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Monday, February 13, 2006

Credit Cards....An Unhappy Marriage

Nearly a third of people lie to their partners about their credit card spending the FSA (Financial Services Authority) reports.

This could be important if your partner builds up a record of unpaid bills, your own credit file is impaired as your history is effectively tied to theirs.

3 comments:

Single Ma said...

"This could be important if your partner builds up a record of unpaid bills, your own credit file is impaired as your history is effectively tied to theirs."

This assumes joint credit cards, which is not always the case, so this statement is not true. In a marriage, one SHOULD disclose ANY spending (via checking acct, credit card, cash, etc.) but a person's credit is NOT hurt by their partner's bad use of credit cards unless they have joint accounts.

Sean Wilson said...

Singlemom,

Thanks for your comments. Credit referencng might work a bit different in our 2 countries.

Your credit history in Britain is linked to your address, the people doing the credit checks don't always look into the background. They just see a debt associated with an address. The system is a bit error prone as a result in the UK.

Sean

Single Ma said...

Oh ok, my apologies. I didn't realize we were in different countries. You're right, credit is VERY different in the US!

So let me ask you this...
If you let your deadbeat uncle live with you, and he files bankruptcy while he's there, that will affect your credit too? What if you buy a new house, the past owner's credit then becomes yours? How do they tell the difference between individuals in the house? So you not only have to be concerned about what your spouse spends, your credit can be affected by ANYBODY living with you?

WOW! That sucks!