How Getting Married Could Affect Your Credit Score

Contrary to popular belief, simply saying "I do" won't merge your credit history with your spouse's. However, the financial steps you take together afterward can certainly influence both of your scores.

1. Maintaining Separate Histories: Initially, nothing changes. You and your spouse each retain your individual credit reports and scores. The act of getting married is not reported to credit bureaus.
2. Opening Joint Accounts: The first potential impact occurs when you apply for credit together. A joint credit card, mortgage, or auto loan will appear on both of your credit reports.
3. Shared Payment Behavior: Once an account is joint, all activity is reported for both individuals. On-time payments can help both scores, while a single missed payment will negatively affect both partners.
4. Becoming an Authorized User: One spouse might add the other as an authorized user on a credit card. The account's history can then appear on the authorized user's report, impacting their score.

How Much Will Getting Married Affect Your Credit Score?

While getting married doesn't directly merge your credit scores, certain financial decisions you make as a couple can have an impact. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• Individual Credit Histories: Your credit reports and scores will not merge after you get married. You will each maintain your own separate credit history throughout your marriage.
• Joint Accounts and Applications: When you apply for credit together, lenders will review both of your credit reports. This hard inquiry can temporarily lower both of your scores.
• Authorized Users: Adding a spouse as an authorized user on your credit card can affect both scores. Their spending habits will impact your credit utilization ratio.

How You Can Avoid Getting Married Affecting Your Credit Score

Maintain Separate Accounts

Marriage doesn't automatically merge your credit files. To protect your score, consider keeping individual bank accounts and credit cards separate, especially if one partner has a lower score. This prevents their credit history from directly impacting yours on new joint applications or accounts.

Have the Money Talk

Open communication is crucial. Before marriage, discuss your credit reports, debts, and financial goals. Understanding each other's financial situation allows you to create a plan together, preventing future surprises and conflicts that could indirectly affect your financial health and credit standing.

Choose the Right Card to Getting Married

No matter your current standing, improving your credit score is an achievable goal through consistent, positive financial behavior. Following an expert guide with proven methods can lead to meaningful changes, often within just a few months.

• Make on-time payments. Your payment history is the single most significant factor in your credit score, so set up automatic payments to ensure you never miss a due date.
• Reduce your credit utilization. Aim to use less than 30% of your total available credit, as this ratio is the second most important component of your score. You can achieve this by paying down balances or requesting a credit limit increase.
• Monitor your credit reports. Regularly check your reports from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax for free to spot and dispute any errors or fraudulent activity that could be dragging your score down.
• Become an authorized user. Being added to a credit card account of someone with a long, positive payment history can help improve your score, provided the issuer reports authorized user activity to the credit bureaus.
• Limit applications for new credit. Each application can result in a hard inquiry, which may temporarily lower your score. Space out applications and use prequalification tools when possible to shop for rates without the impact.

The Bottom Line

Getting married won't directly change your credit score. Your financial actions as a couple, such as opening joint accounts or co-signing loans, are what can impact your individual credit reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my spouse's bad credit lower my credit score?

No, your credit histories remain separate after marriage. Your spouse's poor credit won't impact your score unless you open joint accounts or co-sign on loans together.

Can we apply for a mortgage together if one of us has bad credit?

Yes, but lenders often use the lower of the two credit scores. This could lead to a higher interest rate or less favorable loan terms for your mortgage.

How can we build good credit as a couple?

Focus on responsible joint credit use. Make on-time payments for all shared accounts, maintain low credit utilization, and regularly check your credit reports for accuracy.