BM ruined DH credit report

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So when my husband and his ex (the BM) got divorced 7 years ago, he was to pay one credit card in the amount of 20,000 and she was to pay one in the amount of 9,000. He transferred the amount he was supposed to pay to a personal loan and got it paid off within a year. The card she was to pay was in his name but she was a signer. He took the card from her and cut it up. He was young and dumb and did not close the account to new charges, live and learn I guess. Everything was good for 2 years, she made the minimum payment but made it on time so he didn't make a fuss. Well, in May of 2014, we went to get a construction loan to build a house and to our surprise, the card started being used again in 2010, she somehow obtained a replacement card. It was at it's limit. He called the company and told them to cancel all new charges then called her to tell her to transfer it out of his name. She said she wouldn't because she couldn't obtain credit but would get it paid off ASAP and sent us a signed statement. Well, fast forward to this month, we are trying to obtain our mortgage and his credit has dropped 50 points in 8 months because she decided she would be late in making the payments. We were very stupid in trusting her, I know that. But, my question is: do we pay it off and take her to court, take her to court and make her pay it off (she is remarried for the 3rd time and he could co-sign a personal loan but won't)or do we have another option? The divorce decree says she is responsible for the AMex card in the amount of $9,000. It doesn't have a timeline but also doesn't state that she could continue using it, especially to pay for wedding #3. There have been some mistakes on our part for not keeping better track of this but that doesn't make any excuse for her irresponsibility so no bashing please Just want to see if anyone else has been in this situation and what our best option would be. Thanks!

Thanks for the info! We did

Thanks for the info! We did obtain the last 7 years statements, that's how we found out she used it to pay for the wedding and traveling to see the new hubby. The max for ND small claims is 10k. We thought if we did take her to court, we would ask about getting the fees back we had to pay on the closing costs since his credit score was below 702, his score was 749 before all of this. Also, our rate jumped almost a 1/2 percent. We feel we should get something back from her on this since we have no other debt besides our house. My hubby called an attorney today and he said we have a good case since she is messing with his future. Will keep you updated, thanks again!

Generally speaking the

Generally speaking the instant you pay a bill you've accepted responsibility for it. It makes sense - why else would you pay it? Now the family court ordering her to pay it might take a different view but only as to the old charges. The new ones you've bought, no pun intended.

She as assets, now if they

She as assets, now if they are paid for, I have no idea. They recently bought a new home, all new appliances, are taking a trip to Vegas in March and California in July. Unless everything they bought was on credit, which is a very good possibility, they have assets. What makes me most angry is that she posts everything they buy on Facebook from the appliance to the 4 new coach purses she got. They obviously have credit somewhere. Could we have the courts order that they transfer it to one of her husbands credit cards?

dtzyblnd - May I ask how long

dtzyblnd - May I ask how long ago you went through this? I only ask because my SO is going through the same thing. While he was married, unbeknownst to him, his ex opened a personal loan for $25K in both their names. He was in the military at the time, and he gave her a general power of attorney while he was deployed. Of course she maxed it out, so years later when they filed for divorce, he found out about the loan. The divorce decree said she is responsible for paying the loan and refinancing it to get his name off of it. To make this short, as it turned out she stopped paying on time and she didn't refinance. He is now trying to get a mortgage loan and no mortgage company will touch him because his credit score tanked (ex's failure to refinance). The lenders are telling him that due to the new mortgage regulations, he is too high of a risk, even though he has been paying his bills on time AND he showed them his divorce decree. They don't seem to care. The only response he gets is to pay off the loan. He doesn't want to do that. UGH!

aswang.... I understand what

aswang.... I understand what you are saying and I'm fully aware of the responsibilities that go along with it; however, the divorce decree required her to refinance the loan to get his name off of it and she didn't. Now his credit has been affected. dtzyblnd said she was able to show her divorce decree where her ex was financially responsible for the credit card debt and she was able to obtain a mortgage. I was just wondering when this happened. I know that new mortgage regulations have gone into effect and I was wondering if she was able to secure a mortgage before or after all the changes went into effect.

I was told that it was not uncommon for men/women in in the military to give wives/husbands power of attorney so that they could take care of business on the home front while their spouse was deployed. Was your husband in the military when he was married to his ex? Why would your husband ever do something similar if he is married to you now?

we are going through it right

we are going through it right now. They divorced in 2007 and the card was at a 9,000 balance....as of today it is at 9,064. It sucks that because of her negligence we had extra fees and charges when we both have, or in his case HAD excellent credit. However, after talking to our attorney today, we more than likely will be able to obtain an order, reimbursement of court and attorney fees and will most likely be able to obtain damages in the amount of the extra fees we have to pay for our mortgage. Good news for a bad situation.