What You Should Know About Credit and Marriage

Do one thing: Before you walk down the aisle, make sure you and your significant other understand the full financial picture each of you brings to the union, including debt and credit history details. For more on credit and marriage, keep reading.

Myths about Marriage and Shared Credit

When two people get married, some aspects of their separate finances can potentially change. One of the most persistent credit myths is that getting married merges your credit scores or credit reports with your partner. That’s simply not true.

What Actually Happens With Credit and Marriage

“Your credit stays yours, and that’s actually a good thing,” says Skee Orr, CFP, AIF, ATP, founder and lead advisor of Kinetic Wealth in Knoxville, Tennessee. “Some people think getting married somehow merges credit files, but it doesn’t. Your credit report remains entirely your own. Your spouse’s report remains entirely theirs. Marriage, by itself, changes nothing on either report.”

Potential Changes to Credit After Marriage 

What can change your credit picture following marriage is how you manage accounts together going forward, notes Orr. Here are some of the actions you could take that would impact your credit reports – and in turn, potentially your credit scores in the future:

• Opening a joint account
• Cosigning for a loan, including a mortgage
• Adding a spouse as an authorized user on a credit card

When you do any of the things mentioned above, those new or updated accounts will appear on both of your credit reports, for better or worse, says Orr. And while your credit histories don’t merge, your future financial decisions absolutely can impact each other in many cases.

Fewer Married Couples Are Combining Finances

If you’re wondering how to merge money in your relationship, it may be helpful to know that in recent years, sharing finances has become less common among married couples, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation.

Trending Away from Joint Accounts

The percentage of married couples without any joint bank accounts — including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit — rose more than 50% between 1996 and 2023.

• 23% of married couples had no joint bank accounts in 2023, up from 15% in 1996.
• 77% of married households who owned assets at financial institutions held at least one account jointly with their spouse in 2023, down from 85% in 1996.

One reason for the shift away from joint accounts could be that more people are marrying later in life and enter the union after establishing their own finances, making them less likely to combine any financial accounts.

Start Marriage with Open Financial Communication

Whether or not you open joint accounts when merging your lives, Orr encourages couples to sit down and review their credit profiles together, openly and without judgment. “If one partner is carrying a late payment or an old unpaid obligation that’s dragging their score down, that’s not a personal failure. It’s a problem to solve together.” 

Steps for Communication

Admittedly, getting started is the hardest (and most important) part. Orr recommends that couples approach financial planning the same way they’d approach any other part of their relationship with honesty, patience, and a willingness to meet each other where they are.

• Think through your goals together.
• Negotiate.
• Agree on a direction, even if the details take time to work out.
• Head off conflict when talking about past credit challenges.
• Use language that feels less judgmental.
• Say something like: “We’re going to address this, and here’s how we’re going to do it.” That kind of conversation starter is an example of setting a joint goal and moving toward it as a team.

Consider A Prenuptial Agreement

Kyle Ray, founder and wealth manager at Ridgeback Financial Wealth in Georgia, encourages clients to consider putting a legal document in place before they get married for a few key reasons. “Beyond the simplest situations, couples should consider a prenup as part of early estate planning,” he says. “It encourages transparency around assets, debts, and expectations. For clients with significant assets or expected inheritances, it helps clarify what will remain separate versus shared.” When structured thoughtfully, prenuptial agreements can:

• Preserve tax advantages
• Outline how assets may ultimately be shared

Prenups as a Practical Tool

Prenups aren’t just for the wealthy, Ray explains, adding they can be a practical tool for any couple entering a partnership with different financial positions. “Even if you don’t formally go and do that, you are still forced to disclose assets and liabilities,” he says, which is something that can help each party coming into the marriage have a better picture of the shared financial landscape moving forward.

Strategies for Managing Joint Finances   

When it comes right down to it, there’s no one right way to successfully manage joint finances, including your credit, as a couple.

• It really boils down to what works best for you and your spouse.
• Consider the “yours, mine, and ours” method.
• With couples who both earn income, you don’t have to choose joint or separate accounts.
• With this approach, you can open a joint account that both of you put money into to cover shared expenses – everything from groceries to utilities.
• You may also each keep your own checking or savings account, too, so that each partner still has some say over how discretionary funds are spent.

With reporting by Casandra Andrews