If people get married but don't get joint accounts, cards, mortgage, etc can one who is financially irresponsible affect the others credit?
If everything is separate, depending on the state, the two profiles should not affect each other much.
As soon as you apply for something joint, the worse score will impact the better score.
If the better credit person also has the better income, most things will be smooth sailing.
GL!
@GTS wrote:If people get married but don't get joint accounts, cards, mortgage, etc can one who is financially irresponsible affect the others credit?
My wife and I are in our 30th year of marriage; as a general rule we've kept our credit cards separate but been joint for mortgages. Our cars have been about 80% joint, which worked to our advantage before we temporarily separated and then individually declared bankruptcy. Since her Chapter 7 in 2014 and my Chapter 13 in 2015, she has purchased one car in her name (2016), and just last fall I purchased one car in my name; the reason for the individual loans were simple, when she bought her current car I was in the middle of my bankruptcy and could not incur any new debt; my bankruptcy has since dropped off my reports, while she still has about a year before her reports are clean, so it was to my advantage to finance the new ride exclusively in my name. We're discussing buying her a new car later this year; we haven't decided whether to do a joint loan, pay cash for it, or put it exclusively in her name.
What is interesting about our marriage, and probably many marriages these days, is there has rarely been a time where our incomes were roughly on par with one another; initially I made about twice what she did, she caught up, and then doubled her income again while mine remained flat. Then my income went to zero while hers double yet again; then the recession hit and hers went to zero and mine started picking back up, and now it is to the point where I'm earning as much or more than the two of us combined, even at our joint peak. About three years ago her company started paying less while asking for ever more productivity; this went on for over a year with promises of advancement but nothing concrete and I begged her to quit as we no longer needed her income. She finally put in her two-week notice in July of 2021, and even then they strung her along until late September before she finally stopped working.
A few additional comments; I know couples where both spouses have always made roughly the same amount; some of those marriages have succeeded, others have failed. Same story holds true for marriages with an income disparity; some succeeded, others failed. Long story short, no one financial formula works for every couple; it takes communicating with one another and a lot of hard work to keep a marriage together, even if money isn't a problem, and if there are financial issues, things are even more difficult.
My wife and I have been together for 32 years and have always had separate bank accounts, credit cards, car loans etc. It's probably a good thing in our circumstance when I had a business go under in 2014 and had to file chapter 7 it didn't affect her finances at all.
@GTS wrote:If people get married but don't get joint accounts, cards, mortgage, etc can one who is financially irresponsible affect the others credit?
I think it greatly depends on who you're married to. Are they a responsible person, do they share the same sentiment when it comes to spending, saving, being disciplined,etc.... do you both have a genuine respect for what the other brings to the relationship financially, what their credit accomplishments (or goals) are? While credit cards are solely an individual thing , they have a real implication when it comes to purchases that might require a joint effort, a mortgage, cars etc... If one of you is responsible, focused on what's important (and what isn't) for your lifelong financial goals, and the other is irresponsible, frivolous and/or selfish, it's simply a drag on the whole thing in it's entirety.
Having separate finances doesn't mean my wife and I don't split the bills or otherwise work together financially. She takes care of the mortgage and a few other bills while i pay the car payments/insurance and some other things. It's a setup we have always had and for our circumstances it works just fine.
At the end of the day we are married and what's mine is hers and vice versa it's not MY money or HER money.
@Rogue46 wrote:Having separate finances doesn't mean my wife and I don't split the bills or otherwise work together financially. She takes care of the mortgage and a few other bills while i pay the car payments/insurance and some other things. It's a setup we have always had and for our circumstances it works just fine.
At the end of the day we are married and what's mine is hers and vice versa it's not MY money or HER money.
@Rogue46I couldn't have said this any better. My significant other and I have been together for 10yrs and living together for 7yrs and and talking about marriage. We have a system to split the bills that works. She is a little less irresponsible and I have been working with her. At this point I would never get a joint account with her. I save for the future and any misfortune and she doesn't, she likes to splurge after her bills are paid. My fear is that with a joint account she would spend the "savings". Her credit is in the toilet and I have been rebuilding mine (because I used to be like her). Or with a joint credit card she would max it out. I would never not have her back if she would become unemployed or whatnot, that's what I save for, I'm just a little more mature when it comes to finances.