Building my wife's credit profile..would like some input

[anelson524]

Hi everyone, still a fairly new member and love the advice and recommendations I've been getting here. I'm trying to help build my wifes credit and would just like to get some additional input.

Short backstory, shes 25 and I'm 28 and we are looking to purchase our first home within the next 12-18 months. My Fico 8 scores are just over 800 and hers lingering around 750-770. I hadn't app'd for any new cards in about 3-4 years but after getting on these forums I figured it would be nice to add some new lines to my account.

Our current cards are:

Me: CSP, Freedom, AMEX Green (backdated to '84), BestBuy Store, Amazon Store, Citi Prestige & UnitedClub. The last two I just received within the last month. 

Her: Freedom, Mattress Firm Store, Wells Fargo Platinum(had for 3 years and never even activated the card as her mother opened for her in college), and most recently a United Mileage Explorer.

I opened the prestige with the citigold checking account for the reduced AF for the first year and the extra ThankYou points. Before the AF hits the second time I'm planning to PC to either a lower level ThankYou card or the Double Cash and then most likely move the UnitedClub limit to my CSP and close the card as we are planning to travel quite a bit over the next year and we fly United so the united club access with the baggage savings should be nice and we can keep her explorer card for future benefits.

My AAoA is around 7.75 years with my oldest account being the back dated amex at 32 years. Her was around 5 years until we just opened the United explorer for her which dropped her quite signficantly as she doesnt have much of a history. I've since added her as an AU on practically all of my cards and I think it would be good to go ahead and get her one more card to get that AAoA rolling sooner than later and have a higher weight in the future. 

I'm just trying to look and see which card might be the best to get her and benefit the two of us the most, I don't mind if it has about a ~$100 AF. I think between us we have a strong portfolio of cards but as I mentioned I'd like to get her another but just not sure if we would ever want to have duplicate cards. I was looking at possibly the Citi DoubleCash, Marriott Rewards, possibly a Citi ThankYou card for the bonus points, however I wouldn't get the prestige but something to stack ontop of the points I am going to earn and could even PC her card in the future to avoid the AF. 

I like the idea of the Marriott Rewards although I'm try to veer away from Chase as we have quite a slew of cards issued by them as is. 

There are just so many choices out there and we are planning to travel to Europe after we purchase our home so I'd like to get the ball rolling to maximize as many points as possible to use for the trip. I myself may even open another card once the mortage is approved as we will be spending quite a bit and may as well get another bonus on another card.

At the same time with us planning to get a mortgage soon I don't want to take another inquiry if it is going to hurt us. I'm fairly confident I can get her to above an 800 score within that timeframe. But with such a thin profile the inquiry and AAoA of another new card could prove to be more difficult than I may think.

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks everyone

[tacpoly]

You scores and her scores are good enough.  Stop applying for any more cards just to tweak scores, specially if you're thinking of getting a mortgage in the next year or so.  You want to project stability not credit seeking, and new cc's, which not only lowers your average age of account and your scores but also means more potential debt to lenders, will not look good.

[Pway]

I agree with the poster above.  If you are applying for a mortgage soon I would not app for anything.  Both of your scores are excellent and you should have no problems.  Don't apply for cards just to see if her scores increase, as it could back fire and her scores take a significant dip.  Keep moving forward in what you guys are doing already.