Dear Max,
I owned my home prior to getting married. My husband and I refinanced, and we both signed for the refinance. He is on the title and now legally part owner of our home. When he applied for a credit card, the representative told him the mortgage did not show up on his credit report.
My husband says that because my name is first on our joint loans (house and cars) he is not recognized on these loans. I don't believe that to be true. I think we are both affected on our credit with these loans - good or bad. Can you tell me if we are both affected equally for all joint accounts?
- DBO
Dear DBO,
By definition, joint account holders share equal responsibility for the debt. That means that if one of you doesn’t pay, the other must, and they normally are shown equally on your report and his.
The best way to verify that the account is showing on both is to get copies of your personal credit reports. You will know almost immediately if the accounts are being reported for both of you.
It is possible that the mortgage lender does not report to all three national credit reporting companies. In that case, the account might not appear on his Experian credit report or on yours, but would still be included on one or both reports from the other credit reporting companies.
Another possibility is that you refinanced very recently. New accounts typically aren’t reported until after the first billing cycle, which can be 30 days or more. You might just need to allow more time for your husband’s credit history to be updated with the new information.
Thanks for asking.
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