It’s important that, before you get married, you know your future spouse’s potential credit score.
That’s because if they have poor credit, it could influence what you would be able to buy once you’re married.
The first thing you need to do is get your credit reports. You can get one free report from each of the three credit bureaus every year by heading to annualcreditreport.com.
Then, take a look at your report and your future spouse’s report to check for any problems.
If you have good credit and your spouse doesn’t, you would still be able to buy things in your name only, and use just your credit report and not your spouse’s.
The only problem with buying things in your own name is that you can’t use your spouse’s income when applying for big purchases.
So, when buying a house, for example, you’ll typically need to include both incomes when applying – and that means using both credit scores.
So, it’s important to know whether you’ll have a problem before heading into the marriage. That way, you won’t come across any surprises.
