Marriage and Credit

Many people don’t think about all of the financial changes that will happen once they are married. One key question you should ask yourself before getting married is what will happen to your credit?

Understanding Your Credit After Marriage

While there can be some changes to your credit, a majority of the time, nothing will happen. You will continue to have your own credit report with your credit history and your spouse will have theirs. Neither you nor your spouse’s credit history will appear on each other’s credit report. Your credit score will not change at all due to your marriage even if your partner’s history is bad.

What Will Happen to Credit After a Name Change?

There is a common misconception that a woman who changes her name loses her entire credit history with her old name. However, this is not true and is just a myth. Credit issuers and any other institution that is viewing your credit report will be able to see the name variation that occurs. You will still have the same credit history. The reason that a name change will not affect a credit score is because each score is tied to a person’s social security number. This number will stay the same regardless of the person’s name. In rare cases, a credit bureau can create a split credit file that has both the old name and the new name within it. However, this is not typical, and you can have your credit file re-merge if that is the case!

Will Your Spouse’s Credit Ever Hurt Yours?

The only time that your spouse’s score will directly affect you is when you both are on an application. Even if your credit score is good, you may get denied because of your spouse’s credit score. If you are approved, you may see aspects like interest rate and loan terms change based on both scores, not just the higher one.

What to do if Your Partner Has Bad Credit?

If your spouse has bad credit you want to determine how you will handle the financial side of the relationship. Will the spouse with the better score handle all of the financial applications? Will you opt for a joint account so that scores can be improved for both partners in the relationship? There are countless questions that you can ask yourself when deciding how to handle your credit with your partner. You want to fully understand their financial situation as well as their priorities. If you two find that you cannot agree on a course of action that works for both of your financial situations, then there is help available! You can discuss how to handle credit with a financial advisor that specializes in marriage.

Overall

There is not much that you have to worry about from a credit standpoint after getting married. Make sure to have open and honest conversations with your partner about financial planning. As long as you have those conversations, you will be able to best handle your financial situation as a married couple.