Understand How A Divorce Can Affect Your Credit Score

By Kevin L Lynch

A great deal too numerous marriages end in divorce these days. Sadly the ending of a marriage is not only an emotional battle but it all too often has a tremendously negative outcome on your finances also.

Far too often these days, a individual who has been a dependable and dependable credit risk for many years ends up with vast problems on their credit following a divorce. One of the main causes of tricky credit for many individuals is divorce.

Married persons are often treated as equally accountable for repaying loans like mortgages, car payments and credit cards. Through a divorce one person is usually assigned responsibility for the obligation. In spite of this even though this is a declaration from the court is it often overlooked and ignored by creditors, especially when the loan goes delinquent.

I'm sure you know that a decree of divorce is not noted on a credit report. If one of the ex spouses is responsible for the debt and a payment is missed the creditors can try to collect from both parties and they can also convey the delinquencies on both parties credit report. If your ex-spouse is accountable for the payments and he or she starts to slack off your credit report can also be affected.

Because you have split households and you are no longer getting mail or notices at the same address, you may not even be attentive that there is a problem with the old debts until it is too late and it is already reported on your credit.

If the accountable person decides to stop paying on the loan altogether and file bankruptcy the other spouse can be held accountable for the total money owing plus late charges. As for the creditor, the court order is irrelevant. The other spouse is their only remaining alternative to collect on the loan and they will go after that person.

It is disappointing but at this time the credit system is exceptionally inequitable to the parties of a divorce. Often the only way to entirely conclude a divorce is to declare bankruptcy. This is very unfortunate if there is one party who strives to be dependable and desperately needs to keep a spotless credit record.

Divorce is just one case in point of why it is so significant that we have the right to repair our credit. Any item on a credit report, counting a bankruptcy can be disputed if you will that it is inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, untimely, ambiguous, biased, unverifiable or unclear. - 29956

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