How couples can team up on debt repayment
BNN Bloomberg
While joint debt is a shared responsibility, individual debts you bring into a relationship are ultimately yours to tackle. Still, they can get in the way of making life plans as a couple, so it may make sense for your significant other to help you with your debt in some way.
It took a bit of convincing.
“To have to ask for money when I was the provider and had parents who themselves were asking for money, I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps and be taking,” Mazza says. “But that’s not what this was, this was a caring thing.”
Mazza and Lambert approached the situation with open communication and specific loan terms. And for them, it’s paying off: Mazza estimates his credit score went up by about 150 points. The couple, who live in Richmond, Virginia, are getting married this year, and they hope to buy a home soon as well.