Your Credit and Debt After the Wedding

It’s amazing how many people know more about their wedding and wedding planning than they do about their credit scores and debt. Many newly married couples and soon-to-be married couples have some pretty common misconceptions regarding their credit and their marriage. Before you tie the knot – or even if you already have – you should know the truth about marriage and your credit.

Merging Credit

The moment you say, “I do,” you might think that you now share a credit profile. This is not true. Your credit is your credit and his is his. It will stay like this forever. You might share credit in terms of sharing a mortgage on the house you purchase together, but you do not share credit. Your credit will be affected by shared credit profiles, but your husband’s credit and your credit are always separate.

Authorized Users

If you add your spouse to a credit card as an authorized user, they are not going to see any harm from your lack of payment skills. An authorized user is not the same thing as a co-signor, which means that if you neglect to make your payments on time, your spouse will not be penalized. Additionally, he will not be liable for your debts if you decide you no longer want to pay for them in the future.

Divorce Makes You Free

If you do not share any credit, you do not have any financial obligations once you are divorced. You might need to call and have yourself removed as an authorized user to any accounts you are on or any accounts of yours that he is on, but you are free otherwise. However, if you purchase things together and use joint credit to do so, you are not off the hook just because you are now divorced.

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