Spouses Who Keep Their Credit Separate Live Happily Ever After

Getting married can be the beginning of a wonderful adventure if you choose wisely. If you don’t it can be the beginning of a nightmare you wouldn’t have been involved in without your spouse introducing you to it. This is what happens when future spouses do not check each other’s credit. This may sound formal and unromantic, as if you are interviewing someone for a job, but it is actually a very important step to take.

Avoiding the task of looking up your partner’s credit is not in your best interest; it may tell you something about your future spouse that you do not currently believe to be the truth. When two people marry, it is possible to combine each other’s credit. If you do this when you have better credit than your spouse, your rating can go down. The spouse with the lower credit score may not have lowering both people’s scores in mind when wishing to combine credit, but it can happen.

Another reason not to combine credit with a spouse who has a lower score than you do is in the event of a divorce. This is another unromantic thing that people do not necessarily want to consider before they marry the person of their dreams, but it happens; the divorce rate is very high in America. When this happens and you have combined your credit, it can be difficult to separate your records again. Delicately approach this subject before your wedding because it is not worth losing your prospective spouse over this subject; it is only practical.

To make it easier to discuss this subject before you marry someone, there is one possible angle you can use. If there is a large discrepancy between credit reports with one score significantly lower than the other in severe negative territory, it will make it extremely difficult for a couple to be approved for things such as mortgages. One thing that married couples like to do is buy a house. They have dreams of owning their own homes with a backyard where their future children will one day play. This dream will not come true in the abovementioned scenario. In this case if the credit is kept separate, one spouse can put up his or her credit alone to apply for the mortgage and have a better chance of being approved. This story may make it easier to convince your future spouse to keep your credit separate.

Keeping your credit separate when you marry your spouse is not necessarily a bad thing. You are not planning to divorce this person one day, you are just being practical. And keeping your credit separate can make it possible to make your dreams come true in the future.

Credit Secrets Revealed is an e-book which contains a lot more great advice on credit.