My wife opened a savings account with our son before he had a driver's license. He lives with us. After he got his driver's license and was able to open an account on his own, he proceeded to bounce checks. The joint checking account we have with him remains open. Will his bad credit behavior effect our credit score? If so, is there anything we can do to reverse it. He is 20 years old. He was not a minor when the account was opened.
ToddH wrote on [Sun, 9 Dec 2007 14:45:04 -0600]:
Nope. If he signed the checks and it's only on his own account, it won't affect you. However, if the bounced checks were paid and no collections agencies were involved it's very likely they won't affect his credit score either.
Yes, having this joint account may affect your credit score. To get an idea of where you are with this, you can obtain (online, for free once a year per agency) credit reports from each of the three credit agencies. See
You can also google on, say, {"credit score" "bounced checks"} for more information.
Unlike the two previous replies, I don't see how a checking account situation can affect a credit score, they are two different categories of finance. However, banks do partake in a shared scoring system for
*bank* customers, which would definitely take a hit resulting from a history of bounced checks. Banks in general may look askance at future requests to open bank accounts, based on this history.Now, if you are late on a scheduled payment to a credit account, that will cause a hit to your credit score. Whether the late payment was due to a bounced check or some other reason doesn't matter. That is the distinction you will find if you follow the links previously posted.
Advice: close the joint account.
-Mark Bole
I don't know the answer for sure, but I can tell you my own experience. I opened a joint checking account with my daughter while she was a minor, later (after she turned 18) she started using her Visa debit card when there wasn't any money in the account to cover the purchase. After she incurred about $200 of debt in this manor (and another $400 in bank charges,) I paid the $600 to the bank and closed the account. There is no reference to any of this on my credit report.
"Mark Bole" wrote
Prior to posting, I found lots of support for your statement. But I also found sites that indicate it's not so black and white. Googling for {"credit score" "bounced checks"} will yield elaboration on the point. There's also some question as to why the OP needs a good credit score. The hits from googling indicate that, depending, a lender to which the OP and his wife applies may use other credit bureaus besides the three well-known ones. I think the best place to start is one's credit reports and see if there's any evidence of the bounced check. This should also include the free annual credit report one may obtain from "ChexSystems" concerning checking accounts. See
For the future: My impression is that the account need not be closed. Instead, if I understand correctly, the son's name can be removed. Of course, this addresses possible future problems but not past ones.
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