-accounts

I'm 39 now. I've been told it's much less hassle to move to Australia before you're 40, so if it happens then it'll have to happen in the next 11 months.

Mark

This was a basic bank account. Just a simple savings account, what's not basic about that?
I just want to get the sodding cheque cleared now, because I'm not sure the company I previously worked for will have the funds to clear it if I wait much longer.

Mark

The basic bank accounts are current accounts which are designed for people with poor credit ratings. With the Co-op's (linky), you'll apparently get the account providing you have the required ID. They don't have any overdraft facilities, and are a current account rather than a savings account, but so long as you haven't committed fraud (Nudge Nudge Mr "So-called" Tim Ark! (8-p)) you'll get it, and you can possibly get a savings account once you've got a current account with the bank?

I think the problem is my address. They require your last three years of address, and for that I have to use the house which is in both mine and Geekette's name.

To put the money in my mates account I just need his account number and sort code, right?
Just go in to his bank and say can I put this cheque in this account please, no?

Mark

usually the cheque needs to be paid in to an account in the same name as the cheque is written to