If you’re engaged or about to get married, chances are that you’ve taken the time to sit down with your significant other and discuss your future together. Whether it involves getting a new apartment together, buying a home, moving, or any other major life choice, there’s plenty to discuss when you’re starting a life with someone new.
And during this discussion, you may find out that your significant other has bad credit – or that their credit is significantly better than yours! And there are a lot of misconceptions about credit and marriage out there. Many people are confused about what happens when you marry someone with bad credit – or vice versa.
Well, don’t worry. We’re here to clear things up with a quick article about the impact of bad credit on a marriage, and to talk about the different credit issues that marriage will affect.
What Isn’t Affected By Marrying Someone With Bad Credit
Despite the fact that you’re joining your lives together, marriage actually has a relatively low impact on your personal credit score and your finances. Here are a few examples of things that are not affected by marrying someone with bad credit.
Your Personal Credit Score – Your personal credit score is, well, personal. Marrying somebody with bad credit won’t affect your credit score at all, because your credit score is based only off of your own personal credit history.
Your Credit Report – You also won’t notice anything new appearing on your credit history or credit reports. There is no “merging” of credit reports upon marriage. Everything that you did before marriage will still be there – and unless you open joint accounts, your spouse won’t have any impact at all on your credit reports.
Personal Debt Loads– If you marry someone with bad credit, they may have a large outstanding debt load. And while it’s important that you both take steps to repay it, this debt won’t affect your credit score, as long as it was taken on before marriage.
You both will have to figure out a way to repay this debt – because you have joined your lives together – but this debt won’t impact your credit score.
What Is Affected By Marrying Someone With Bad Credit
For the most part, your personal credit history won’t be affected by marriage. However, if you and your partner plan to have joint accounts, apply for mortgages, and perform other credit-based actions as a unit, bad credit will certainly have an effect.
Joint Applications For Loans – If you apply for a loan jointly, the credit histories of both you and your spouse will be taken into consideration while the lending institution determines your overall financial health and well-being. Even if you have a stellar credit report, your spouse’s poor credit may impact your ability to secure a reasonable rate on a mortgage or an auto loan.
This can be mitigated somewhat if you don’t apply jointly – instead simply applying on your own, if you have higher credit. However, some institutions will still check both credit histories of a couple, and this could lead to poor interest rates, or outright rejection.
Applications For Joint Credit Cards – Similar to loans, credit card companies may also check both credit histories of a couple applying for a new card. If one of you has bad credit, you may not qualify for the best credit cards – or you could be rejected entirely.
Fortunately, most credit card companies offer a way around this. The spouse with the higher credit rating can simply apply on their own, and then set up their partner as a “registered user” of the card. By doing so, they can secure a higher credit limit and a better card, while still allowing their spouse full financial independence.
Missed Payments On Joint Debts – If you’ve got a joint loan, credit card, or any other debt that you took on with your spouse, missing payments will affect both of your credit scores equally. This is because you share equal responsibility for payments – unlike loans that you may have taken out when you were single.
Bad Credit Isn’t A Reason To Not Get Married – But It’s A Discussion You Need To Have
Marriage is a partnership. So if either you or your partner has bad credit, it’s a good idea to bring it up, and talk about ways that you can deal with this issue. Remember, you’re partners now, and you have to make decisions together.
That’s the only way to succeed – both in financial decision making, and in marriage.
Need A Car Before You Get Married In Canada? Got Bad Credit? Come To Ride Time!
If you need a car before you get married, but you have bad credit, don’t worry. You don’t have to wait until marriage to get a good deal on a great used car. Instead, come to Ride Time in Winnipeg today.
We specialize in working with individuals who have bad credit. If you can give us a valid Canadian driver’s licence, proof of 3 months employment, and you make more than $1,500/month before deductions, our network of 15+ specialized lenders will help you get a great auto loan. You don’t need a cosigner – or to get your spouse involved in the process.
So whether you’re in our hometown of Winnipeg, or anywhere in Canada, visit Ride Time today. We offer great vehicles at reasonable rates, and we can deliver our cars anywhere in our great nation!
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