Welcome back to the Oxendine Law podcast. I'm your host Jared Oxendine, my trusty co-host Christine Palmer, and today we're talking about something that people rarely prepare for in divorce, and that's your credit score. And your credit score does not have to ruin your post-life after divorce, but the mess that can happen from the fallout if you do not watch out for that and protect it certainly can. And so we're going to give you all the tips today on how to protect your credit score and rebuild your financial identity post divorce. Sir Christine, when we're talking about credit scores, we're talking about debt. And a lot of time when people get divorced, if they're the spouse that's not involved in the finances or they've got a sneaky spouse that they're married to, they don't know what debt their name's tied to. They may be on a joint credit card and not even know they're even on that card. >> Right? I would suggest the very first thing you should do if you're considering divorce, going through a divorce, or recently divorced is set up that free credit karma.com account. It's free. It's probably the best one to let you see everything that is tied to your name. Um, definitely request your formal Equifax and TransUnion reports from the agencies directly, but Credit Karma is going to be your quick and easy way to review everything. If you have been listed as an authorized user on your spouse's cards, you may not even know it. that's going to show up on your Credit Karma account. And when you go under accounts, you're going to see them all. If you see something you're unfamiliar with, talk to your attorney. >> And so, I think that's step number one. Identify what debt your name's listed on and pulling a credit report, whether it's Credit Karma or going to one of the major credit bureaus. I think you get I forget what it is, one free credit report per credit bureau per year or every six months, something like that. And it'll list out for you every single debt that your name appears on. And so there's a lot of different types of debt your name could appear on that you don't even know about. It's not just credit card debt. It could be mortgage debt. It could be equity lines of credit. It could be um other obligations and notes such as um car loans. You know, so there's just so many things out there that your name could be on. And and frankly, Christine, I know you see it all the time. It's not uncommon for somebody to come into our office and they had no idea that their spouse added their name to a a financial application. Because if you've been married long enough, your spouse knows your birth date, your full legal name, your social security number, and they >> and they intercept your mail. >> They intercept your mail. Yeah. But they sign your name >> to loan applications and credit applications and they take out debt in your name and you don't even know about it. So, number one is identify what debt you're on. Okay. How do we next protect your credit? We need to make sure that your name is taken off of any debt that you're not supposed to be responsible for in the divorce. That's a huge mistake. If you don't do that and the person stops paying the note, whether it's a credit card payment or mortgage payment, equity line payment, car payment, then guess whose credit's getting messed up, right? Your credit's getting messed up. So, not only do we need to identify what debt you're on, we need to make sure that you're removed from any debt that you're not going to be responsible for, >> right? And it needs to be very specific in your settlement agreement or if it's um an award of a judge in the final decree, what those are. Identify the card by its brand. Is it American Express? Is it a City Bank? Identify the last four digits because you want to make sure that there's no confusion. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone come in asking me about a contempt saying, "Well, he was supposed to pay for the AX." Like, it's it's clear in our agreement. Um, but there's no indication of what kind of American Express that is. And so, he can turn around and say, "Yeah, here's my American Express bill paid off." Um, so make sure you're identifying them by the primary account holder, very specifically, the institution, as well as I mean, if it's a Home Depot credit card, you know, make sure it says City Bank, Home Depot, um, as much identifying information as you can possibly provide and put that very specific. And not only that, but then the admnification language that comes with it that says that if they fail to do that, they are required to indemnify and hold you harmless. So, let's say they didn't pay it and you were forced to pay it to protect your credit, you can get reimbursed for that. >> Yeah. And in Oxidine Law, we want your name taken off the debt. I think it's a huge mistake and a lot of people make the mistake of continuing to hold jointly titled debt after the divorce and they just assume that their spouse is going to pay the the debt every month just because it's court ordered. They're supposed to. And if they don't, you have remedies. Like Christine said, you can file for contempt. But in the meantime, if the payment's not made, your credit is still suffering. So, how do we do that in practice? Let's talk about a house real quick. A house is very easy. Let's say your spouse is awarded the house and your name's on the mortgage. Well, okay, they get a certain amount of time to refinance that debt to take you off of it. A lot of mortgage companies now are allowing people to assume loans, which is great because interest rates are so high. So, in other words, they won't even have to go through the refinance process. They can do a loan assumption application. The mortgage company will take the other spouse's name off and put the debt only in the spouse's name that was awarded the house. So, we give them a certain amount of time. It's got to be a reasonable amount of time. Can't be a long period of time to get your name taken off however they can. And then if they don't do it during that time period, then that house would need to be sold. Same thing with cars. We see cars where we've got jointly titled cars and it's joint debt. Great. You get to keep the Volvo, Mercedes, whatever it may be. you've got 30 days, 60 days to get that debt refinanced and get my name off. And if not, then you got to sell the car, right? >> Um, credit cards, same thing. You got to get that credit card debt refinanced or you need to transfer the balance of that debt from that card to a card only in your name. Um, and then make sure, I think this is another important point, close out any joint debts. If you've got a credit card that's a joint credit card and it's paid off, that needs to either get closed or your name needs to be removed from that card. Do not carry an open credit card that your your name is tied to because if the other side puts debt on and they don't pay it, it's going to affect your credit. So, all great and wonderful tips. Um, and if you miss them, it really can impact your your credit health and as a lot of people know, it takes time to rebuild it credit and the credit card companies and the credit bureaus don't care who didn't make the payment. >> That's right. And it is important to know how you are associated with certain debts, but most importantly those credit cards. Um I've had people commonly tell me, well, we have a joint card. So I start venturing into the best way to close out, get rid of that joint card. Um only to find out they don't. If they're just an authorized user. If you are only an authorized user, all you have to do is call the credit card company and say, "Take me off. My social is not tied to this. I'm not in any way responsible for this card. I had permissions and I would like those permissions removed. So being very cognizant of how you're associated with the debt is important as well. >> And last thing I'll bring up, you know, uh people don't people miss this all. It's amazing what people miss when they don't do the job they're supposed to do. Uh how about tax debt? Make sure you're addressing tax debt in your settlement agreement because for years you file a joint tax return and sometimes uh people get audited and sometimes the IRS comes back and you owe taxes and you owe penalties and you owe interest. You can go ahead and address in your settlement agreement in the event that the state department of revenue or the federal department of revenue audits us from a jointly filed tax return and it results in additional tax liability. Who's responsible? Because IRS can come after either one of you or both of you if they want to and they will >> and they will. So if the agreement says husband for example is going to be responsible for any uh tax liability that arises from any jointly filed tax returns during the marriage then he's required to do that. And if there's indemnity and hold harmless language in there then he is required to be responsible for that hold the other spouse harmless and also be responsible for any attorney's fees that that other party may have to incur to try and be held harmless from that debt. So super helpful useful tips. Um, your credit is your financial foundation. It deserves protection. Uh, if this episode helped you, please make sure that you subscribe on your favorite platform. Share it with someone else that might be trying to start over. As always, we're happy to help. We'll see you on the next episode.