Wither thou go-est...into credit problems?

weirdoactor — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:00:49 -0800

Help! I need tips for cleaning up my credit before I get hitched. I have "not-good" credit; not particularly bad, but definitely not good. My debt is probably around $1200, between owed charge-offs and fees. I’ve been paying off my debt as quickly as possible; the creditors are sadly quite unhelpful, not sending me invoices when I request them (either by mail or fax), or sending me notices when I have paid off the debt(s).

My fiancée has good/very good credit. I don't want my smelly credit to stink up her good credit when we get married.

She wants to marry me ASAP in a civil ceremony (we'll still get married "for real" in front of family next year) so that I can benefit from her great health insurance. As I have at least two major undiagnosed medical conditions for which I could most definitely use health insurance; I’m all for that, with the caveat that I clear up my credit and get a clean report from all three major credit agencies prior to tying the knot.

She’s keeping her last name, and I think we’ll be filing taxes separately next year (and possibly future years, but that’s a question/discussion for another time).

Questions:

- What are the “time factors” regarding credit and marriage?
- How soon do you show up as a “couple/married/joined credit file”, if such things exist?
- Does the fact that she won’t be using my last name affect that sort of thing?
- Could we get married, with me continuing my current credit cleaning pace (my goal is to have all charge-offs/amounts owed paid by February), and not have her be affected by my credit?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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Wither thou go-est...into credit problems?