Twin credit issue?

Posted by master_hok4g3@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 26 comments

I’m looking for advice regarding an issue with my credit file.

My twin brother and I have owned and lived in a house together since 2019. Over the past two years, we’ve been having serious problems with our credit histories because credit companies appear to have merged our accounts due to us having the same first and last initials.

My brother currently has around £25,000 of debt, while I had £8,000, which I’ve managed to reduce to around £5,000. However, because our credit information seems to be linked, his larger debt is affecting my ability to get approved for loans or car finance.

This has become a major problem as my car has now broken down, and I’m struggling to get finance for a reliable replacement because lenders appear to be assessing me based on incorrect information.

We’ve been trying to get this corrected for the past two years, but nothing seems to have been properly resolved.

Can anyone advise on the best steps to separate our credit files properly?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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SnooCheesecakes4789@reddit

do you have a joint mortgage? I’d do you will be listed as “associates” on your credit record.

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

You own a house together so you are financially entwined - get your twin to sort their life out as its fucking yours up.

PS anyone having twins dont give them names starting wity tge same letter FFS !

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master_hok4g3@reddit (OP)

Yeah but you dont understand this, im a 90s kid that time everything was on pen and paper...no one knew this would affect them in the future

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Bollocks - I was aware off my credit file when i was 21 in the late 90s - I remember i did a financial disassociation declaration beyween myself and my parents and my mum's credit card showed on my file !

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master_hok4g3@reddit (OP)

Ermmm i am pretty sure people who got houses in the 90s cared about credit files that time....👀

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Yes thats literally my point and the opposite of your comment above 🤦🤦🤦🤦

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Sad_Firefighter_8407@reddit

You can dispute errors on your credit file.

I had a random address error and another outdated thing on mine. I use Monzo max and they made it easier with their Credit Insights function.

Check your own bank for if they have a similar thing.

MSE and Money Supermarket also have Credit help functions. But i used my Monzo.

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400ixl@reddit

This, register with each of the credit agencies and view your records. Anything that is incorrect you request it fixed. Nothing else is going to fix it, and you then need to keep an eye on it and fix any future errors.

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Slight-Brush@reddit

r/personalfinance and r/legaladvice will do you better

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Willowx@reddit

They are both American based subs, the UK ones have UK in the name, can't remember if it's beginning or end.

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Slight-Brush@reddit

Ah dammit, edited

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master_hok4g3@reddit (OP)

Thank you I will still ask

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me_version_2@reddit

You may find this is also just a guilty by association issue. It’s common, or used to be, that unrelated people living at the same address with no similarity in names were tarnished by the poor credit rating of one resident. You might not solve this unless you separate your living addresses.

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mckjerral@reddit

Yep, I'm sure it's made worse by basically all of your details being the same. But just address is usually a sufficient link. For somewhat reasonable grounds, if you're living together you are inherently financially linked.

It does sound like it's significantly more muddled than just that though.

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master_hok4g3@reddit (OP)

Yeah but me and my brother saved up to get our own house and peace...living together shouldn't be a issue, at this day and age houses are so hard to buy and rent is so expensive. I shouldn't have to move just because credit companies cant sort them selves out.

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me_version_2@reddit

Oh I totally agree. But these guys don’t care.

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ChallengingKumquat@reddit

This is why parents are not doing their twins a favour when they give them names with the same initial. No wonder the credit companies think you and he are the same person when you have the same initials and dates of birth and address.

You'd be best to call the credit companies and thave them separate your affairs. But as long as you live with him, it's going to keep happening again and again. It might even be worth considering changing your name.

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lemonlimez16@reddit

My twin and I have different first initials and both our financial and NHS records where mixed when we lived togther. Same first initial I can't imagine the mess we would have had.

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TheGeordieGal@reddit

My twin and I have different initials and the NHS have merged us when it comes to prescription payments. I have a medical exemption and my twin doesn’t so keeps being told she doesn’t need to pay (when she does). She called them a few years ago and they had to work some magic to create her a new account but it seems we’re merged again now as she had the same issue paying a few weeks ago. Thankfully we haven’t (yet) come across other merged things.

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master_hok4g3@reddit (OP)

The sad part is we go by our middles name, it was a cultural thing, we all had the same first name and different middle names. Now me and my brother are in a mess to sort this out now...but we are told even with different names it will still affect us in the future as its done by Name and DOB

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huggsy81@reddit

Consider changing your name to make the middle name your first name.

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Sxn747Strangers@reddit

I had a similar issue where someone with the same name and D.O.B. owed about £1,500 on two credit cards and one mobile phone contract.

Restons Solicitors were a nightmare like money lender sharks, eventually I think I got it all cleared.

One of the problems after much tooing and froing, was that Credit Karma told me to speak to Lowell something or other who were handling the debt.
And Lowell something or other were telling me to contact Credit Karma.
It later transpired that another company had the mistrace on their file and Lowell couldn’t remove it because of that; and they couldn’t tell me the company concerned because it could breach that company’s privacy.
Which was a fucking joke because my privacy had been breached for years.

This started in 2018 and I was still having problems up to a year or so ago.
As well as you and your twin each sending letters or emails to each of the CRA’s, Equifax, Experian, Credit Karma, there is also a British company that keep records, I think they’re called nHunter or something like that.
But nHunter are not a usual CRA but they do keep records and they share it with other companies, DM me to let me know how you get on please as I’m genuinely curious about nHunter.

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seafrontbloke@reddit

My grandfather and father (both now dead) had the same names. I can't imagine how they would have dealt with life now when everything is about your credit file!

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Grommulox@reddit

I was in a house share with a guy with the same first name and a very similar surname (think Peters vs Peterson), and his birthday was exactly two months ahead of mine. This was enough for our credit files to be merged again and again, and it kept happening for a good three years after we moved out. You’ve got no chance.

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lemonlimez16@reddit

I had a very similar issue with my twin, only came to light when I was refused a mortgage as they thought I had undeclared debt. I paid to get my full credit report from experien, which showed her details listed as an alias, along with all her debt. From the report I could see the issue was originating with our bank. Experien couldn't fix it as they just report on what the bank is telling them. I had to take it up with the bank and go through the complaints procedure, but eventually it was sorted. She also had to raise a separate complaint as obviously this was a big breach of her data. We both ended up with £300 compensation each from the bank too. Get your full report, if you both bank with the same company that may well be where the issue is coming from. Good luck!