Many women complain about not having any credit.
Those complaining are those who REALIZE that they do
not have credit, single women or divorced women,
specifically. However, there are many married women
who have no credit because financial matters are
handled by their husbands, and they are not even
aware that they are without any type of credit
rating. This is a large problem in America today.
Divorce seems to be the predicament that taunts
women in search of their own good credit ratings.
Either the wife did not have any of her own credit
during the marriage, or the credit she shared with
her husband took a bad turn during the divorce.
The key to your credit success, regardless of your
marital success, is that you build your own "sole
and separate" credit. There are many benefits to be
gained. First, in the event that the marriage does
not work out, each spouse may part with their own
credit. If the wife was always on time with her
payments and the husband was poor with his payment
schedule, they should be able to part ways with her
credit intact.
Another good reason to have separate credit is in
the event a financial tragedy comes your way,
leaving you with no alternative but to file
bankruptcy. It might be possible that one partner
could file while the other remains clear.
If your husband currently has all the credit, have
him place you on his accounts as a ‘sharer’ of the
account. You want to be sure you share the account
but not the contractual liability. This way you will
NOT be responsible for his errors. If it does show
as a negative on your rating, you will be able to
dispute it as you did only share the account. If the
account is in good standing, work on getting it on
your credit rating as you may take the
responsibility for the good rating. For men in
similar situations, try the same method.
If neither the wife nor the husband has adequate
credit, then both would sign the account as "joint"
in privileges and contractual liability. Continue
this process until you both have enough credit to
get credit singularly. Then, as your new sole and
separate accounts begin to get established, start
closing the joint accounts you once shared. The
purpose of this is to establish your credit as "sole
and separate".
Consider also the use of a joint checking account. A
clean checking history is very helpful in building
credit, however, be wary if your spouse is
particularly neglectful when maintaining a checking
account-the end result could cause more harm than
good.
