I’m getting married soon and was wondering how does the whole credit score and debt thing work now?
Will our credit scores combine and average out? Will my debt become tacked onto his?
Renee
Getting married soon. Does our credit and debt combine?
You can still have two seperate scores.
Hi Renee!
Congratulations on the forthcoming nuptials! As others have pointed out, your credit scores will still be separate, except on any future loans/credit cards/whatever in which you are joint account owners.
What if we get married and spouse dies, do we become responsible for their past/previous debts?
Their estate will.
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. As you can see from the other answers the credit bureaus don’t recognize the institution of marriage. What they do recognize is who signs the application and agrees to pay creditors back. There are actually some very good reasons to strategically keep your finances separate. Many people have a stigma about this, but it may be worth a quick conversation so you are at least making a completely informed decision as you go into your marriage.
Your credit score for both of you will be the number for whoever has the lowest. Punishment for falling in love and being married. Thank you government. Oh..and if your spouse had SSI before and you VERY MUCH still need that money? Guess what? They take that away from you too because unless you make next to nothing, they’ll count your income as enough to take away SSI for your spouse..
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get married thanks to this crap.
Someone else can correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that your credit scores and debt (in the eyes of the credit reporting agencies) remain separate even after you get married. When my wife and I purchased our current home, we were advised to leave my wife off the loan application as her debt/income ratio made us less favorable in the eyes of the bank. Joint accounts (like a mortgage) would most likely affect both of your credit scores, but you are still individuals with your own unique credit history.
We check both of our credit reports for free periodically at http://www.creditkarma.com – you don’t have to sign up for any additional services – I just use it (again, for free) to check my credit score.
Hope this answers your question, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
Travis,
I like credit karma as well but I learned a new little bit of information about the credit scores they offer, they are slightly fudged. Apparently the credit bureau won’t let any third party display your true credit score without purchasing it so outlets that display it like credit karma get a shifted credit score. Which way is it shifted? All I can tell you is that the score they are showing for me is 48 points lower than my score directly from TransUnion.
As far as the credit history goes, you are correct, marriage has nothing to do with it. The only time credit will be “blended” is if two people apply for credit jointly. Even then, the blended credit is only for that application determination. Otherwise, credit files remain separate with the exception that any joint credit will be reported on each individuals credit report but that’s it.
 That’s good information to know…and I always sort of assumed it wasn’t the “exact” score given how resistant the credit reporting agencies are to letting people know their actual score.
Hi Renee,
Congratulations on the upcoming marriage.
The credit scores are not affected by marriage. Your 2 reports and scores do not merge. Your debts do not appear on each others credit report.
You do not automatically become authorized users on each others credit card accounts. You still have to request a spouse be added.
After marriage when you go out and apply for credit together you can do so as co-applicants and if approved, those accounts will appear on both of your reports. You can also still apply for individual accounts.
When you do apply for credit products together, and if one report and score is not as healthy as the other, that could impact the price of the credit product you apply for and even impact approval.
Best of success in your new marriage!