Debts from spouse

susan_holladay

On behalf of a friend - she is very good with budgeting etc for her family with 2 children but her husband is not and this has led to her bailing him out on many occasions in many ways. Aside from the obvious tension that brings in the relationship is she liable for any debts he incurs on credit cards etc and does it affect her credit rating if he gets into further debt and she does not bail him out next time?

Socajam

Are the credit cards joint - if they are my answer would be yes
Did she co-sign any loans for him - then yes.

I made the foolish mistake last year of adding a very good friend to my credit card because their credit was bad. Well that was a lesson that will not be repeated to anyone.
I had clear the debt as I did not want my credit to suffer. At this time I am still waiting for this person to repay me for the foolish mistake I made.

molerat

Credit cards are not joint so she will not be responsible for them. Any joint products will have joint and several liability so she could be held solely responsible for those. Her credit could be affected by negative markers on his individual accounts if she has any joint products such as current accounts or mortgage.

Terry_Towelling

As stated, there are no such things as joint credit cards in the UK. However, if she has cards in her name and her husband is an additional cardholder on her account, then she will be legally responsible to the card company for any debts run up on her card account by him.

Other credit arrangements can be 'joint' if both parties sign a credit agreement and if one party is relying on the other party to effectively cover their part of the debt, then both parties' credit histories could suffer if that arrangement fails and payments are missed.

Something else that needs to be considered before condemning the husband is whether his use of credit is for his own self-indulgence or whether it is for family expenditure. If the latter, that may indicate some systemic failure in the structure of the family finances and he may be carrying too much of the financial burden. If the former, then one wonders whether it might be a tactic to NOT bail him out. That could damage his credit history and restrict his access to more credit in the future. I'm not suggesting she do that because that might push him towards the 'lower' end of the borrowing food chain where the sharks hang out and interest rates astronomical but...