It is always important to get your credit report before, during and after the divorce. You might be surprised to discover the opening and closing of new credit card accounts and loans by your spouse and learn your credit score.
You should know that you can order a free credit report online every 12 months from the three main credit-report agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. To access your credit report online click here or you can call (877) 322-8228. Be prepared to answer some personal questions to verify your identity with the credit agency. You can also hire an agency to monitor your credit for a monthly fee usually ranging from $7-12/month. This agency will then disclose your credit score to you - a very important piece of information for your cash and debt management. Lenders and employers are now using this credit score to determine if you are a good credit risk. This could be important if you plan to buy a new car, apply for a new credit card in your name only (which is important and start early getting this credit card in your name when going through a divorce - find out what you don’t know and have a strategy to get what you want and deserve). Your credit score will provide the card issuers information they will use to set your interest rate on the card or loan. Currently these rates range from 7% to upwards of 22%. Beware of the airlines credit cards that give you miles, but also have much higher interest rates for unpaid balances. These cards work well if you like to travel and pay monthly balances in full.
See Chapter 7 of my new book, Fair Share Divorce for Women, for further discussion about budgeting, protecting your credit, ordering a credit report, and some “how to” pointers to prevent ID theft.