Tips:
- It is not legal for someone to simply check someone (spouse or boyfriend etc.) else's credit without them knowing.
- It is a healthy conversation because of the marital problems that bad debt can cause.
- Marrying someone with debt or bad credit doesn't mean that you too will have bad credit or debt. Credit reports are maintained at the individual level...they don't blend post nuptials.
- If you have joint credit then whoever is managing the bills needs to recognize that irresponsible payment patterns impact both spouses.
- When you jointly apply for credit you give the lender permission to pull both credit reports and credit scores. A bad score will pull down the joint application.
- Might be smarter for only the person with good credit to apply for loans assuming they can qualify with just their income.
Emily Peters is a personal finance expert with Credit.com and a former credit bureau insider. Her areas of expertise include credit cards, credit scores, debt issues, loans, identity theft and savings.
Emily comes to Credit.com from a background in consumer education with the credit bureau, TransUnion. Through her industry experience, Emily learned the inner workings of the credit system. She now applies this knowledge to promote financial literacy with Credit.com.
As a personal finance expert, Emily has been quoted by USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Bankrate, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, American Banker, Smart Money, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, CBS News and the Wall Street Journal. She also regularly provides commentary to Fox News and Fox Business News.
Emily coordinates Credit.com's team of experts; serving as editor for CreditBloggers.com and the Credit Expert team on Twitter. She specializes in working with consumers to answer credit questions and interpreting news headlines from a personal finance perspective.
Emily has presented live financial empowerment seminars at Money Wi$e Women, the YWCA Women & Money Conference and Dress for Success.
She holds a B.A. in Communication from University of the Pacific. Emily went by the last name "Davidson" before September 2008.
