I got married a couple of years ago right out of college and have never had any kind of loan. My husband is five years older than I am, and he already had credit cards, so he just put me on them and got me an extra card. He already had a house, which we moved into, so the loan was in his name. I'm worried that if something happens to him, or if we get a divorce, I won't be able to qualify for credit. I have a good job right now. If I apply for a loan so I can start building up a credit history, do I need my husband's permission?
No, women are no longer the property of their husbands. In the old days, married women were considered chattel -- a legal term meaning personal property or a portable possession. Fortunately, a federal law called the Equal Credit Opportunity Act makes it illegal for any creditor to discriminate on the basis of gender or marital status. That means that a lender must treat an application from a married woman the same way it treats one from a single woman, and the lender must treat an application from a woman the same way it treats one from a man. As far as the law is concerned, a single woman of legal age doesn't have to seek anyone's permission to apply for credit (assuming she has all her faculties, i.e., has not been declared incompetent), and a married woman doesn't need permission from her husband any more than a married man needs permission from his wife to seek a loan. Keep in mind, however, that if you're going to pledge jointly owned property as collateral to secure the loan (or property in a community property state), your husband's cooperation will be needed.
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No, women are no longer the property of their husbands. In the old days, married women were considered chattel -- a legal term meaning personal property or a portable possession. Fortunately, a federal law called the 