 TITLE: Can My Spouse Ruin My Credit? CONTENT: Can Marriage Affect Your Credit Score?\n--------------------------------------\nCredit reports do not indicate your marital status, nor will they include your spouse's identity or any account they hold independently.\nIf you open joint credit cards or loans as a couple, however, those accounts will appear on the credit reports maintained for both of you at the three major credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. This means the information associated with the account can affect credit scores for both account holders. If the account is managed responsibly, it can help both of you lift your scores. If the shared accounts go delinquent or are otherwise mismanaged, though, your and your spouse's creditworthiness will be negatively affected.\nThe most common credit score models, created by FICO® and VantageScore®, heavily weigh payment history (your history of making on-time payments) and credit utilization (how debt balances compare to credit limits) when calculating scores. Therefore, it's important to be aware of the status of all jointly held accounts. If you or your spouse has a tendency to max out credit cards and miss payments, the time to address those issues is before you open any accounts together.\nYour ability to borrow money and make living arrangements can be hampered if your spouse enters the marriage with a credit report full of negative information. For example, if you want to finance a home, car, furniture or electronics together, the lender will check each of your credit reports. Renting a home can also be difficult if both of you will be on the lease.\nThere are other considerations when marrying someone with bad credit:\n*   If you open a joint credit obligation, both parties will be equally responsible for payment, which means you can be on the hook for an unpaid balance even if you didn't use the funds or get a divorce.\n*   The cost of credit products might come with prohibitively expensive interest and fees.\n*   If your spouse's credit report shows such red flags as recent and prolific collection activity, a bankruptcy, or a foreclosure, the two of you may be ineligible for any kind of joint credit product or home lease.\n*   In many states, a spouse's poor credit can drive up insurance rates and affect your household finances.\nAs for your spouse's debt incurred before marriage, you won't be held liable, but you can be responsible for those that your partner racks up after tying the knot if you live in a state where community property laws apply (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin). If you do, both of you will be equally responsible for debts incurred during the course of the marriage. In other states \"common law\" rules apply, which means you only have to pay your own and jointly owned debts. Alaska is an exception, as it allows residents to opt in to community property rules.\nFor these reasons, it's wise to learn about your partner's credit issues early in the relationship and try to identify the root of the problem. A credit report peppered with late payments and excess credit card debt could indicate a lack of organization or habitual overspending. Or it might have been due to an unavoidable emergency that's unlikely to reoccur. Whatever the case, you should be fully aware of the past and present so you can plan for the future. END