 TITLE: Are You Saying “I Do” to Your Spouse’s Bad Credit? CONTENT: What Happens to Your Credit When You Get Married?\n-------------------------------------------------\nThere is no such thing as a merged credit report. After marriage, your credit report will remain yours and vice versa for your spouse. If you applied for a credit card or loan before you were married, the lender granted the account to you, and ownership doesn't change. Therefore, the lender will continue to send the account's activity to your credit report only. The same goes for credit problems, such as debts that were referred to collection agencies, judgments, liens and bankruptcies. They will never leap from your spouse's credit report to yours.\nHowever, this doesn't mean that you will be totally immune from the fallout if your partner has a poor credit history. If you apply for credit products as a couple, your spouse's dings can dent your plans.\nFor example, a home purchase might be in your future, but if you're financing it as a couple, the lender will take each of your financial and credit situations into consideration. Your spouse's low credit scores will either result in a higher interest rate (which can increase the cost of the loan by tens of thousands of dollars) or prevent you from qualifying altogether. To get around this problem, you can apply for the mortgage in your name only, but then your spouse's income won't be factored in. The interest rate you get might be attractive, but the loan amount might fall short of what you need to buy the property.\nIf you open credit cards and other loans together, they will be listed on each of your credit reports as jointly held accounts. Ownership will be shared, and the two of you will be considered equal partners. If one of you fails to pay the bill, the other needs to step up and get it in on time. If you don't, both of your credit reports will be hit with a late payment—and that will hurt both of your credit scores.\nAnother circumstance where a credit card may appear on multiple credit reports is when one of you gives permission for the other to be an authorized user. The authorized user will have a credit card imprinted with his or her name and can make charges. The account will show up on both of your files, but ownership remains with the primary account holder. If either of you wanted to end the arrangement, you could, and at that stage the account would no longer be listed on the authorized user's credit report. END