“One fine morning Melissa received a huge credit card bill. She was bewildered with who spent so much on the joint credit card with her husband! On investigation, she found out that it was her husband. Or let’s say her ex-spouse!
Now, this didn’t surprise her. She and her husband were heading for a divorce. And she had heard how some spouses go on a shopping spree during this phase. But she wasn’t going to let her husband ruin her credit score and thus her chances of getting loans in the future. Hence, she consulted her divorce lawyer Barrie to ensure that her husband doesn’t ruin her credit score during and after the divorce.”
Doesn’t this story sound too familiar? Is this happening to you while you are going through a divorce? Do you know the steps to avoid falling into this situation? If not, keep reading this blog to know more.
Protect Your Credit Score with These Three Steps During a Divorce
- Contact Equifax Canada to get your Credit Score Report
Getting your credit score report is crucial to understand how many accounts are in your name: individual and joint accounts.
- Discuss with your spouse
Any professional Barrie divorce lawyer will ask you to sit down with your spouse and discuss what needs to be done with all the joint accounts and credit facilities.
Once you are divorced, your lives will be different and will have different financial requirements. Hence, you need to ensure that you close all your joint accounts with your ex-spouse. It doesn’t matter what your divorce agreement says, if you have your name on a joint account with your ex-spouse, you both will be responsible for any actions taken about it. For example, if your ex-spouse spends or defaults on any payment related to the joint account, it will affect your credit score too.
Hence, you must cut all credit ties with your ex-spouse. If you are unable to close any joint accounts, ask the financial institution to convert them into individual accounts. Also, remove your ex-spouse as an authorized user of your accounts.
- Set up new payment schedules from your individual accounts.
Even after your divorce, you might have some payments to make such as mortgage and utilities. Hence, you must make new payment schedules from your individual accounts for the same. This way you will have proof of how you took care of major expenses during the divorce.
If you need any more assistance regarding this or want to file for divorce, you can connect with us at Owen & Associates Law. We have a team of professional and certified divorce lawyers Barrie who can guide you through the process effectively.
Contact us now to know more.
