Getting a divorce can be expensive and stressful. It can even overwhelm your credit and your financial status. In some cases, this can be the reason behind the divorce. Read this blog if you’re in a similar situation wanting to rebuild your credit.
While there may be emotional, physical, and financial strains during this period, you must be watchful of your credit health.
You must understand what you can do to proactively rebuild your credit, and there are plenty of ways to make that happen. The key is to not let your financial situation sit on the back of the burner while your credit score takes the heat.
Top 5 ways to rebuild your credit after a divorce
1. Create a post-divorce budget that suits your new lifestyle.
Making adjustments to your new single life can be tricky and exhausting, especially relating to your finances. To save yourself the horrors of mismanaged finances after divorce, take time out in advance to create a post-divorce budget that matches and suits your new lifestyle.
You may be living on less income compared to when you were married. So your budget should reflect necessary changes to avoid any additional debt or damage to your credit score.
Review your current financial situation and make changes to your budget wherever necessary. You’ll likely need to control your impulse of spending on unnecessary things and cut down on your expenses. You may want to increase your income by taking on additional jobs and assignments to fund your new lifestyle.
2. Address joint debts with your ex-spouse.
If you still have open accounts with your ex-spouse, you can’t have complete control of your credit history. Your ex-spouse’s actions (non-actions) will continue to affect your credit score even after divorce. So, make sure the divorce settlement mentions steps for separating this debt.
Ideally, you both should have individual debts in your names and will be solely responsible for them. A balance transfer, refinance, and consolidation option can help you restructure your debts so they’re in the responsible person’s name.
3. Stay on top of your payments and deal with bills you can’t afford anymore.
Financial struggle after divorce can sometimes last months and even years for some of you. But you must stay on top of your payments to build and boost your credit score.
If you’ve not set up payment reminders or automatic payments yet, do it right away because it’s the easiest way to ensure you don’t rack up interest fees from late payments that can negatively affect your credit score.
If you’re overwhelmed with managing your bills, debts, and credit accounts, it is best to seek help from financial advisors or credit repair agencies. They can walk you through different options to help ease your stress and offer solutions to fix your credit.
4. Review your credit report regularly.
A common blunder most people make after their divorce is not keeping a tab on their credit reports. Regular monitoring of your credit report allows you to identify errors and negative items before they cause any damage to your credit score.
Remember, you are entitled to get a free copy of your credit report from all the three main credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) each year. You can also obtain your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to review your credit report regularly, hire credit advisors to take care of it. They will find and remove any negative information on your credit report.
5. Use your credit cards wisely and carefully.
You may be tempted to use your credit cards more often after divorce to support yourself financially, but avoid it at all costs. Using your credit cards recklessly can cause more financial problems and damage your credit score.
Keep track of your spending so that your credit utilization ratio doesn’t increase. Stick to your budget to improve your credit over time.
Moving forward
Going through a divorce is difficult due to many reasons, but it is easy to get caught in a cycle of bad financial decisions, resulting in your credit score taking a hit. If you’re experiencing credit damage due to a divorce, don’t worry because you can rebuild it gradually with your planned efforts.
The good news is that you don’t have to go through the process of rebuilding your credit alone because CoolCredit can help you get back on track. Now you can easily rebuild your credit score without even worrying about it.
