“How to Handle Shared Credit Accounts Post-Divorce”

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Why Your Ex-Spouse’s Name Appears on Your Credit Report

Your ex-spouse’s name may still appear on your credit report after a divorce if you both took on debt together during your marriage. This can continue for up to 10 years after the joint debt accounts are closed. To remove an ex’s name from your credit report, you need to close those accounts and let them expire or have them reassigned individually to yourself or your ex.

How to Remove Your Ex-Spouse’s Name from Your Credit Report

Removing your ex-spouse’s name from your credit report typically involves closing shared accounts, which usually requires paying them off in full. Afterward, you may need to wait up to 10 years for the account’s payment history to disappear from your credit reports.

One effective strategy is to open new credit card accounts that allow balance transfers. Each former spouse can transfer half of the balance from the shared account to their new card, then close the shared account. This method can also be applied to unsecured personal loans.

If your ex is an authorized user on your account, you can remove their name by contacting the card issuer, even if there is an outstanding balance. This prevents any further activity on the card from appearing on the de-authorized user’s credit reports.

What to Do if You Can’t Separate Accounts

In some cases, it may not be possible to separate joint credit accounts during a divorce. For example, a jointly held loan on a house, car, or boat that one ex-spouse plans to keep. Divorce decrees often order the party retaining the asset to pay the monthly bill, but legal responsibility remains shared. Both names will stay on the account, and it will continue to appear on both credit reports. Missed payments or repossessions will negatively impact both credit scores.

Until one of the following occurs, both parties remain responsible for the joint debt:

• The financed asset is sold, and the remaining balance is paid off, with proceeds split according to the divorce decree.
• The spouse retaining the asset refinances it, replacing the joint loan with a new account in their name alone.
• The joint debt is paid off in full, and the account is closed.

Even after closing the account, it will remain on both credit reports for up to 10 years.

The Bottom Line

Removing a former spouse’s name from your credit report may not be feasible if you borrowed money jointly. Joint credit accounts that outlast your marriage will continue to impact both parties until they are closed. Even after closure, records of these accounts and their payment histories will remain on your credit reports for up to 10 years.

To monitor how jointly held debts affect your credit, regularly check your credit report and score, or sign up for free credit monitoring services.

For any mortgage service needs, contact O1ne Mortgage at 213-732-3074. We are here to assist you with all your mortgage requirements.

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