Find out about finances before you get married, not after
Dear BLR Editor,
My fiance and I are planning to get married in July of 2012. I’ve always been careful about my finances, have a good FICO score and very low levels of debt. The problem is that every time I try to talk to my fiance about his finances, he evades the issue and it is clear he would rather not discuss it. I don’t see any major signs of financial stress, but he does tend to use credit cards a lot. What can I do to eliminate my fears about financial troubles if we get married.
- Beth
Editor – Thanks for writing, Beth. You are very prudent in wanting to sort out this issue before you get married. Too many financially responsible people have their lives destroyed by marrying a person who is fiscally irresponsible.
I would advise you to sit down with your fiance and have a serious talk about how important it is to you to share information about finances. Be upfront and have your own financial information available for him to see.
Request a free credit report after reading this article. If he feels stressed talking about it, ask him if he would like to request a free credit report also to find out for himself how what his situation is and then have a discussion.
In any case, you should stress that this is a big problem for you and that you need to clear it up. By the way, that credit report is non negotiable. I would not suggest accepting his word that things are “OK”.
A serious debt overhang on your fiance’s part can lead to years of financial problems for you. If he refuses to share his financial information with you, hold off marrying him until he does.
I wish you the best and hope it all works out.
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