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HomeBlog Credit Card DebtSurprise – You Might Want to Pay Off Your Ex’s Credit Cards
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Surprise – You Might Want to Pay Off Your Ex’s Credit Cards

May 17, 2013 by National Debt Relief

man holding multiple credit cardsDivorces can get nasty. Very nasty. Even if you live in a community property state where everything, including your debts, is supposed to be divided up 50-50, it rarely works that way in practice. It can be the worse if you live in what’s called an equitable distribution state. When this is the case, kitty bar the door. This is because everything is negotiable including what happens to your joint credit card debt.

What happened to my friend

I have a friend who got divorced while there was $100,000 remaining on a home equity loan. He had promised to take responsibility for half of this and mailed his portion of the payment to her every month. The agreement was that she was then to make the payment using an automatic payment program at her bank. Unfortunately, she somehow muffed on a few of these payments. As a result her credit score dropped dramatically and so did his.

The net/net

Without getting into all the nitty-gritty, suffice it to say that he was ultimately able to persuade his ex to refinance that line of credit. Unfortunately she was unable to do so because of her low credit score. When my friend could no longer stand it, he discussed this with a friend who advised him to start managing both his and his ex’s credit.

Could not directly affect the outcome

My friend soon learned that 35% of a credit score is based on payment history or how well he and his ex handled their credit. There was nothing much he could do to affect that is except to keep reminding his ex-spouse that she should make her payments on time. But of course, he could not control this.

Credit utilization

A second important factor in computing credit scores is called credit utilization. In fact, this accounts for 30% of a credit score. This is an area where my friend could affect his score because was near the credit limits on all his credit cards. What he learned is that credit utilization is based on the amount of credit he had used versus his total credit limits. This is called the debt to credit ratio. For example, if he had total credit limit of $50,000 and debts of $30,000, his ratio would be 60%, which would be much too high. When my friend learned what a mistake he had made, he immediately brought his balances down to zero and his credit score increased dramatically.

Sent a note to the credit reporting bureaus

My friend next wrote to the three credit reporting bureaus and explained that due to a misunderstanding over automatic debits between his ex-spouse and her bank, there were a number of payments reported late to the credit bureaus over which he had no control. In a few months, his credit score was 776.

Didn’t help her score

Of course, this did not help her credit score because credit scores are not transferable. She needed to do a refinance of the loan but her credit was still stuck in the mid 650s. Beyond the late payments, her problem was a $7500 balance spread over a few credit cards that she was required to carry because she was unable to pay them off. This, of course, played a major part in reducing her credit score. My friend ultimately agreed to pay off his ex’s credit card bills and had her write the credit bureaus explaining about the late payments.

What he accomplished

What this accomplished is that my friend’s credit score increased, he is now in charge of his credit score and he and his ex are still friends.

Not for everyone

Don’t take this to mean that if you have credit card debt left over from a former marriage that you should rush out to pay it off. But it does mean that, depending on the circumstances, you and your credit score could both get ahead of the game if you were to pay off some or all of that debt.

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Easy National Debt Relief Caller: April Transcribed WE 1/17/2021 April: Our call may get recorded. What financial concerns had led you to seek out National Debt Relief's services? RILEY: I guess just not being able to pay my debt. April: What had you choose National Debt Relief over other companies that provide the same service? RILEY: Really just researching online. Everything that I had read about them seemed pretty positive. April: What service or program did National Debt Relief help you to get through? Like a payment or consolidation program, anything like that? RILEY: I just do bi-monthly payment to them, and then they reach out to my debt account, I guess, that negotiated everything for me. So, it’s pretty easy. April: Can you walk me through the process of what you went through to enroll for the services? RILEY: God, it's been like two years, so I kinda don't really remember. I just had to fill out some stuff online and then talk to them on the phone. I had to give them all my account information and everything. And then they worked out a payment plan for me. And they communicate with me like once a month with my statement. And whenever they have communication with my accounts, they have called me and had me verify before they've done anything and whatnot. April: That sounds like a really good service there. RILEY: Yeah. April: At this point, are you still in the program or have you completed it at this point? RILEY: I'm almost done. It was, I think, a two-year plan. So, yeah, I think I just have one other account that I'm paying on. April: How about any interactions with the negotiators? You said they will call you at any time that there was maybe an account activity that they want to confirm with you first. RILEY: Uh-huh [yes]. April: So, how is the interaction with them when they reach out to you and you're able to discuss with them? How is that interaction? RILEY: It's been super easy and positive for me and relieves a lot of stress and anxiety. So, yeah, it’s been very easy. April: And then how has National Debt Relief been able to work with you in terms of your payment plan? RILEY: I basically just told them what I could afford, and they figured it out. And they have offered COVID relief if I need to stop payment for the time being or whatever. Fortunately, I haven't had to do that. So, I don't really know how that would have worked, but that was an option. But they're always like, “Call us if you can't make payment, and we'll figure something out for you.” April: What are your thoughts about the cost in relation to the quality of the service you received? RILEY: I'm really happy with the program. [unclear 0:04:22] as far as I know. I don't have any complaints. April: Has working with National Debt Relief impacted your life? RILEY: Yeah. April: How would you say that it's impacted your life at this point? RILEY: It just has relieved a ton of pressure and stress, financial stress, anxiety. I'm not living paycheck to paycheck now to pay my interest, so that’s been nice. April: Have you had other experiences to National Debt Relief that perhaps you want to share with us in regards to your experience with them? RILEY: No. I think that’s it. April: On a scale of 1 to 5, where would you rate National Debt Relief, if 5 stars is that you recommend to your friends and 1 star is you're very dissatisfied? RILEY: I would say 5. April: In a few words, how would you summarize overall the National Debt Relief in your experience with them? RILEY: Just easy and stress-free. April: Would it be okay for us to also utilize your commentary as a review that we can publish for National Debt Relief? And that would go to public webpage here, but that's to help other consumers make good choices if they're also in the same market. RILEY: I guess. Would it have my first and last name? I don’t— April: Only the first name. And if that's an issue, we do the first letter. RILEY: [unclear 0:06:03] you want my full name. April: Not at all. So, we only do the first name as an option. We can also do the first letter. So, it's really up to you on which option you prefer. But just the first name. We don't do last name. We don't post anything personal like your phone number. RILEY: Yeah. I think you can use my first name. April: I do offer a link that we can also send you with a direct link to your review. So, once it's published, you also get to see directly. Is that something you would like to have sent to your email? RILEY: No.

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Riley Barker
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