 TITLE: How to Manage Your Credit During a Divorce CONTENT: How Will Getting Divorced Affect Your Credit?\n---------------------------------------------\nYour credit report doesn't show your marital status, so a divorce won't appear anywhere in your credit history. It's also not a factor that affects your credit score. But that doesn't mean a divorce can't impact your credit indirectly if it, for example, causes you to fall behind on your debt payments.\nThe first thing to know is that divorce doesn't automatically split up the credit you and your former spouse established together. Even if your debts (and the responsibility for paying them) are assigned as part of your divorce decree, creditors still hold you liable for the debt. This also means account information, including negative items such as late payments and high credit utilization, can be reported to the credit bureaus and added to your credit report if you are still associated with the account. So if your ex agrees to make payments on a joint account and then doesn't, those late or missed payments can show up on your credit report as well as theirs. If they default, you are jointly responsible for their debt. END