 TITLE: How Couples Can Overcome Financial Incompatibility CONTENT: How Financial Incompatibility Can Cause Problems\n------------------------------------------------\nPartnering up with someone who isn't exactly like you can be a great thing. They may balance out your personality and help you to grow and evolve as a person. When it comes to your financial life, however, differences can create real friction in a relationship.\nA super frugal partner might insist on extreme saving habits that the other person finds unlivable. On the other hand, if one partner is a wild spender, it could cause you to fall behind on your household bills and result in consequences that affect both of you.\nMarriage doesn't combine your credit reports or directly affect your credit scores, but your credit should be a consideration when making financial decisions as a couple. Whether you're buying a house or opening a new auto loan or joint credit card, your individual credit histories will come into play, and your credit can be affected by how you manage accounts you choose to open together.\nEven if just one partner has a high debt load or history of late payments or delinquent accounts, it may cause you both to get stuck with a higher interest rate on joint accounts—or be declined altogether. Couples who open new credit accounts together will find that payment history and credit usage will reflect on both partners' credit reports (for better or worse). Having different spending personalities can also make it that much harder to reach your individual and shared savings goals. END