Can Your Spouse’s Bad Behavior With Credit Cards Affect Your Credit Score?

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Before the Marriage

So you have fallen in love, and you believe that you have finally found the one that you were always meant to be with. The have all the qualities that you could ever possibly want in a spouse, and you can’t believe you have actually found them. But wait… are there certain things about this love of your life that you should know about before taking the plunge?
Probably the last quality you are going to search for in a companion is their money management skills. Perhaps you do not even know how well he or she can manage their credit until after you are married. But getting to know this side of your fiance will be of more benefit than you think.

If the love of your life has a horrible credit score and a bad credit history, you should probably talk it over. Getting into a marriage that will cause you financial heartache will be a burden that may not be necessary to bear. No, you don’t have to cancel the wedding just because your fiance has money management problems.

Having a spouse will not affect your own personal credit score. However, when people get married, usually they eventually get their credit cards, loans, and other forms of credit merged to make it less of a his and her’s sort of thing. It is important to know what your future spouses credit card behavior is like so that you can determine whether or not this type of merger is a good choice.

During the Marriage

If your spouse has a horrible habit of not paying his credit card bills on time, perhaps a combination of your two accounts may not be such a bad idea, for the reason that you could help build his or her credit score. If you take on the entire responsibility of paying the credit card bills and you are the most responsible out of the two, both your credit scores will thrive. However, there are a few risks you take on when you join your credit card accounts into one.

If You Get Divorced

Despite the idea you had of a lifelong love when you first got married, perhaps the relationship did not work. The last thing you need is another burden like being concerned about your credit score. However, the damage that can be done to your credit score because of their credit card spending habits is an uncontrollable factor that will create problems and even more heartache down the road.

All of the things that are done on your joint account show up on each spouse’s credit report. Because of this, after a divorce, one person’s bad habits will be reflected on another’s credit score, even if that person has good habits. You should get all of your joint accounts dissolved by either paying them off and closing them, or taking one person’s name off of the account, leaving the other solely responsible for that account.

Will Canceling Old Credit Cards Hurt My Credit Score?

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So you have had a couple of credit cards for several years, and you have finally paid them all back down to a reasonable amount. You are thinking maybe you should close them out so that you never have the chance to spend on them again. But what are the consequences? Will it really help or will it hurt your credit score? One of the biggest misconceptions about closing out credit card accounts is that you should close your oldest ones first. Not true! Closing the accounts that you have had for the longest amount of time will not improve your credit score. In fact, it will most likely make your credit score go down.

Why will my credit score suffer just because I close my old accounts?

Having credit cards for a long time, whether or not they are active, actually help your credit score because it shows that you have long and healthy credit history. If you close those credit card accounts, it will lower your debt-to-available-credit ratio, making it appear that you have a shorter credit history than you actually do. So shortening your credit history makes it look like you have less experience buying things on credit cards, which puts you at a higher risk of being undependable with your payments. If it appears that you may not make your payments in full or on time, your credit score will not be as high as it should be.

Won’t closing my old credit card accounts erase all the late payments I made?

Maybe you had late payments on a few of those old credit cards, and you think that if you close them out they will be forgotten. This is false. Negative records, such as late payments, can remain on your credit report for up to ten years, whether or not you have paid off and/or closed out those accounts. So whether you have had negative reports on those credit card accounts or not, it is best to keep those accounts open, and allow time to erase any mistakes you made on those credit card payments.

Should I keep my accounts open even if I’ve paid them off?

Yes! Even if you do not plan to use those accounts anymore, it is best to keep them open to prove that you have a long credit history. The longer you have your credit cards and the older the accounts get, the more benefit they are to you. If you feel that there is too much of a temptation to spend the credit that is on those accounts after they are paid off, perhaps you should consider closing out the newer and more recently opened accounts. If all you have are new credit cards, even if they do have low interest rates, your credit score will not be as high because it will look like you have not used credit cards for very long, and have less experience using them and paying the bills on them.

Best Credit Card Deals For Student Credit Cards

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There are a lot of options for you to take a look at. The best credit card deals are going to depend on what you are looking for and what type of credit history that you have. Obviously the best deals are for those that have a higher credit score. If you are in the 700′s or 800′s then you are going to be just fine. I don’t think you will have to worry about high interest rates and if your credit is that high then you probably don’t even care about rates anyways because you are probably very effective in paying all of your bills on time.

So before I discuss anything about credit cards, make sure that you are willing to find out where your credit is and take a look at what you can do to improve your credit score. You can make multiple payments a month and contact any creditors that you owe to pay off debt. Then you can make sure that you have a checking and savings account open. Have a couple credit card accounts that you keep in good standing. Don’t take on a lot of other debt if you can and then it will just take time of good payments that will help you to improve your credit.

So after you have improved your credit then I would look at a major credit card issuer like Visa, MasterCard, or Discover. I have seen a lot of Orchard Bank Credit Cards for students and also a lot Capital One for people with poor credit and looking for lower limits. If you are looking for lower interest rates then I would say that Capital One is good card. A lot of cards will offer very low introductory rates. Be aware that this could change in a heartbeat. So it is important that you are able to check out the terms and conditions to see what is required from you and what obligations the company has. Many only need 15 days to notify you that they are going to change the interest rate.

I suggest that after you have figured out where your credit is, decide what is important to you. You might want a higher credit limit and you are willing to sacrifice your interest rate to get it or maybe a limit might not matter, you just want to get a good interest rate. Many of them will be around 15%. If you can find one lower then that for more than just an introductory rate then you will be doing well.