Ex-Wife screwed up your credit?

It is such a nice problem with you. But i tell you something, keep your divorce decree handy showing who the judge said was responsible for paying what. Getting divorced is a bad thing. What many people don’t realize is that the ex-spouse can mess up your credit report long after the ink is dry on your final divorce decree. I know, I know. The judge said he could have the house and the car and you could have all the credit cards, but if you applied jointly for the house and the car, the lender may, quite frankly, care less about your failed marriage. Lenders agreed to make a loan to both of you, whether or not your relationship worked out. If you split up, that doesn’t dissolve either person’s obligations to pay.


The judge may have the ability to assign credit obligations to either party in such a case, but the judge doesn’t have the authority to absolve either of you from paying someone back. Only the lender can do that. Let’s say you had bought a house together and the exspouse got the house while you signed a piece of paper agreeing to release all interest in the property. Fine. But there’s still a mortgage outstanding. Here’s where you need to be careful. If your ex-spouse is responsible for the mortgage and the car, unless you get off of the original loan you may still find late payments on your credit report. Let’s say you give away the home and sign a warranty deed to your ex-spouse. Unless the ex refinances the loan, the payment history might still appear on your credit report. That’s just the way it works. To compound the problem, if you needed both incomes to qualify for the original loan then the exmay not be able to qualify for a refinance in the first place. In this instance, not only do you need to release all interest in your old home to your ex, you must also have the original loan refinanced to get you off of the mortgage completely.

The same is true for the car and any other loans you might have obtained together. A divorce decree isn’t sent to the credit agency when you get divorced. If you’ve been divorced, you need to get your ducks in a row and review your credit report long before you apply for a mortgage.
Some loans make allowances for legal assignments for who’s responsible for what, and although those obligations may not be taken off of your credit report, any loans still in your name might not be considered. Keep your divorce decree. If you can’t find it, get a copy of it. While a divorce decree won’t erase joint obligations, for qualification purposes old credit items might be excluded from your application when it comes time to determine debt ratios.