Credit Scores & Credit Monitoring What To Do About Bad Credit Keep Your Ex From Ruining Your Credit By LaToya Irby LaToya Irby LaToya Irby is a credit expert who has been covering credit and debt management for The Balance for more than a dozen years. She's been quoted in USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press, and her work has been cited in several books. learn about our editorial policies Updated on April 17, 2022 Reviewed by Ebony J. Howard Reviewed by Ebony J. Howard Ebony Howard is a certified public accountant and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor tax expert. She has been in the accounting, audit, and tax profession for more than 13 years, working with individuals and a variety of companies in the health care, banking, and accounting industries. learn about our financial review board Fact checked by Vikki Velasquez Photo: martin-dm/E+/Getty Images Breakups are difficult. Worse when your ex-partner wants to get revenge by running up big credit card balances in your name. Lovers scorned are a force to be reckoned with, and hopefully, your credit won’t be in the path of destruction. Here are a few ways to keep your ex from ruining your credit score. Remove Your Ex’s Authorized User Status If you had your ex listed as an authorized user on your credit card, call the card issuer to remove them before you break up or as soon as you learn about the break-up. That way, your ex won’t be able to use the card to run up big balances. On the flip side, you don’t want to remain the authorized user since your ex could start misusing the credit card. While authorized users aren’t liable for charges made on the credit card, the account history still shows up on both of your credit reports. Have yourself removed from the account to prevent damage to your credit. Dissolve Joint Accounts Joint accounts are harder to deal with since you signed up for the account together. One person can’t simply kick the other off the credit card. And, if both of you used the card, you might have a hard time figuring out who’s responsible for what. In a divorce, the attorneys and the judge would mediate the process if you can’t reach an agreement. If you were never married to your ex, the two of you have to work out a deal with each other. Worst-case scenario, you’ll have to make timely monthly payments to protect your credit. If you have records of the charges your ex- made, you may be able to sue them in small claims court. Close the account while you work out the details, so no more charges are made on the account. Continue to make sure that at least the minimum payment is made on time each month. Follow up on All Accounts If you’ve co-signed a loan and agreed that your ex would take over the payments, your ex should have your name removed from the loan. Removing your name from a co-signed loan is difficult, especially if the other borrower isn’t cooperative. Your credit will be impacted by accounts that still list your name. If your ex isn’t keeping up with the payments, then you’ll have to pay if you want to protect your credit. The situation gets more complicated with a mortgage or a car loan. You have to decide who will live in the house or drive the car. And whether you have any legal recourse depends on whether your name is on the loan. For these legally complex situations, consulting an attorney is often the best option. Change Your Address If you’re moving, make sure all your creditors and other businesses have your new address. That way, all your mail reaches you, especially new checks, bank statements, and credit or debit cards. You can even have your mail forwarded from your old address to the new one. Request New Accounts Numbers Your ex may have mail or other documents with your account numbers on them. If you think there’s a chance they could use that information to rack up charges in your name, ask your creditors to issue new account numbers for you. Put a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Report Vindictive exes may try to open new accounts in your name, especially if they’ve memorized your social security number. A fraud alert would let businesses know that they should take extra steps to confirm your identity before issuing new credit. Keep in mind that fraud alerts last for one year and are renewable. Freeze Your Credit Report A security freeze goes a step beyond a fraud alert. Once your credit report is frozen, businesses can’t access your report to approve any credit-based application. It would eliminate many fraudulent accounts from being opened in your name. However, certain transactions, like payday loans, don’t require a credit check. Neither a fraud alert nor a security freeze would help in these situations. If you later discover that your ex opened an account in your name, find the contact information for the creditor and report the account as fraudulent. You may have to submit an ID theft report or a signed, notarized affidavit stating you didn’t open the account. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Experian. "Will Being an Authorized User Help My Credit?" Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "What Is a Co-Signer?" Federal Trade Commission. "What To Know About Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts."