Please help me understand how this works. I have excellent credit, but FH's is not so good (late credit card payments, old cell bill outstanding, etc.)
How does his credit affect my credit? I keep hearing that once I get married my credit is going downhill b/c of his. Is this true?? Please help me understand TIA!
bkbaby4life
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Re: Your / his credit
i dont know if his credit 'merges' with yours. but i do think that when applying for loans or what not as a 'couple' they probably evaluate both of your credit history together. and i think your good credit should benefit his. i dont know for sure though ... :/
Maria31
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Re: Your / his credit
When you buy a house or take out a loan, they will look at both of your credit scores. If his is bad, it will definitely affect your rate, etc.
KYBride09
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Re: Your / his credit
So instead of making big purchases together, should I have them under my name only until he clears his credit?
Maria31
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Re: Your / his credit
Posted by KYBride09
So instead of making big purchases together, should I have them under my name only until he clears his credit?
Has he tried any credit assist programs? As a teenager, FH took out tons of CC and decided not to pay them so his credit was SHOT. Right before we decided to buy our house, he did credit assist and his score jumped 100+ points. It's definitely worth a shot!
BluAngel93
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Re: Your / his credit
Posted by KYBride09
So instead of making big purchases together, should I have them under my name only until he clears his credit?
I pretty much have the same situation unfortunately In our case, i don't plan on merging our accounts or anything like that until the debt is cleared up b/c i'm afraid it could definitely drag my credit down.
I would say make the bigger purchases under your name for the time being while he looks into some sort of debt consolidation options. Best place to start is probably to have him get a copy of his credit report to find out exactly how much he owes and then try to contact a debt consolidation place to see what they say...from what i hear, they can usually knock your debt down a bit (since the collection agencies just want to get paid already and they'll be willing to settle for a lesser amount). I would just be careful looking for those consolidation places though, not all of them look very legit to me...if i find one that does, i'll let you know!
bkbaby4life
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Re: Your / his credit
if you are going to apply for large loans they (bank, broker, etc.) will usually tell you if its best to apply jointly...or if your credit alone will yield a higher loan amount.
in the mean time. get your FH's credit report. you can get one for free annually from www.annualcreditreport.com
then fix everything you can. :)
apply for one credit card under his name and focus on charging and paying off that one credit card. thats what FH is doing to help his credit.
KYBride09
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Re: Your / his credit
Thank you ladies. We'll get the credit report and see what's there. Then, we'll try to pay everything off before the wedding.
TheLadyJ
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Re: Your / his credit
Posted by KYBride09
So instead of making big purchases together, should I have them under my name only until he clears his credit?
This is what I am doing. For 2 reasons.
1 - his creditors cannot come after a house or property if it is in your name only
2 - you can get a better rate on a house or mortgage if only you apply.
In my case, I am not married yet but we are moving into a coop together. Everything will be under my name, though. he is not listen as an applicant on either the coop board or the loan application.
