Credit Building > Can opening a joint account improve your credit score?

Can opening a joint account improve your credit score?

Wollit Team2 minute read · Updated 4th July 2024

Opening a joint account in the UK doesn’t improve your credit rating in the way that a traditional credit building tool can. However, it can have some impact on your credit score. Here is how it works and how you can manage a joint account in a way that does improve your credit.

How can a joint account affect my credit score?

When two people open a joint account, they create a “financial link” that is reported to the credit reference agencies. Both people will be jointly responsible for the account and are equally affected by any financial actions taken by the other person.

It’s this financial link that can impact both credit scores.

If one person has a lower credit score, a joint account in good standing can help improve that score over time. This is because they might be able to qualify for a better deal than otherwise – for example, a credit card with a longer interest-free period. This can make payments easier to meet, and as a result, over time, the credit history improves.

The opposite is also true, of course. If the person with a poor credit score doesn’t use this opportunity to become better with money and fails to make payments again, both people will see their credit scores decline.

Not only this, but after you become associated with someone through a joint account, every time you apply for credit, the lenders will check their credit history as well.

This won’t stop until you close the joint account and specifically request the credit agencies to “disassociate” you from that “financial associate.”

How should I manage a joint account so that it improves my credit score?

Here are a few tips:

Try to open a joint account with someone with a better credit score than you.
Make sure you trust them. There’s a reason why most joint account holders are spouses.
Close the joint account and send a “Notice of Disassociation” to the credit reference agencies if the account holder doesn’t keep their side of the deal.
And make sure that you both can afford to make any repayments needed. It’s these repayments that actually build your credit history.

In short, a joint account could be a way to improve your credit score. But this shouldn’t be the main reason you open one. A better reason – if you’re opening with your partner – is because research shows that couples who use only joint accounts are happier than those who don't and stay together longer.

For a better way to improve your credit rating, consider downloading a specialised credit building app like Wollit. Wollit is an app available both on Android and iOS, and it works by reporting a fixed-fee monthly subscription as a loan repayment to all three credit reference agencies.

This gives you a chance to build your own credit history and improve your credit score without the fear of financial associations and without having to piggyback on someone else’s credit rating