marriage

Reasons Not To Fear Buying Engagement Rings Online
Christmas is a popular time to pop the question, and many of those who go through with it will have to suffer agonizing trips to the jewelry store to pick out a rock that will cost so much it could make them rethink the entire endeavor. One way to save time is to buy it online, but there's still a stigma about buying jewelry that way. More Â»

Name Change On A Car Loan Completely Confuses Chase
Every day, people in America get married. Some of them change their last names. Evidently, though, no one in the history of Chase Bank has ever done this while they were in the middle of paying off their car loan. See, until the loan is paid, the bank has a lien on your car's title. If you want to change the name on your car title and the loan hasn't been paid off yet, Chase won't let that happen. This isn't a problem unless you have to move and register your car in a different state after your name change but before the car is paid off. That's what happened to Michael's wife, and how she ended up in a loop of bureaucracy sending them back and forth from Chase to the Maryland Vehicle Administration. More Â»

Why The Tough Economy Has Made It A Great Time, Or Not, To Get Divorced
If you have to go through the misery of a divorce, now is as good a time as any to proceed. Plunging home prices and the struggling economy have a way of making financial separations less painful, with some caveats. More Â»

Mass. City To Refund "Gay Marriage Penalty" That Hits Public Employees
The IRS has a way of punishing people for getting married, but the marriage penalty hits gay public employees harder than straight couples. Unlike their straight counterparts, gay workers who place their spouses on employer-provided health insurance have to pay taxes on the benefits that can add up to $3,000 a year. Cambridge, Mass. will use a stipend to refund the "gay marriage penalty" to city workers affected. More Â»

Why Shacking Up May Not Save You Money
People in serious relationships tend to spend so much time together that it seems silly to pay two rents, so it feels natural to move in together. But the move may not always end up saving money. More Â»

Still Making Payments I Can't Afford On My Ex-Wife's Wedding Ring
Reader Douglas's wife left him, which we're very sad to hear. He wrote to Consumerist about it because he's still paying for her ring, which they purchased at Jared when they got married two years ago. He's struggling financially, and made arrangements with the company to make payments of $50 per month at a lower interest rate. A few months later, they suddenly raised the payments back up to $100, claiming that there is nothing they can do to change the situation. Douglas is stuck. More Â»

How To Come Clean To Your Spouse About Financial Infidelity
Last month, we wrote about the Forbes survey that found that nearly one-third of of those who combined finances had admitted to lying to spouses about money. But once you've cheated, what's the best way to come clean to your better half? More Â»

NJ Couple Marries At Dunkin' Donuts
How much do you like Dunkin' Donuts? Definitely not as much as the New Jersey couple who are so devoted to its drive-thru coffee that they decided to get married there. More Â»

Bride Sues Runaway Groom For $100,000 Wedding
A jilted bride is suing her ex-beau who dumped her days before the wedding, leaving her standing at the altar holding a bill for nearly $100,000 in wedding expenses. More Â»

Love In The Time Of Soul-Crushing Student Loan Debt
What kind of lies about money would cause you to end a romantic relationship? What is more important—debt or money problems themselves, or if your significant other lies about them? As young Americans begin their adult lives with unprecedented amounts of student loan debt, it's important to confront debt and be honest with oneself and before pursuing a serious relationship. Just ask the California woman whose fiancé broke their engagement after learning that her student loan debts were significantly higher than she had previously disclosed. More Â»

Marital Trouble? Consider Divorce Insurance!
You already have home insurance, car insurance, life insurance, and maybe even health insurance—why not insure your marriage, too? For around $16 per month, a North Carolina company called SafeGuard sells "units of protection" that could be worth $1,250 if your marriage implodes in divorce. The company claims that it wants to help defray the costs associated with legal fees and finding a new home, but the insurance, called WedLock, comes with plenty of catches. More Â»

Survey: 80 Percent Of Married Couples Lie About Spending
A survey by nonprofit credit debt management firm CESI Debt Solutions says 80 percent of married respondents lie to their partners about spending. Which seems to mean that the non-lying 20 percent are liars, because seriously, who can be expected to be forthcoming about every last idiotic thing they buy throughout the day? More Â»

Wedsafe.Com Insures You Against Wedding Disasters
Putting on a wedding is a lot like putting on a show. A very expensive stressful show that's for one night only. More Â»

Fighting About Money Frequently Increases Risk Of Divorce
You already know that it's not healthy to fight about money all the time, but it might be a bigger risk factor for divorce than you think. A 2009 University of Virginia study found that couples who argue about finances every a week are 30% more likely to divorce than those who argue less frequently. In addition, a couple that marries with no assets are 70% more likely to divorce in three years than a couple bringing $10k in assets into the union. More Â»

Bank Of America Misplaced Divorce Decree, Handed Over All My Money To Ex
Deb tells Consumerist that she did the proper thing after her divorce: months ago, she brought a copy of the divorce decree to her local Bank of America branch so they could remove her ex-husband from the account. The branch manager declared the situation taken care of, which is why Deb was horrified to learn last week that her ex's name had never been removed from the account, and he had transferred its contents—all of her money—into his own account. Yep, the branch manager made a mistake, and no one at BoA will admit that it was their mistake. More Â»

How To Make Sure Your Marriage Isn't Costing You Money
Liz Davidson at Forbes has an article about ways you and your spouse can fine-tune spending and investment patterns so that your marriage isn't a financial drain. It's easy enough to compare financial health before marriage (although lots of couples don't do it, she notes), but even if your net income increases, your net worth could flatline or drop:

You might be doing well with your expenses as a married couple but making poor investment decisions, causing your financial situation to worsen even though your day-to-day money management has improved.

More Â»

If Yours Isn't Good Enough, He'll Get Some At The Office

—>Marketers had a message for the housewives of the 1950s: they weren't doing a good enough job at home. Their husbands had to resort to going elsewhere for it. Why, even the girls at the office could do it much better.   More Â»

4 Money Conversations You Should Have Before You Commit

—>Before you tie your destiny and your credit rating to the person you love, there are some decidedly un-romantic conversations that you need to have in order to prevent discord and catastrophe later in life.  More Â»

Am I Responsible For My Fiancée's Prior Debt?

—>A reader wants to know whether or not he's going to be held responsible for his fiancée's old, bad debt now that they're getting married. Because we went to Google Lawyer University just now, we're happy to try to help.  More Â»

Financial Crises Are The New Babies — Have One To Save Your Marriage

—>At first glance, an awful economy would seem to be bad for marriages, since money squabbles would presumably lead to more fights. But divorce filings are down 50 percent nationally according to an Associated Press story.  More Â»