When spouses apply for loans together, data from both spouses may be taken into consideration. When couples apply for a mortgage, lenders may pull credit scores for both spouses from all three credit bureaus- Equifax, Experian and Transunion. They will use a formula mixing the scores to decide on the interest rate. For other loans, lenders may pull one score per applicant and use the lower one to determine creditworthiness.
If one spouse has a significantly higher score than the other, and enough income to qualify for the desired loan, the high-scoring spouse should consider taking out the loan in his or her name only to get a lower interest rate.
View Our Avvo Profile
