The way your spouse manages his/her finances, it may have a huge affect on your finances also. So, it’s for sure that you’d need to keep an eye on his/her credit history as often as possible. For this you must have that authority to check the credit report. If not, then you might just have to ask your partner for permission.
But are there more reasons behind checking your spouse’s credit history? Yes, there are, and practically, you can’t avoid them:
1. Home loan
Whenever you’d decide to buy a new property, check yours and your spouse's credit scores if both of you will be the co-applicants for this loan.
You don’t require to have a high credit score for qualifying the home loan. Normally, FHA or Federal Housing Administration provides finances to such borrowers who are having scores above 580. But it is possible as long as the lender get satisfied with other financial requirements. But if your score is greater than 740 or even higher, you easily fulfill one step towards opting a home loan.
Keep in your mind that home loan providers or lenders not only verify FICO scores but several other aspects too. If you are getting defaulted in your credit cards, a single or multiple late payments may hamper your dream of getting a new property. Lenders may ignore your past records, but they might also consider any eviction history from rental homes. If you are confused about whether your spouse has such trouble on his/her report or not, it is wise to make a fa-to-face chat regarding the matter. You may form an agreement to give each other authority to check at each other’s credit reports. If you both found any error, talk about that and resolve it as soon as possible.
2. Protection
If somehow you have become the prey of an identity thief, all of your personal/financial details will be gone. The thief may have access to your financial data, along with your spouse. There are several ways they can hunt you down and steal from you. You’ll definitely try to save and retrieve your private data from him. So, first you need to check all of your family’s credit reports if any one member among you has been victimized.
You must also check his/her credit report after the demise of your spouse. You must attend the outstanding accounts and check regularly to prevent further frauds after your loved one’s death.
3. Trust factor
It is wrong to break the trust of your spouse and check his/her credit history without their prior permission. But if your spouse denies to show you his/her credit report, seriously, then it might get complicated. As per a general survey conducted in 2014, 30% to 36% of couples hide a significant amount of money from each other. 27.5% of those couples hide their spending behaviour from each other. Keeping secrets can harm the relationship between any couple. So, financial - infidelity is not a good thing to cope up with.
By reviewing bank statements, credit card bills, and also the credit history, you both can have a fair idea about each other’s financial status. So, move ahead and play the financial game as a team, but not as an opponent.
4. Good credit
You can build a strong credit history, along with your spouse's. Use the information you and your spouse got from each other's reports and make improvements in your FICO score.
What you may do:
- Pay off debt - The most common way to improve your credit score is to reduce the debt burden. Most of us are getting stressed by the credit card bills. So, by doing this we can also normalize our stress levels.
- Make on-time payments - Making on-time payments is a great helper to grow your credit score. You can select auto-deduction facility if you need to.
- Maintain old accounts - Keeping older accounts is a great way to keep good credit score.
- Apply for new credit - Getting a new line of credits and maintain them properly to grow your and your spouse's credit score.
You can’t check your spouse’s credit history without their permission or without having a court order, but it can be a good exercise for both of you if can be done together.