Joint Credit Card

My husband and I were having problems and then separated. During the problem and separation stages of our marriage, he and he alone, made a lot of charges to a joint credit card of ours. In the divorce decree, he is ordered to be solely responsible for that card. The credit card company refuses to remove my name from the account, stating that I am still responsible and liable for this account. How can I have my name removed from this credit card account. It shows up on my credit report and I am trying to increase my credit score.

You can close the account, but you would have to pay it off to do that. Assuming that you don't want to do that, make a copy of the court order making your husband responsible for the bill. Mail a copy to the credit card company, requesting that they notify the credit bureaus that they were in error of reporting this information on your report, and send a copy to the credit bureaus asking them to remove this from your record. It will take a couple of months, but it will eventually go through.

2008-09-16 07:23:33 by P M

When you get married, it's a good idea to maintain your credit independence, according to SmartCredit.com's John Ulzheimer. If possible ...

I opened up a joint credit card with my mom because I have way better credit then she does and she wanted it to boost up hers. So I gave in. She ran it up to the max limit and then stopped making payments on it the last couple of months, all of this without telling me. Now it's 300 over the limit because of late charges and fees and I'm at a loss of how to fix it all and how badly will my credit be hurt?

If this is a joint account, then you have the authority to close it. Close the account IMMEDIATELY.

Call customer service and find out what the minimum payment due is and the payment mailing address and pay it IMMEDIATELY. It sounds like you may be at the edge of a category. Being reported as 90 days past due is a lot worse than 30 or 60. A lot of people miss a payment or two but missing three in a row is really bad and puts the account into default status. You may still have time to avoid the 90.

Don't co-borrow or co-sign for anyone ever again unless you have reason to believe that you are a better credit analyst than the professionals employed by the lenders.

2008-06-30 09:21:38 by Mary Anne

Price: $5.95 $5.95

I was foolish with some credit cards a few years ago and am working on rebuilding my credit. The only credit card I have is a joint card with my fiance, who has great credit. We are always on time with the card payment. Will this help raise my score, or only his since the card is primarily under his name?

Yes, if you are a co-signer on the card, then a good history on this card will help your overall score. But be sure that you are in fact a co-signer and not just a cardholder.

Did he apply to get you a card on his account after he had already opened it? Or did you both apply for the account together? If it's the first, then you're just a cardholder on his account and it's not helping your credit.

I'd recommend having some credit in your own name, anyway. If you need to, you can always start with a secured card with a low limit of only a few hundred dollars - that's probably the best place to start if your credit is really bad. Good luck.

2007-03-01 15:19:56 by cubanirishgirl

Price: $16.99 $9.85

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Joint credit... not a credit card in one person's name, and an additional card.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone. It's just asking for trouble.

If you insist, you merely apply for it as you would any other card. Go to the bank you bank with, and explain what you want, they'll walk you thru it easily.

However understand, no matter what happens, you'll both be responsible for the balance. And the collectors always go after the one they can find, they don't care who bought what, or what it was for.

2007-02-20 20:15:16 by Salsa

If I have a joint credit card with someone and I don't want to be responsible for their debt could I pay off my portion of the balance and cancel my part of the card?

How can I get off of my side of a joint credit card and have the other person keep their side?

Nope - you can't do that. Joint is joint - their charges belong to you and your charges belong to them. You can't just pay "your part" and walk away, because if he doesn't pay, it's all "your part" as far as the bank is concerned. What you can do is try to get them to pay their part (maybe with a balance transfer or something) and then close the whole account. As long as there is an outstanding balance you are stuck.

2009-01-15 19:23:35 by #