Full question:
If I marry someone with a bad credit rating, can I keep my current credit score and not have any of his creditors coming after me? I read that my property can be protected but nothing about creditors.
- Category: Debts and Credit
- Subcategory: Credit Repair
- Date:
- State: Pennsylvania
Answer:
In general, a spouse must create a co-signor/guarantor/surety/joint account relationship to the debt, so that the spouse's name is on the debt also, and it isn't a separate debt. Spouses will generally only be liable for a separate debt of the other if they live in a community property state. However, it is possible the separate debt could cause a sale of jointly held property to satisfy the debt from the debtor spouse's equity in the property.
If one person has a good credit score and the other doesn't, all credit based financial decisions will lie on the person with higher credit score. Many couples are choosing to put all credit based applications on the person with the highest credit score simply to get approved with better interest rates. This can strain relationships after your spouse becomes tired off having all of the financial responsibilities in their name. if you decide to take out a loan with your spouse, all payment history from then on will be recorded on both credit reports. When creditors generate reports, they are required by law to report information on a joint account in both of the account holders' names.
Jointly applying for credit leads to higher interest rates the couple has to pay or not being approved at all. However at the same time this may help build the spouses credit score, given they pay their bills on time. To protect your credit rating, do not sign joint agreements, limit authorized users and keep checking accounts separate. These recommendations will help you to keep control of your finances and preserve your good credit. The optimal answer to this problem would be to repair your spouse's credit.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
