Steps To Repair Your Credit After Divorce

Your divorce is finally final, and the judge has signed off on dividing your finances. Now, it is time to concentrate on repairing your credit. While getting a divorce does not directly impact your credit, not living responsibly afterward or your ex-spouse’s poor decisions before the divorce may affect your credit. Therefore, following some steps can help.

Close Joint Accounts

You may have tried to close joint accounts while still married, but financial and mortgage companies told you they could not do that. Now is the time to get your name off joint accounts and get the money divided according to the judge’s orders. If you do not have accounts in your name alone, establish them.

Check Your Credit Reports Regularly

Each credit rating agency operates independently. Therefore, you should request a report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Ensure that the information on them is accurate. Check them regularly to ensure they stay accurate based on your divorce decree. If you find errors, ensure to report them and follow through to make sure they are corrected. Getting errors fixed is essential to credit repair.

Look at Your Retirement Accounts

You may need to adjust your retirement accounts now that you are divorced. You only have until the end of the year to change some settings before they impact your tax filings. You may also be eligible to start a traditional IRA or Roth IRA if your income level was too high before your divorce, or you may need to take your money out if you make too much money as a single filer. Getting into tax trouble will not help your credit repair.

Update Your Insurance

You must get your own if you have shared insurance policies with your spouse. Furthermore, you may need to update the beneficiaries on your life insurance policies. Paying it timely will help with your credit repair.

Contact us, as we can make specific recommendations based on your circumstances after your divorce. Following these steps will help repair your credit after divorce.