I think this is legal until the time of absolute divorce. This is one way to ensure that neither spouse’s credit is not “ruined” purposely during divorce. The courts would consider debt incurred after separation as separate debt and would belong solely to that spouse, but the creditors are a different matter and legally both spouses’ could be held accountable.
After absolute divorce is obtained you could contact the agency and have the other spouse removed since their credit is no longer tied to yours…
So what you are saying is that it is legal for a freind’s wife to go in, without his knowledge, or permission, and access HIS credit reports? He is the one with pristine credit and she is the one with crappy crdit.
That makes NO sense. Even though they are your spouse, they should be governed by the same laws as everyone else. No one else is allowed to take MY social security number and set up any accounts.
I think ECPA requires permission to be given. Marriage should not mean that permission is implied. The laws in this country need to be overhauled.
If this is the case then I suggest that your friend contact the credit bureaus and file a complaint. Have them set up a file so that he is contacted directly if someone tries to access his credit or if someone tries to open a new account opened using his SSN they will contact him directly…document any accounts that have been opened without his knowledge or began reporting after his date of separation…
As I said, this could be held against her in the ED in court but a creditor will need to be contacted, have the accounts closed and find out what needs to be done.
I had to do this after getting a storage building broken into and some older finacial papers went missing.
If they are married, one spouse’s credit will affect the other. I agree that no one should be allowed to access your credit information without your direct approval and knowledge…there are ways around it, though and if she is trying to ruin his credit she could very likely be able to unless he takes steps to prevent that.
If a spouse sets up accounts with the credit bureaus (you know, the credit monitoring services) in the other spouses name without consent or knowledge of the spouse, is that allowed?
I know in some states, spouses are allowed to do that. However, in this case, since divorce was imminent…