Try our debt solution finder
Answer a few simple questions and find out which debt solutions could help you, based on your circumstances.
Should I tell my partner about my debts?
2 October2009
"Should I tell my partner about my debts?" It`s quite a common question - after many years of `easy credit availability`, many people will have credit cards, store cards, loans and other forms of credit that their partners simply don`t know about.
Back in May, Halifax Credit Cards announced research that indicated there were around 217,000 `secret` credit cards in the UK - cards that the holders hadn`t told their partners about. There were various reasons for this, with the main ones being:
- `To buy ourselves items we didn`t want our partners to know about`
- `To hide existing debt from our partners`
- `In case of emergencies`
Does it actually matter? Is there anything wrong with keeping your debts to yourself, and not even telling your partner about them?
Everyone`s relationship is different. Some couples share everything, while others like to keep their finances separate - and there`s no `right` or `wrong` way to live together.
There are, however, good reasons for couples to make sure they know at least something about each other`s borrowing - not necessarily all the details of their debts, but at least the fact that they have debts.
Planning for the future
Whether it`s a holiday, a car or a new living-room suite, any purchase that takes a lot of funds should also take a lot of forethought - especially if it`s to be bought on credit.
Clearly, it`s a lot easier for couples to plan their lives together if each of them knows things like:
- How much debt their partner is already carrying
- How much more debt their partner would be comfortable carrying
- How much cash their partner needs to spend on debt repayments every month
- How much cash their partner has to spend on other things every month
When they know these things about each other, it`s quite simply easier to figure out what they should, between them, aim to spend - and how.
Applying for credit
When it comes to credit, there`s an even better reason to be completely honest with each other about debt. If and when a couple come to apply for credit in joint names (for something major like a mortgage) and the lender looks into the credit history of each applicant, issues like problem debt are sure to come up.
However a couple choose to manage their money, a mortgage adviser`s office obviously isn`t the best place to tell one another about their individual finances.
One possible scenario: if one of them has debt problems that need to be addressed, then house-hunting could turn out to be a waste of time, as they`re unlikely to find a mortgage (or at least a mortgage with what they consider an attractive interest rate) until they`ve taken steps to sort those debts out.
Tags: debt, partner, wife, tell partner about debt, secret