Marrying someone with bad credit won’t necessarily drag your credit score down. Your credit reports won’t merge together, nor will you assume your partner’s debts.
However, your partner’s bad credit could still cause financial challenges for the two of you, especially if you want to borrow a loan or open a credit card together.
It’s important to have an honest conversation about your credit histories so you understand how each other’s credit could impact your financial lives. Plus, by getting all the facts upfront, you can take steps to help your spouse improve their credit.
Here’s what you should know:
- Why marrying someone with bad credit won’t damage your credit score
- Possible challenges of marrying someone with bad credit
- How to help a spouse with bad credit
- How to prepare if you are marrying someone with bad credit
Why marrying someone with bad credit won’t damage your credit score
On its own, your spouse’s bad credit won’t impact yours. You will each maintain your own credit histories, reports and scores after you get married.
Credit bureaus and lenders don’t consider your spouse’s credit when giving you a credit score or deciding to approve or deny a loan application in your name alone. Similarly, marrying someone with bad credit won’t lower your score at all.
There’s no such thing as a “couple’s credit score,” and your financial histories won’t become merged when you tie the knot. What’s more, any debts that your spouse took on before you got married won’t suddenly become yours, or vice versa.
So if you’re worried that marrying someone with bad credit will damage your credit score, you can breathe a sigh of relief.
Possible challenges of marrying someone with bad credit
Although your partner’s bad credit won’t damage your own, it could still bring some challenges to your married life. Here are some times when your spouse’s poor credit could become a problem:
Getting a mortgage or loan together
If you two want to take out a loan together, your spouse’s bad credit could hold you back. Sometimes, lenders will look at the lowest score on an application, rather than averaging your scores together. So even if you have a high credit score, it won’t necessarily balance out your partner’s low score.
Ultimately, your partner’s low score could leave you unable to qualify for a loan together, or at least unable to get low interest rates. If this is the case, you might try applying for a loan or mortgage on your own. However, you won’t be able to include both your incomes on the application. If you’re pursuing a mortgage, you might not be able to get as large a loan based on your income alone.
Alternatively, some lenders may allow you to add a cosigner to your application, such as a parent with good credit. Adding a cosigner may help to offset your partner’s poor credit, but you’ll need to find someone who’s comfortable sharing this debt. If you and your partner make late payments, this cosigner’s credit would get damaged alongside yours.
Renting an apartment together
Some landlords run a credit check before permitting you to rent an apartment. If the landlord requires that both tenants have good credit, your spouse’s bad credit could become a sticking point.
In some cases, a landlord will allow a cosigner or endorser to vouch for you. Basically, this person signs your rental application and agrees to make payments if you fall behind.
But if you don’t have an endorser (or don’t want to ask anyone for this favor), it could become a major challenge as the two of you search for a place to live.
Sharing credit accounts
As mentioned, you won’t take on your spouse’s debts or lines of credit after you get married. But if you open an account together, your credit could be impacted by your partner’s actions.
If you share an account and a spouse is irresponsible with the debt, racking up high balances or missing payments, that affects your score. This negative borrowing behavior will be reported to credit bureaus and show up on your credit report since you are a joint owner of that account.
If your partner tends to miss payments on bills, you may want to be cautious about sharing financial accounts with them. Otherwise, their behavior could drag down your credit score.
How to help a spouse with bad credit
If your spouse does have bad credit, what can you do about it? There are lots of ways to work together as a couple to repair a poor credit history. For example:
- Pull your credit report
- Check your credit scores
- Add your partner as an authorized user
- Pay down debts
Pull your credit report
Start by requesting a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. This credit report won’t reveal your credit score, but it will give you an overview of your various accounts, including any late payments, delinquencies or bankruptcies.
When you pull your credit histories and review them together, make sure to watch for any errors or misreported information. If either of you has errors present on your credit, take the time to dispute it and get it removed.
Check your credit scores
Some credit card companies will also provide your FICO Score for free, which is the score that most lenders look at when determining whether to approve you for a loan.
You can also keep tabs on your FICO Score at myFICO.com but this will require a paid account. As you take steps to improve your credit, you can monitor your score to make sure your efforts are working.
Add your partner as an authorized user
Another way to help your partner improve their credit is to add them as an authorized user to one of your credit cards with a longstanding positive history. This adds a credit line to the mix that has both a positive history and a long one. Both factors can help boost your partner’s credit score.
Your partner will be able to use the card, but you’ll still maintain responsibility for making payments. Note that your partner doesn’t have to use the card at all to benefit from this arrangement.
Pay down debts
Lastly, work together on paying down debts, especially high-interest credit card debt. Your “amounts owed” is a big factor in formulating a FICO Score. If you can lower your debts, as well as make on-time payments, you can boost a bad credit score.
How to prepare if you are marrying someone with bad credit
Every couple trying to combine their lives and finances needs to sit down to discuss their financial situations. Don’t assume your soon-to-be-spouse has great credit — have a frank discussion and talk specifics.
It’s important to be honest about your financial situations, including savings, income, debts and credit score. Bring any recent credit reports and scores to the discussion, and ask your significant other to do the same.
You’ll also want to talk about major debts or past delinquencies. It’s important to understand how the decisions to take on those debts were made, and the circumstances that led to a delinquency or default.
It doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker, but it’s important that the partner with a bumpy past owns up to those mistakes. That partner should show that they’re on the right path to fixing things and have a plan to avoid similar mistakes down the road.
Marrying someone with bad credit can introduce complications, but a poor credit score doesn’t have to be the end of your relationship, or even hold you back in your life together. Work together to fix it and soon, it’ll be a thing of the past.
Elyssa Kirkham contributed to this report.
Interested in a personal loan?
Here are the top personal loan lenders of 2022!| Lender | APR Range | Loan Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 5.74% – 20.28%1 | $5,000 - $100,000 | |
 | 4.37% – 35.99% | $1,000 - $50,000 | |
 | 5.94% – 35.97%* | $1,000 - $50,000 | |
 | 99.00% – 199.00%2 | $500 - $4,000 | |
 | 5.99% – 24.99%3 | $5,000 - $40,000 | |
 | 7.99% – 20.88%4 | $5,000 - $50,000 | |
 | 9.99% – 35.99%5 | $2,000 - $36,500 | |
 | 10.68% – 35.89%6 | $1,000 - $40,000 | |
 | 9.95% – 35.99%7 | $2,000 - $35,000 | |
1 Includes AutoPay discount. Important Disclosures for SoFi. SoFi DisclosuresFixed rates from 5.74% APR to 20.28% APR APR reflect the 0.25% autopay discount and a 0.25% direct deposit discount. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 1/18/22 and are subject to change without notice. Not all rates and amounts available in all states. See Personal Loan eligibility details. Not all applicants qualify for the lowest rate. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed above and will depend on a variety of factors, including evaluation of your credit worthiness, income, and other factors. See APR examples and terms. The SoFi 0.25% AutoPay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. 2 Includes AutoPay discount. Important Disclosures for Opploans. Opploans DisclosuresDirect Deposit required for payroll. Opploans currently operates in these states: . *Approval may take longer if additional verification documents are requested. Not all loan requests are approved. Approval and loan terms vary based on credit determination and state law. Applications processed and approved before 7:30 p.m. ET Monday-Friday are typically funded the next business day.
3 Includes AutoPay discount. Important Disclosures for Payoff. Payoff Disclosures
4 Important Disclosures for Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank Disclosures
5 Important Disclosures for LendingPoint. LendingPoint Disclosures
6 Important Disclosures for LendingClub. LendingClub DisclosuresAll loans made by WebBank, Member FDIC. Your actual rate depends upon credit score, loan amount, loan term, and credit usage and history. The APR ranges from 10.68% to 35.89%. For example, you could receive a loan of $6,000 with an interest rate of 9.56% and a 5.00% origination fee of $300 for an APR of 13.11%. In this example, you will receive $5,700 and will make 36 monthly payments of $192.37. The total amount repayable will be $6,925.32. Your APR will be determined based on your credit at time of application. The origination fee ranges from 2% to 6% (average is 4.86% as of 7/1/2019 – 9/30/2019). In Georgia, the minimum loan amount is $3,025. In Massachusetts, the minimum loan amount is $6,001 if your APR is greater than 12%. There is no down payment and there is never a prepayment penalty. Closing of your loan is contingent upon your agreement of all the required agreements and disclosures on the www.lendingclub.com website. All loans via LendingClub have a minimum repayment term of 36 months or longer. 7 Important Disclosures for Avant. Avant Disclosures*If approved, the actual loan terms that a customer qualifies for may vary based on credit determination, state law, and other factors. Minimum loan amounts vary by state. **Example: A $5,700 loan with an administration fee of 4.75% and an amount financed of $5,429.25, repayable in 36 monthly installments, would have an APR of 29.95% and monthly payments of $230.33. Based on the responses from 7,302 customers in a survey of 140,258 newly funded customers, conducted from August 1, 2018 – August 1, 2019, 95.11% of customers stated that they were either extremely satisfied or satisfied with Avant. 4/5 Customers would recommend us. Avant branded credit products are issued by WebBank, member FDIC. * Important Disclosures for Upgrade Bank. Upgrade Bank DisclosuresPersonal loans made through Upgrade feature APRs of 5.94%-35.97%. All personal loans have a 2.9% to 8% origination fee, which is deducted from the loan proceeds. Lowest rates require Autopay and paying off a portion of existing debt directly. For example, if you receive a $10,000 loan with a 36-month term and a 17.98% APR (which includes a 14.32% yearly interest rate and a 5% one-time origination fee), you would receive $9,500 in your account and would have a required monthly payment of $343.33. Over the life of the loan, your payments would total $12,359.97. The APR on your loan may be higher or lower and your loan offers may not have multiple term lengths available. Actual rate depends on credit score, credit usage history, loan term, and other factors. Late payments or subsequent charges and fees may increase the cost of your fixed rate loan. There is no fee or penalty for repaying a loan early. Accept your loan offer and your funds will be sent to your bank or designated account within one (1) business day of clearing necessary verifications. Availability of the funds is dependent on how quickly your bank processes the transaction. From the time of approval, funds should be available within four (4) business days. Funds sent directly to pay off your creditors may take up to 2 weeks to clear, depending on the creditor. Personal loans issued by Upgrade’s lending partners. Information on Upgrade’s lending partners can be found at https://www.upgrade.com/lending-partners/. |
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