Your Credit Report can be affected in a negative way during divorce. I see this all the time, credit report littered with slow pays, collections, and charge offs due to a separation. Don’t let your credit report suffer because of a divorce; it will take a while to clear it up if you do.
Q:
Hello I am going through a divorce currently, and we have accumulated debt together while we were married. I have excellent credit I believe, and I want to make sure it stays that way. My concern is some of the accounts we are joint users on is being awarded to my husband. He is not that responsible, I have always taken care of the bills. The attorney is working on the divorce decree that states certain obligations are his responsibility including the house. My question is will this debt still show up on my credit report even though the decree states those debts are now his responsibility?
Carly Simon
San Francisco, California
A:
Carly this is a great question and a “BIG” problem out there today. Divorce is one of the biggest ways to discover credit report problem after the fact. Most think that the divorce decree will erase debts with creditors. This is simply not true. If the account is joint, even though the decree says the other party is responsible for that debt, if the other party has a slow pay your credit score report is affected. This is simply because your social security number is still attached to the obligation. So yes, if your husband is late on any of the obligations that you are on as well, your good credit report with suffer greatly as a result. My advice would be to have the attorney draw up the divorce decree correctly by stating your husband has so many days to refinance the house out of you name, and get any obligations like credit cards, car notes, etc….. out of your name. This way your credit is not affected down the road.
About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of http://www.creditscorequick.com/. CreditScoreQuick.com is the one of the most unique on-line resources for free credit score report, fico score, free credit check, identity theft protection, secured credit cards, student credit cards , credit cards, mortgage loans, auto loans, insurance, debt consolidation ,and a BlOG with a wealth of personal credit information. The information within this website is written by professionals that know about credit, and what determines ones credit worthiness.
