Should I send my divorce decree to the credit bureaus?

[Retta]

I’m divorced for two years now, and I’ve just discovered that there’s some recent negative information on my credit report related to my ex. I want to dispute this information as not mine, but should I also send my divorce decree to the credit bureaus?

[Tracy Winters]

I’m afraid you can’t dispute it

Unfortunately, lenders and creditors are not interested in you divorce decree. While it bounds you and your former spouse, the credit bureaus and lenders are not bound to it.

As far as lenders and creditors are concerned, the contracts that you’ve signed are the only thing that defines your obligation to them. Your marital status is of no interest.

As for the credit bureaus, their only obligation is to correctly represent the information from creditors and lender. In fact, marital status has no effect on your credit reports and scores by law!

What you should have done two years ago is to separate all of your accounts – close all joint accounts and open new individual ones. You still need to do this, and the good news is that you don’t need your ex for this. All creditors must close a joint account at the request of either spouses.

To start with, you must act now before things get out of hand. Talk to your ex, pay off the debt and close the account. As for the damage that has already been done to your credit report – I’m afraid you can’t do much about it. Here is what you CAN do:

• Add a statement to your credit report, explaining the situation to potential lenders.
• Write a letter of good will to that creditor, asking him politely to remove that negative information.

For more information see also Divorce & Credit. Good luck.

[Author]

Posts