If my spouse has a bad credit score, does it affect my credit score? | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2024)

FAQs

If my spouse has a bad credit score, does it affect my credit score? | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? ›

If your spouse has a bad credit score, it will not affect your credit score. However, when you apply for loans together, like mortgages, lenders will look at both your scores. If one of you has a poor credit score, it counts against you both. You may not qualify for the best interest rates or the loan could be denied.

Marrying a person with a bad credit history won't affect your own credit record. You and your spouse will continue to have separate credit reports after you marry. However, any debts that you take on jointly will be reported on both your and your spouse's credit reports.

Credit histories and scores don't combine when you get married. Your credit history and scores are yours and yours alone, and your marital status is not included in your credit reports. But if you have a shared account or you're an authorized user of your spouse's account, you could affect each other's scores.

Generally, unless you're a cosigner or co-borrower, your spouse's debt won't affect your credit score.

Your credit score is an independent score based on your financial history. If you live with your partner and they have debt or bad credit, this shouldn't affect your score. Equally, if you marry someone or are married to someone with bad credit, this won't affect your score.

If your spouse has a bad credit score, it will not affect your credit score. However, when you apply for loans together, like mortgages, lenders will look at both your scores. If one of you has a poor credit score, it counts against you both. You may not qualify for the best interest rates or the loan could be denied.

Most states use common law (also known as equitable distribution), which dictates that married couples don't automatically share personal property legally. In other words, you aren't responsible for your spouse's debt unless you took it out together as a joint account, or you cosigned on it.

Since California is a community property state, the law applies that the community estate shared between both individuals is liable for a debt incurred by either spouse during the marriage. All community property shared equally between husband and wife can be held liable for repaying the debts of one spouse.

Any active joint accounts will see the other person named as a 'financial associate' on your credit report. If they have bad credit it could work against you further, making things harder than they need to be.

If you live in a community property state, you probably will be responsible for debts accumulated by your spouse during the marriage. (These states are California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Louisiana, while Alaska, South Dakota, and Tennessee make it optional.)

How do I protect myself from my husbands debt? ›

Not to worry, a prenup can protect you against your partner's poor debt decisions. How? Well, you can make sure to outline in your prenup that all premarital debt (debt accrued before the marriage) and marital debt (debt accrued during the marriage) remain the person who borrowed its debt.

If there's no money in their estate, the debts will usually go unpaid. For survivors of deceased loved ones, including spouses, you're not responsible for their debts unless you shared legal responsibility for repaying as a co-signer, a joint account holder, or if you fall within another exception.

Marriage doesn't alter credit scores, but debt assumed afterward can affect both spouses' credit. Future joint credit applications will use both spouses' credit scores.

Marrying someone with poor credit doesn't affect your credit scores, but your spouse's low credit scores could hinder your ability to borrow money jointly. While each person's debts from before marriage remain their own, credit applied for jointly takes both credit histories into account.

Adding an authorized user to your credit card account alone shouldn't have a negative impact on your credit. But keep in mind that if that person uses your credit in a way that hurts your financial situation, negative credit impact could follow.

Any debt you have before marriage remains separate, unless you add your partner as a cosigner. And debts incurred after you're married that you hold jointly can affect both spouses' credit scores. Common examples of these are mortgages and auto loans.

Marriage has no impact on your credit. Credit reports at the three national credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) do not record marital status. Credit scores, which are based on the contents of your credit reports, therefore cannot make marital status a factor in calculating your scores.

Federal Laws on Identity Theft

If you discover that your spouse has opened a credit card in your name, it is important to contact the FTC immediately to report the incident to seek assistance and request a credit freeze.

Having a bad credit score can impact many important financial decisions in your life. Getting a good credit score is difficult and requires a lot of effort, but if you have little or no credit card history, people with a good credit score can help you tremendously.