How do I talk about my bad credit rating with my boyfriend?
February 15th, 2009
| Tags: Collections, Lot, Six Years
rckwygirl76 asked:
I have a truly amazing boyfriend. He’s literally everything I could hope for: smart (has his MBA), compassionate, supportive, generous, and stable. I’m completely mortified by this, but when I was younger, I was irresponsible with my finances and my credit rating went down as a result. I am working to clean things up, but I know that these things take time. He owns his own house and is very fiscally responsible. I have a feeling that this relationship is going to end up serious (i.e. moving in together/getting engaged). We’ve never discussed this topic and honestly, I don’t want to bring it up! How do I craft an appropriate response when the time comes? I have everything else in my life together and have always managed things on my own…how do I deal with this? I am so scared that this could be a dealbreaker… He adores me and I know that I bring so much to relationship, and this is something that I am working so hard to rectify. And no..I do not have $30K in credit card debt (as one person mentioned), very little credit card debt, just a few collections, and my student loans from college. I didn’t rack up a lot of credit card debt at all…I am not flaky, when I lived in Seattle I held the same job for six years, when I lived in Manhattan, had the same job for the four years that I lived there, and I am now working on a year in Phoenix, and I’ve always paid my rent on time, etc.
Ana
I have a truly amazing boyfriend. He’s literally everything I could hope for: smart (has his MBA), compassionate, supportive, generous, and stable. I’m completely mortified by this, but when I was younger, I was irresponsible with my finances and my credit rating went down as a result. I am working to clean things up, but I know that these things take time. He owns his own house and is very fiscally responsible. I have a feeling that this relationship is going to end up serious (i.e. moving in together/getting engaged). We’ve never discussed this topic and honestly, I don’t want to bring it up! How do I craft an appropriate response when the time comes? I have everything else in my life together and have always managed things on my own…how do I deal with this? I am so scared that this could be a dealbreaker… He adores me and I know that I bring so much to relationship, and this is something that I am working so hard to rectify. And no..I do not have $30K in credit card debt (as one person mentioned), very little credit card debt, just a few collections, and my student loans from college. I didn’t rack up a lot of credit card debt at all…I am not flaky, when I lived in Seattle I held the same job for six years, when I lived in Manhattan, had the same job for the four years that I lived there, and I am now working on a year in Phoenix, and I’ve always paid my rent on time, etc.
Ana
Just tell him there was a period in your life that you didn’t really understand money and credit that well, and made some mistakes. However since then you’ve wised up and are fixing things.
I work in the banking industry and I can say that credit does say a lot about you. I know this seems cold but I swore the next girl I dated I would pull all three bureaus and check her credit. Girls I’ve dated who had their life together had good credit. Not to anyone’s surprise, the girls with crappy credit also had the most issues and were flakey. There is a direct correlation between credit history and your personality. That is why your auto insurance premiums and even future job offers are based on credit.
If you guys are in love I’d doubt he kick you to the curb. However, the older I get, the more I consider these factors when I’m a relationship. If these were truly issues in the past (like 2 years ago, not 2 months ago) and you are cleaning up your credit it shouldn’t matter. However, I would be leary of a girl with bad credit and 30K in credit card debt. I might marry this woman and take on her debt in the process.
Honesty is the best policy. At least disclose these things up front if you guys are really serious.
Have seen lots of people asking info on bad credits. Well, if you need to get your problem solved onarrange loans or other finance, and usually means you will pay more interest on any loan you take out.