Episode Details

Two people co-sign for a mortgage, a couple of cars, and their kids' student loans over the course of a marriage. Then the marriage ends, one of them stops paying, and the other one's credit takes the hit for a debt a court may have assigned to the person who walked away from it.

Angela Kim is a senior credit consultant and a founding member of her firm, with more than eleven years spent helping people rebuild credit after identity theft, hard times, and divorce. She goes by the Credit Repair Boss, and her focus is education: understanding how credit actually works before it turns into a problem. She joins Lisa here to walk through the part of divorce finances that tends to ambush people, college costs and the loans that pay for them.

Angela explains why one child's four-year degree can appear as at least eight separate student loans, one per semester, and how the Parent PLUS loan works: borrowed by a parent rather than the student, and reported only on that parent's credit. Her core advice is preventative. Do not hold these loans jointly with an ex. Divide the years so each parent carries a defined share, which keeps one person's default from sinking the other. She and Lisa also talk through why a six-figure loan is a bad first entry on a young person's credit, how a parent who stayed home and has thin credit can still qualify in time for the fall, and the after-graduation trap where one missed autopay becomes eight late payments on each of the three bureaus.

Underneath the specifics is Angela's larger point about financial independence. Credit is a parachute you want packed and ready before you need it, especially when you are starting the next chapter of your life on your own.

As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.

🎓 What you'll learn

• Why divorce can damage your credit even without a difficult ex, through jointly held debt
• Why one child's four-year degree can appear as at least eight separate student loans
• How a Parent PLUS loan works, and why it lands only on the parent's credit report
• The prevention move: split loan years between parents instead of borrowing jointly
• Why co-signing a six-figure loan is a poor way to start your teenager's credit
• How a parent with thin or damaged credit can still get ready in a few months
• The after-graduation autopay trap that turns one missed month into eight late marks

⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 How divorce damages your credit, even without a difficult ex
3:00 What student loans do to your credit report
5:00 Parent PLUS loans, and splitting the cost fairly
7:00 What happens if your ex stops paying
9:00 Co-signing for your child, and building thin credit
11:00 Why you don't need years of lead time
13:00 After graduation: the autopay trap
15:00 Where to reach Angela

Keep going 💜
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call
📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X
📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183
🔗 Angela Kim, the Credit Repair Boss, on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelathecreditboss/

🎧 More with Angela Kim on this podcast
Ep 239: Protecting Your Credit From Financial Abuse

About Been There Got Out
Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa