How important is you spouse credit score

[college22c]

I'm in a relationship with my GF, and her credit scores are in the low 500 she owes multiple companies, and most of her accounts will never be paid off. My scores ( FICO) are near 700. Should I be worried about her past history with credit? 

[drkaje]

Yes, you should be concerned.

[pakman92]

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@college22c wrote:

I'm in a relationship with my GF, and her credit scores are in the low 500 she owes multiple companies, and most of her accounts will never be pai off. My scores ( FICO) are near 700. Should I be worried about her past history with credit? 

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It is only important if you are trying to cosign a loan with her or tyring to get a mortgage together.  If you can get a mortgage w/o her income being factored in, it doesn't really matter.  

[Shogun]

I agree with both of the above.  While apping for a mortgage, if it's just on your income and you can qualify, it won't affect you.   But what kind of financial habits does she/he have that has gotten them into trouble?  Will this type of behavior continue?  If so, then yes it will affect you.

[drkaje]

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@pakman92 wrote:

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@college22c wrote:

I'm in a relationship with my GF, and her credit scores are in the low 500 she owes multiple companies, and most of her accounts will never be pai off. My scores ( FICO) are near 700. Should I be worried about her past history with credit? 

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It is only important if you are trying to cosign a loan with her or tyring to get a mortgage together.  If you can get a mortgage w/o her income being factored in, it doesn't really matter.  

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I'd have a hard time disagreeing more.

In relationships, me problems always end up becoming we-problems. Even a person who does nothing when SO can't get credit still has to hear about it or deal with someone who probably feels not co-signing shows a lack of commitment/love.

Before anyone gets it twisted.... I'm not saying "Don't date someone with messed-up credit!". I've had messed up credit and worked it back to good with a lot of help from people here, like many others. I'm simply saying "If someone has messed-up credit and ain't working on it, you're eventually going to relationship problems."

Much as we hate to deal with it; The thought process that leads to irresponsible use of credit isn't limited to one area. I think we all grow up quite a bit during credit repair.

[Croselx]

It is important, on par with the 'money talk'. Strangely enough, from what I've seen, this rarely take place (the money talk also comes later down the road, talk about backwards).

I wouldn't marry someone with a lot of debt, unsolved collections, etc., because (like the poster above said) the me problems become we problems and then comes the arguments about finances and resentment.

[CashOnDelivery]

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@college22c wrote:

I'm in a relationship with my GF, and her credit scores are in the low 500 she owes multiple companies, and most of her accounts will never be paid off. My scores ( FICO) are near 700. Should I be worried about her past history with credit? 

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It's definetly worth a talk. I was young and didn't make wise money decisions. My fiance at the time (now wife) had a talk and let me know that I need to be more responsible if we plan to be together long-term. I was upset at first, but I realized she was right. Besides that talk, I also realized that I picked up my mother's bad spending habits at an early age. Although I don't 100% blame my mother, but I feel the "way" to manage money from watching her was not very smart. I wish you luck and I hope you make the best decision for you!

[aces33]

My advice would be talk to her just to see where her mind is financially. This talk could save you literally thousands of dollars in interest alone.  Tell her to clean up her report by herself and do the work it takes to keep it clean and learn how to budget correctly.  Because if you dont do it now and you marry this girl she'll somehow , without even letting you know , get the idea this is your responsbility.

[tammyjk]

You need to talk about your financial relationship early.   If you cant discuss financial matters now, what will happen down the road?  All of these things include your goals and were you want to be in 5 or 10 years.  My husbands credit was terrible and we had a rocky start with those dicussions.  But we did and I have helped him clean up his credit.  He felt it was hopeless and didnt even try for so long until I showed him it was possible.  Some things like defaulted student loans seem impossible but they arent.  We rehabbed his and his credit improved. 

Perhaps you could start out talking about your goals together? 

[haulingthescoreup]

Old thread, but...

To me, the score per se isn't important. It's what causes the score to be where it is.

A low score might be low due to a one-time disaster, or old misery that is now being worked through and dealt with.

OTOH, a low score might be the result of continuing fecklessness, to use an old-fashioned term: continual late payments with no apparent concern or resolve to change things, new collections, etc.

If it's old stuff that reflects history only and is not recurring, I'd be glad to know and wouldn't worry. (Although I'd keep an eye on things, lol.) But if it's new/ current/ ongoing, there'd be all sorts of bells going off. Is this someone who can't or won't deal with the dull but important everyday chores of life? If so, will they be equally unreliable about sharing the electric bill, doing the dishes, walking the dog, and changing a diaper? It's one thing to raise children who are actually children. It's another to live with an adult who acts like a child.

Actually, this is the real purpose of credit scores for lenders, too: flagging people who have had some sort of difficulty managing their debts and/or money and who are therefore riskier to lend to than others might be. Supposedly the lenders would take a more careful look at those with low scores before offering credit, although the reality these days is that they'll just deny and move on.