How to Separate Credit Accounts During a Separation
- 1). Request a credit report online from at least one of the three major credit-reporting agencies: Equifax, Transunion and Experian. Each agency will give you one free credit report per year. Your credit report reveals all outstanding debts -- both those solely in your name and those held jointly with your spouse. Requesting a report from each bureau reduces the risk that you may accidentally omit or forget about an account.
- 2). Make a list of all existing joint credit accounts. For each, list the name of the creditor, the last four digits of the account number, the reason the debt was incurred, the minimum monthly payment and the balance due. For the accounts that still have a balance due, decide together who will be responsible for each outstanding debt.
- 3). Call the creditor for each joint credit account without a balance and request that the account be closed, to ensure that neither you nor your spouse can run up new debt. Send a fax to the creditor’s customer-service department requesting the same thing; save a copy of your fax confirmation page for your files.
- 4). Contact the customer-service department for each creditor holding a balance due to request that your spouse’s name be removed from the accounts for which you will be responsible; your spouse must do the same for the accounts that he or she will be paying. Creditors are unlikely to remove either of your names from the debt -- it is in their best interests to remain able to sue either or both of you in the event of nonpayment -- but it is worth a try.
- 5). Refinance the credit accounts on which the creditor will not remove your spouse’s name; ensure that your spouse does the same for his or her respective accounts. For personal loans, the process may involve simply taking out a new personal loan in your name solely and paying off the old one. For other credit accounts, you may apply for a new card in your name and do a balance transfer. Close the old joint account.
- 6). Request a new credit report. Review the report to ensure that you have refinanced or paid off everything for which you were responsible; confirm that your spouse has done the same.