Hi Conor,

As a rule yes, if someone living in a house has a poor credit rating, then it WILL always affect everybody else in the house. This always happens especially in flats as when the firms carry out the credit check, it’s on the address not the person. Therefore, if previous residents have had bad credit ratings, it will affect everyone else in the whole block. Don’t despair though, as with all things there is a way around it, which I will explain later.

However, what you are saying doesn’t seem right because, the phone companies, (shop or postal ones) always carry out a credit check on the person buying the phone there and then BEFORE shipping the phone to you. Therefore, as you have the phone, I cant really see why you should think your rating has been affected.

If as I guess you went through a postal firm or you would have had your phone directly from the shop. They always send the phones out NOT activated, in case it goes to the wrong address and prevents someone else from running up a large bill in your name. Any refusals on your house mates account AFTER you got your phone would not affect you.

You say that she contacted Experian and they told her that your rating wasn’t very good. I doubt this because, under the Data Protection Act 1988, they would not have given her any details about you what-so-ever.

If you do have a poor credit rating, it will always catch up with you.

For those of you who have a good credit rating but live in houses or flats and are either affected by the previous occupants or those living with you, then here’s what you do to help yourself with credit applications.

Contact the Data Protection Registrar (DPR) in Cheshire at the following address

Then write to him asking for a Notice of Disassociation from the person or persons that are blighting your application. What this means to you is that when a company does a credit check on your address – they will see all the adverse information, but as long as none of it has your name on it, they will ignore all the other named people – you will be clean and clear. So before writing to the DPR, get a print out from Experian, so that you can list all the names of the people who blight you, so the DPR can put all the names on the Disassociation list.