I completely ruined my credit putting my teenage self through school. Now I'm "older and wiser" but my credit scores are terrible. However, my income is fantastic now that I've made it through school. My fiance, on the other hand, makes much less a year than me, but has much higher credit scores-- enough to qualify for a mortgage. We are getting married 4/10. Will his score go down and ability to get a mortgage be affected by marrying me? 
lelea3 wrote:
I completely ruined my credit putting my teenage self through school. Now I'm "older and wiser" but my credit scores are terrible. However, my income is fantastic now that I've made it through school. My fiance, on the other hand, makes much less a year than me, but has much higher credit scores-- enough to qualify for a mortgage. We are getting married 4/10. Will his score go down and ability to get a mortgage be affected by marrying me?
Hi, welcome to the forums!
JoeB is correct. Marital status does not affect your personal credit in any way. But since mortgages look at both buyers, you definitely want to get started on your own stuff. You'd be amazed what you can pull off in nine months with a lot of study here.
And I'll echo the comment about joint status on any credit account other than a mortgage --don't do it! There are so many pitfalls there. Once there is joint ownership of a CC (credit card), etc., almost every bank will refuse to allow one person to come off the account in the future. The only way one party could get off the account is to close it completely. Besides the Big D, there are other concerns with joint accounts. If one partner must file bankruptcy due to medical bills, job loss, etc., the other partner (not included in the BK) can still get credit.
So joint is OK on a mortgage, but on everything else --CC's, car loans, etc. --make it individual. If one person wants the other to be able to use a CC, almost every lender will allow you to add authorized users (AU's), which won't mingle the credit.
Congratulations and best wishes on your upcoming marriage!
No, we don't live in a community property state. So I'm assuming that means marriage will have less of an impact on individual credit scores? At this point we aren't planning on any joint credit cards, etc. The mortgage was the only joint loan in the near future. We have a shared checking/savings account, but both maintain indivdual banking.
Thanks for the welcome, too! 
Community property status has nothing to do with credit scores.
His stuff doesn't show on your reports, and so his stuff doesn't affect your scores, for good or bad. Same in reverse: your history (including future credit in your name) does not show on his reports, so his scores aren't affected.
The only time that one person's actions would affect the other is if the account is somehow shared. One version of this is if one of you is an authorized user on the other's card. The card history and usage would (generally) report to both of your reports, and therefore could influence both of your scores. (I said generally because not all cards report to the AU's reports.) The other version is a joint account, where everything on that account shows on both party's reports, affecting both party's scores.
An AU can pull off of an account if it gets ugly. A joint account holder can't, thus the warnings about only going joint on a mortgage.
So his scores can be in the 800's, and yours can be in the 300's, and it won't affect the other at all, as long as you don't mingle your credit. The one thing that you have to be aware of is that if the two of you apply next year for a mortgage, using both incomes to qualify, your reports and scores will be pulled as well as his, and the lender will go with the lowest scores. So unless you two can qualify for a mortgage on only his income, you need to get your credit reports straightened out and improve your scores in the interim, because in this instance, your past credit history will affect him.
If you can read those suggested links that were provided above, and learn how you can improve your credit reports and therefore your FICO scores, you two will be in a much better position come mortgage time.
In the meantime, do NOT get any joint credit.
eta: JoeB outtyped me. The virtue of short answers!
His stuff doesn't show on your reports, and so his stuff doesn't affect your scores, for good or bad. Same in reverse: your history (including future credit in your name) does not show on his reports, so his scores aren't affected.
The only time that one person's actions would affect the other is if the account is somehow shared. One version of this is if one of you is an authorized user on the other's card. The card history and usage would (generally) report to both of your reports, and therefore could influence both of your scores. (I said generally because not all cards report to the AU's reports.) The other version is a joint account, where everything on that account shows on both party's reports, affecting both party's scores.
An AU can pull off of an account if it gets ugly. A joint account holder can't, thus the warnings about only going joint on a mortgage.
So his scores can be in the 800's, and yours can be in the 300's, and it won't affect the other at all, as long as you don't mingle your credit. The one thing that you have to be aware of is that if the two of you apply next year for a mortgage, using both incomes to qualify, your reports and scores will be pulled as well as his, and the lender will go with the lowest scores. So unless you two can qualify for a mortgage on only his income, you need to get your credit reports straightened out and improve your scores in the interim, because in this instance, your past credit history will affect him.
If you can read those suggested links that were provided above, and learn how you can improve your credit reports and therefore your FICO scores, you two will be in a much better position come mortgage time.
In the meantime, do NOT get any joint credit.
eta: JoeB outtyped me. The virtue of short answers!
JoeBJay20 wrote:
You should try being less verbose LOL.
I've been trying for nearly 55 years, and I'm not getting very far, am I?
