 TITLE: Are You Saying “I Do” to Your Spouse’s Bad Credit? CONTENT: How to Help Your Spouse With Bad Credit\n---------------------------------------\nNow breathe: Bad credit is not the end of the world. With effort and time, you and your spouse can develop a positive credit history and scoring difference. Here's how:\n*   **Identify the damage.** Pull your individual credit reports for free, and show them to each other. Your spouse may have some regrettable data showing up, but you, too, could have some problems that need addressing. Be candid and understanding.\n*   **Get to the root of the problem.** Find out the underlying reasons for your spouse's bad credit. You'll want to know if it was due to overspending, not planning for emergencies or some other issue. Once you know it, you both can work to change it.\n*   **Develop a plan of action.** If you discover a slew of collection accounts, pay them off one by one. If late payments are driving credit scores down, make sure they're paid on time, starting now. Aim to reduce credit card balances to less than 30% of the credit line to reduce your credit utilization. Help and support each other.\n*   **Review progress regularly.** Choose a day of the month, like the first or the 15th, to sit down and check in with each other. Every few months, view your credit reports to see how you're doing.\n*   **Consider making your spouse an authorized user.** If you have a credit card that's in excellent standing, you might want to share the love by making your partner an authorized user. Then, not only will that well-managed account be helping your own credit rating rise, it will also give your spouse's credit a push upwards.\nFinally, remember that time heals credit wounds. Whether your spouse's credit report is riddled with delinquencies, shows a bankruptcy, or contains any other true but unattractive data, you can take comfort in the ever-ticking clock. Negative information eventually ages off. As long as you do all the right things from this point forward, together you'll be in a far better position than you are today. END