How Do We Settle Our Credit Card Debt? – Betty

How to settle financial debt when an unmarried couple splits up.

We lived together 6.5 years, engaged but not legally married. When she went to grad school, I supported us, paid all of the bills, and had 3 months of living expenses saved. Then I went to grad school, but she never earned sufficient income to support us. As a result, our credit card debts now total $10K. Also, we purchased a car for her, with a loan and title in both names.

How do we settle our credit card debt? Since she had bad credit when we first lived together, all credit cards were based on my credit, and in my name. The expenses were everyday living expenses that she couldn’t pay either because she chose not to work, or chose to work for a salary insufficient for supporting us. She says the debt is all mine since it’s in my name. What is fair?

During her non-working months, she chose to use her inheritance to pay for our basics. Am I responsible for refunding to her my share of those expenses?

There is 6 months left on the auto loan (in my name); how do we settle ownership and debt responsibility?

Betty

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Steve Rhode Debt Coach and Author

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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