Americans Hiding Bank Accounts from Spouses

You’d be surprised to find out that this can happen more often than most people would assume. It’s unfortunate but many Americans keep financial secrets from their spouse or significant other. The numbers vary due to the nature of reporting with this kind of thing, but the statistics show that around 20% of Americans keep some type of financial instrument hidden from their significant other. As a company that helps consumers get out of debt we can see this quite often.

Why Do Consumers Usually Hide Accounts?

The "why" mostly stems from financial mistakes or bad spending habits. Most of the time, consumers don't share this information with their spouses simply out of "embarrassment". This isn't done with a "malicious intent" or solely to "deceive", it tends to be something that occurs due to "overspending" or "financial mistakes". Sometimes spouses carry this financial baggage with them into the relationship and don't discuss it since it isn't always the easiest thing to bring up in conversation. In this scenario they typically just let bygones be bygones and fail to mention it to their significant other.

How Can You Find These Secret Accounts?

Sometimes these secret accounts never get discovered. Most tend to find out about them via a statement, from an unaccounted purchase or if things are bad enough a call from a debt collector. The biggest red flags are going to be an excess of deliveries that are not on your financial statements. If you are ordering something online you can’t pay for it in cash so deliveries are the most obvious way to find out. If you see a ton of packages delivered to your home and you don't see those transactions on any of joint statement accounts, the odds are that they were charged to a hidden account.

What Should You Do If You Find Out Your Significant Other Has Debt You Didn’t’ Know About?

It's best to remain calm and rational in this situation and make sure to hear your partner out. Circumstances are different for everyone and overreacting before you have all the facts is typically the worst thing you can do. Once you are certain your partner has a hidden account you should address the situation with your partner and get to the bottom of it. Don’t be quick to assume malicious intent in any scenario. Intentions aren’t always easy to guage and when you make assumptions you can tend to get yourself into trouble.

Resolving the Situation

In most situations where this occurs, the situation is usually resolvable! However, in more severe instances, this can lead to divorce and the end of a once trustful relationship. Some things are just too big to come back from. In that scenario a spouse was hiding over $50,000 in credit card debt from their significant other.