This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet. Between financially helping his parents and losing income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeremy Mazza landed into serious credit card debt. Relief came from a source he wasn’t expecting: his partner, Ginna Lambert, who had come into a small inheritance. She suggested “investing” part of her bounty in their shared future by lending small amounts to Mazza that he could apply toward his debt.
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. “I had a very, very, very vested interest in making sure my partner’s credit score and finances were in as good of a shape as possible,” Lambert says. 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. But don’t enter into an arrangement of this kind without a plan. Plus: Millions of Americans keep this dirty secret from their partnerGet vulnerable with the full financial picture It’s essential to be open with each other about your individual financial situations, especially as your relationship gets more serious. “If a couple is planning to get married, it’s a good idea to have a conversation before tying the knot,” says Trina Patel, a Los Angeles-based senior financial advice manager at Albert, a financial services company. Schedule a few distraction-free money dates where you talk about what’s goi …