A new study first reported by MarketWatch points out an interesting result regarding the credit scores of individuals who file for divorce. They actually go up!
While this may seem counterintuitive considering the high cost of many divorces — filing divorce forms with an attorney, for instance, can cost more than $1,000 and go way up from there if unresolved conflict exists between you and your spouse — both filers and the filed-upon generally come out of a divorce in better shape than they were before.
The credit.com Divorce and Credit Survey collected responses from 526 divorced adults of varying age, income level, educational background and location, MarketWatch noted.
The Results?
About 46 percent of respondents said their credit scores “improved significantly” or “improved a little.” Around 31 percent said their credit scores “got significantly worse” or “became a little worse.” Last but not least, close to 23 percent said they weren’t sure how their credit score was affected.
About two-in-five respondents said they had higher credit scores than their spouse while they were together (seven percent said lower, 26 percent said even), and 40 percent identified themselves as the financial manager of the marriage (34 percent said they worked together, 21 percent admitted it was “mostly” their spouse, and six percent confessed to staying out of money matters altogether).
Surprisingly, financial roles mostly showed improvement regardless of whether the individual managed the finances. “Respondents who were in charge of money during marriage were just as likely to report an increase in credit scores after divorce as those who weren’t the financial decision-makers, and going into marriage with a better credit score than the spouse didn’t mean the respondent achieved better credit scores after divorce,” MarketWatch summed up.
In Summary
These new findings are eye-opening to say the least, considering the bad correlation that is often assigned to filing divorce papers and managing finances. It’s likely most divorcees exercise increased vigilance and more responsible money management during and after the divorce. If you’re concerned about what your credit score is, check out websites like Quizzle to learn your score for free, and make sure you target high-interest debt for payoff and use credit with care. Good luck!