During a divorce, you will likely experience feelings of sadness, loss, and failure. In addition, you may be left with financial struggles because of legal fees, child support, alimony, and asset division. Since a divorce can negatively impact your credit score, it is important to understand how so that you can minimize the damage. Here are several ways divorce can affect your credit.
Your Ex-Spouse Has Access to Your Accounts
If your divorce ended on bad terms and your ex is angry, they may rack up debt on any joint credit cards and drain your bank accounts, leaving you out of money and responsible for any incurred debt. To prevent this issue, you should change all of your banking passwords and remove your ex from all of your financial accounts.
Your Ex-Spouse Does Not Pay Your Joint Bills
The judge may have ordered your ex-spouse to pay certain joint bills after the divorce. If they are not concerned about their credit and have no incentive to pay these bills, they may refrain from doing so. Since your name is on these joint bills, your credit score will suffer if they are not paid. Hopefully, you can speak to your ex if he is not paying but if you cannot, you may need to make payments on your own to protect your credit score.
You are Unable to Pay All of Your Bills
It can be difficult to support yourself while paying child support and/or alimony. This is especially true if you were a stay-at-home parent and have recently re-entered the workforce and may not be making enough money to fund all of your expenses. If you find that you are unable to pay all of your bills, you should reduce your monthly expenses and find ways to increase your income.
You Depend on Your Credit Cards
If money is tight as a newly single and you start to depend on credit cards, you could hurt your credit score as credit card usage is a crucial factor in credit ratings. In order to avoid high credit card usage, get a second job, do some contract work, babysit, clean houses, or do anything else that boosts your income so that you can avoid credit card usage that is too high.
Contact a Hinsdale Divorce Lawyer
If you are in the process of a divorce or recently finalized your divorce, you should know that you can prevent a damaged credit score. For more information on how to or legal assistance with your divorce, reach out to a DuPage County divorce lawyer at 630-920-8855 for a free consultation.
Sources:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/credit-cards-divorce-hurt-score-joint-accounts-bills-pay/
https://www.gobankingrates.com/credit/5-ways-divorce-can-affect-credit-score/