I'm so confused! Tring to fix my credit and my husbands
By sensualsoul
@sensualsoul (51)
United States
July 31, 2009 11:01am CST
Here is the deal I'm trying to fix my credit as well as my husbands. Does his bad debit from before we got married transfer to me as his wife? What about debit from previous marriage with ex-wife's name? What is considered to be average/good score? Has anyone ever used a credit consolidation program? I contacted one a few years ago and come to find out they were a scam and I lost over 1k and no creditor was paid!
Not to sound naive but the credit report I'm going from was printed before we got married. Should I get a more current one? Did our credit like merge? I know this sounds like a really dumb question! Also looking for any other ideas to fix credit. Mine is pretty bad in my opinion but my husbands is awful! So if we are looking to buy a house together and what not do we need to fix his and mine both or will just one great credit score work?
3 responses
@milagrosdavila47 (107)
• United States
31 Jul 09
There are no dumb questions when it comes to your credit score. You and your husband each have your own credit score... they don't merge but over time, if you do joint credit cards, they tend to be similar. You can get free credit reports from each of the three bureaus once a year at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. You have the option of getting it online and then printing it or ordering thru phone. If you want your credit score you have to pay for that. Another suggestion when you get your reports go thru carefully and compare them against each other cuz sometimes the reports are not updated and don't match each other. If you're going for a house try to fix the credit of whomever will be the primary applicant first. If it's financially possible then try to fix both at the same time since the more time spent not paying off debt will show on the reports. I was told it takes 30-60 days for a credit report to be updated. I hope this was helpful.
@sensualsoul (51)
• United States
1 Aug 09
Thank you very much for your useful information. Another question I have is during his divorce they agreed that his ex-wife would take certain credit cards and debits and he would take certain ones. Is there away we can get the ones she is now responsible for off his credit? These things were drawn up in their divorce papers and clearly outlined.
@milagrosdavila47 (107)
• United States
1 Aug 09
Hmm... I've never been in that situation but I would imagine that if it's clearly stated in the divorce paperwork that you should contact the credit bureaus and give them proof that he is no longer responsible for those debts. They may not take it completely off but perhaps they would update the reports by stating that they are closed or no longer his responsibility. I found these numbers don't know if they're automated or if you can actually speak to someone sinve I do my stuff online.
Transunion - 800-916-8800
Equifax - 800-685-1111
Experian - 888-397-3742
Thinking about it you would probably have to write to them as well... just make sure you make a copy of any correspondance. Hope things work out.
@kerrinicoles (7)
• United States
16 Nov 09
Good luck with the whole fixing of the credit thing. I am currently engaged to a man who has an exwife that messed both of their credits up. I refuse to get married until some of it is straightened out because I had decent credit now. It can be hard to deal with when you are dealing with things from the past such as credit when you are trying to start a new life. There are companies offering rebuilding credit cards and cards that are meant for people with little to no credit that is how I got started building my credit again. The one I would recommend is http://kerrinicoles.NewCreditApplications.com. After I was able to get a credit card through them I had a lot of faith in the system. If you are responsible with your money once you recieve credit then it is a lot easier to keep credit and you will have better luck buying a home or getting a car loan.
@katykicker (231)
•
2 Aug 09
You will not end up having a merged credit score unless you have taken out lots of joint debts such as credit cards, loans & mortgages which have been defaulted or not paid.
To improve your rating ensure that you are on time with all payments to your creditors and then ensure that you don't take out any further loans, credit cards or debt to ensure that no more credit searches are taken on your name. Each time a credit search is done it can have a damaging effect on your credit score.
If you want to try and build a good credit score then concentrate on paying all your extra money to your debts and clearing things down as soon as possible.
There are no dumb questions when it comes to getting yourself out of debt and every penny (or cent) is a move in the right direction.
I have no experience with a credit consolidation scheme but I am currently around £600 away from being debt free and in the process of building up my credit score.
