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Discussing Credit Scores Before Saying Marriage Vows

We recently stumbled upon a very interesting article by the name of “ When Good Credit Marries Bad Credit”. When you are head over heels in love, do you really stop to ask your soon to be spouse about their personal credit and finances? What if your credit is top notch, and your wife to be’s credit is less than perfect?

The article states that when two people marry, and commit to sharing their lives forever, they also commit to sharing finances. Good and bad. Is it possible to be married and have separate finances? What happens when you go to get a loan for that new house? Should you consider getting a loan in the persons name with the best credit?

There are many possibilities to choose from when you find yourself in this situation. The one with the best credit could go and apply for a loan if that is what you both are wanting. Or, you could try your luck at getting a loan in both names, and take the risk of some limitations that may apply because of the one with the poorer credit. They also discuss another option, which is just to make smaller purchases together, and try to bring up the credit score, and rebuild the credit of the one with poorer credit, before any major purchases are made.

They then go on to say that the one with the poor credit can work on fixing it. To take advantage of the free credit reports that are yours for the taking once a year. Be sure to dispute any mistakes or information on the report that is not accurate.

The next step would be to start paying off debt that is late and past due. Catch up on your payments, and make everything right with them. Get rid of all of your outstanding debt. The couple can also keep separate finances until the credit of the other one is fixed and cleaned up. Which may not be a bad idea, so that the one with the good credit rating is not brought down in the process.

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