Money is one of the most common reasons for divorce. In many cases, one spouse spends irresponsibly, runs up debt and destroys the couple’s credit. Further, in far too many cases, the responsible spouse finds himself or herself suffering with debt problems long after the marriage has ended, often remaining tied to the irresponsible spouse for a lifetime.
However, it doesn’t need to be this way. By following a few simple steps and taking a few precautions, it is possible in many cases to avoid letting your connection to your spouse’s debt outlast your marriage.
A recent article in MoneyTalksNews discusses how to untangle your credit score when you divorce. This is an important question, because credit is a financial area that your ex-spouse can have tremendous power in the years after your divorce. By remaining co-signers on loans and lines of credit, and by being able to increase debt on lines of credit to which you are attached, your ex-spouse can keep your credit score low for potentially the rest of your life.
How to Untangle Your Credit
The first step involves closing shared accounts. Some you could pay off and others you can find ways to remove one or both of your names somehow. Making sure you are not both on any of the accounts can prevent your spouse’s non-payment from reflecting badly on you and can prevent your ex-spouse from drawing further debts on the same account for which you might be held responsible.
The next critical step is to start building credit on your own. You could run your own lines of credit and take out loans on your own. Just make sure you are prompt in your payments so that these actions will actually help your credit score rather than hurt it.
Whatever you do, it is critical to not go into your post-divorce life still entangled financially with your ex-husband or ex-wife. If you truly want to be free from the marriage, you need to be free financially as well as personally.
