How marriage can affect your credit score
Quick insights
- Getting married does not affect your credit score or credit history directly.
- Credit scores are individual to a person, not a married couple.
- Any credit you open with your spouse, like a credit card, may affect your credit score going forward.
You and your partner have decided to tie the knot—congratulations! This is an exciting time with lots of learning involved, especially when it comes to your personal finances. One way marriage could affect your finances is your credit score. While getting married won't change your credit score directly, applying for joint credit accounts as partners can.
In this article, you'll learn how the choices you make about joint credit accounts and co-signing loans may impact your credit score.
Does getting married affect your credit?
You may be wondering if your new marriage can affect your credit. In and of itself, marriage will typically not directly affect credit history or credit score, as it does not get reported to the three main credit bureaus: Experian™, Equifax® and TransUnion®.
Your credit history belongs to you, as an individual. It includes your past credit behavior, including details of past payments, debt and balances, age and type of credit accounts, as well as available credit amounts. These factors are used to populate your credit report.
Your credit score, on the other hand, is the three-digit numerical value that's calculated based on your credit history and other factors. Credit scores range from approximately 300 to 850 depending on the scoring model used. Your credit score represents your creditworthiness within the credit-lending industry and is a factor when it comes to applying for a new credit card accounts, qualifying for loans and mortgages and terms you may be offered.
To learn more about your credit score, Chase Credit Journey® may be worth exploring. Chase Credit Journey, powered by Experian™, is a free online tool available to both Chase and non-Chase customers. It is designed to help customers better understand and manage their credit score and credit goals. Customers can access their credit score anytime with no impact to their credit, receive credit tips to help improve their score and get identity monitoring—all in one place and for free.
When you get married, does your credit combine?
Now that you know a little more about your individual credit, credit score and credit history, you may be wondering if your credit gets combined with your partner's when you get married. To put it simply, no—credit does not combine with your spouse's when you get married. You will always have your individual credit score.
However, as a married couple, you may have some joint accounts. This could affect your credit score. Let's get into more detail below.
How do joint credit card accounts impact your credit score?
As a married couple, you may open (or have already opened) joint lines of credit. This type of credit means that both you and your spouse's names will appear on the credit card account. That means the financial activity towards this account is reflected in both individual reports, and, consequently, it may impact your individual credit scores. How one spouse handles the account may impact the other spouse's credit, and therefore have the potential to affect their credit score.
Joint accounts are opened after considering both you and your spouse's incomes, assets and creditworthiness. So your score may be temporarily affected if a hard inquiry is conducted.
Impact of a co-signer
A co-signer is a person who contractually agrees to cover repayment of a loan, mortgage or credit account if the primary account user doesn't. Co-signers may be able to help those who are new to credit or have lower credit scores get approvals for a new line of credit. Chase does not currently offer co-signers.
If you decide to co-sign your spouse's account, keep in mind that you, as a co-signer, will be responsible for stepping in if your partner can't afford the payments. Should you and your spouse miss payments or make frequent late payments, you could face negative impacts to your scores.
Impact as an authorized user
An authorized user is a person who's been added to the credit card account by its owner, also known as the primary cardmember. If you decide to authorize your spouse to use your credit card, their activity will be reflected in the balance.
As a joint account holder, you share responsibility for any balances incurred on the account. Spending patterns on a joint account—including purchases or overdrafts made by either account holder—may affect both parties' credit scores.
Bottom line
Just because you and your loved one decide to tie the knot, your credit score won't be impacted from that union. In fact, your score shouldn't change as a result of marriage unless you open joint accounts with your partner.
As you build your financial foundation with your spouse, your choices—individually and as a couple—can affect your individual credit profiles.
