Since splitting with my wife last December, I have been constantly reminded of her presence by virtue of her being a ‘Financial Associate’ on my credit reports. This never used to be a big deal; Up to the point of the split she had an excellent credit rating. Since then however she dropped the bombshell that she has been declared bankrupt.

I have been racing around since learning this, trying to get her off my reports by filing Notices of Disassociation with the three Credit Reference Agencies here in the UK. When I apply for credit, she is checked as well. When they see ‘Undischarged Bankrupt’ on her report, they tend to (quite understandably) run a mile.

What is a Notice of Disassociation?

It’s essentially a document you send to a Credit Reference Agency (CRA) notifying them that you are no longer financially linked to another individual. Each CRA has a different method for unlinking, but all require much the same information.

Why Would I Be Linked?

People become linked when they hold a joint financial product: For example they may hold a joint bank account, have (as in our case) taken out a joint loan, have a mortgage, or jointly hold credit cards or any other line of credit in ‘both names’.

Can I Become Unlinked?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is it depends on the circumstances!

If the joint product that linked you is ‘Settled’ (paid off), then you can request the link be broken as you no longer hold a joint credit product. In my case for example, the joint loan we had was settled a while ago (by taking out a bigger one at a higher rate – doh!). Because we held no other joint products, my request to break the link was approved by all 3 CRA’s.

You don’t have to stay financially linked just because you’re still married, or still going out with each other, or they are still your parent, or whatever. The only factor that matters is that whatever caused you to be joined, must no longer be active.

I’ve broken down the steps you need to take with each CRA below to become financially disassociated with a particular person if you need to.

Experian / Credit Expert

I’ve listed this one first, because they’re the most pleasant to deal with and the fastest to act on the request (in my experience it took them 5 days from start to finish). I was in my 30 day free trial of CreditExpert and it didn’t cost me anything to request, or to see the result. Because I did it via QuidCo, they actually paid me 50p to sign up for my free report!

1. Sign up for their free trial (direct) or QuidCo and get yourself all activated.
2. Pull your Report (don’t include your score)
3. Fill in this form (you’ll need your report reference number from (2)).
4. Wait for the confirmation email (5-14 days).
5. Re-Check your report to make sure the association is gone.
6. Ring 0800 656 9000 (Option 4) to cancel inside 30 days.

Equifax

These guys are the next easiest to deal with, but I found they did not act on my Notice until after my free trial ended and they’d taken my first subscription payment of £6.99. However, as above, if you do it via QuidCo you’ll get a cashback kickback for signing up to the free trial. In the case of Equifax, they’ll pay you a fiver. Therefore you’ll either make £5 pure profit from doing this, or at the very worst only be stung for £1.99 overall.

1. Sign up for their free trial (direct) or QuidCo and get activated.
2. Pull your Report and note the reference number on it.
3. Create a Customer Assistance Account (Click ‘Login’ then ‘Create New’)
4. ‘Ask A Question’ > About ‘Associate Names’ (and fill it all in)
5. Wait forever (they’ll email you when they’ve done it).
6. Re-Check your report to make sure the association is gone.
7. Ring 0800 7839421 to cancel your membership.

CallCredit

These require the most work from you, and also the most initial outlay. They offer no free trial, and require you to spend £12.99 upfront to get access to their service. The only saving grace is it offers you 3 months of access and includes a calculated credit score for free. You will also need access to a printer, an envelope, a stamp and a post box.

1. Sign up for the service and get activated.
2. Pull your report and note the reference number.
3. Print out this form and fill it in.
4. Post it (see below).
5. Set a reminder in your diary to cancel in 3 months.
6. Log in > Account Details > Cancel Subscription button.

The completed form should be posted to:

You will receive a letter by return postal mail advising of the result (about a 3 week turnaround).

As you can see doing this will cost you about £13.35 (including the cost of the stamp and envelope) but if you need to get someone off your report for the same reason I did, then it is money well spent. If you are a QuidCo user already, then you could get paid £5.50 to do the first two meaning the third one only really costs you £7.85 for 3 months of access to your credit report and score – which isn’t all that bad at all.

Let me know how you get on. Did you have any issues reporting a problem with your credit files?

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