How to Protect Credit History When Getting Married

When getting married, many individuals fear that their future spouse's credit history will merge with their own credit history, making it difficult for them to obtain credit if their spouse has bad credit or a low credit score. When you get married, each individual maintains his own personal credit score and the only time both of your credit histories come into play is when you apply for a joint line of credit. Protecting yourself from your spouse's credit history may take a little teamwork and budgeting if you plan to apply for a home loan together or joint line of credit.

Instructions

1

Obtain a free copy of each of your credit reports from one of the three credit reporting agencies, which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (links in Resources). Every individual is entitled to one free copy from each reporting agency once per year. Review your credit reports together to see how you can help each other improve your scores.

2

Apply for individual lines of credit, rather than joint credit. When you hold individual lines of credit, you must have enough income and assets on your own to be considered and approved.

3

Add your spouse to credit accounts as an authorized user, rather than a joint account holder. In the event that you later decide to remove your spouse from your line of credit, it is easier to do so if she is an authorized user and not a joint account holder. Authorized account users also do not affect your credit score, as their own credit history is not factored into adding them as a user. Your spouse may affect your credit score as an authorized user if she uses too much of your available credit.

4

Maintain separate checking and savings accounts. Many couples automatically think they should pool all of their resources into a joint bank account; however, if one of you has debts that have defaulted, a joint account could be seized to pay off the debt. Maintaining separate bank accounts protects you in the event that your spouse has his assets seized.

5

Avoid co-signing on a loan for your spouse unless you are fully prepared to take over payments in the event that she is unable to make them. When you co-sign on a loan for your spouse, that loan and its payment history will show up on your credit report. Failing to make payment could damage your credit score.