Notice: We are still operating during the COVID-19 crisis. However, we
are not allowing visitors to our office and most of our staff is operating
remotely. Our attorneys and staff are still available to help you by phone
and email. If you get our voice mail, please leave a message and it will
be returned promptly. There may be delays with mail due to the crisis,
so please try to send documents by email after submitting a contact form
here or fax to 312-419-0379, if possible.
Question: Will I incur my finance’s debt if I marry him? We are planning to marry and I am debt free, he has some large debt. I do not want to incur those. Will there be a problem? He did put me on his credit card so I could use it when I wanted to. But I still have my own.
Answer: You are not liable for charges on a credit card unless you are a joint obligor on the card on which the charges were made. An authorized user is not liable. However, an account for which you are an authorized user will be reported on your credit report unless you object. Reporting of card on which you are an authorized user was instituted to protect married women, so that upon divorce/ death of husband they would not be completely without a credit history. It is generally not a good idea to be an authorized user on a card which has a poor payment record or a large balance.
