Foreign immigrant husband... how to deal

[ptilda]

I posted in another post about my husband who is shortly (prayerfully) moving up here (Minnesota) to be with me (from Haiti). He's a manager at a Canadian bank, and quite careful with money, but he likes to have some play money from time to time. Very careful about paying off any debt right away, however.

We are wanting to make up for lost time (my CS ruined by an ex, his lack of credit) so that we can invest in property in the next few years. I'm wondering if anyone has had success in what I'll call "leapfrogging?" Basically, my baddies just rolled off so I went on a CC app blitz gained some (at least 4, and 1 "wait & see"). When he gets here in about 6 months, I'm thinking of adding him immediately to one or two of my larger limit cards (biggest one is 600, so it's not a huge risk) and getting him in at a CU. Then applying for 3 or 4 cards... at least one secured and one retail. That will be around June. Once that's done, wait another 6 months, add me to his accounts, and I apply once my inq roll to year 2.

rinse and repeat...

I'm thinking this can help us, but wondering who else has tried any form of such tomfoolery?

[ptilda]

My husband is from Haiti, and we are currently waiting for his US visa so he can join me here. Of course, he has no US credit and no SSN. Has anyone here dealt with this?

I am wondering how much I should worry about puting him on my cards and such (I don't have much at this point), or if I should just let him develop his own credit independent from mine. I have a ton of student loans, and don't know if tying him to my other accounts might affect him negatively. Was thinking of adding him on my CU account only and then on one or two cards to help establish him.

I appreciate the feedback on this.

[Startome]

I don't know a lot about this, and haven't experienced it personally, but I do know one thing. If you add him to a bank account and two credit cards, only those cards will effect his credit. So the student loans won't effect him negatively since he is not added to them =)

[Bleu]

Make him develop his own. So if it ends he cant take any money from you or run up your credit.

[ptilda]

But it's not going to end! [shocked face!]

Seriously though, can anyone tell me what the best 4 cards would be for him to apply for as soon as he gets here? Including retail & secured...

[Revelate]

Plenty of people have done it, but there's not a whole lot of point to your being added to his cards in the current market.

You'd be better served by simply waiting a year after you initially establish yours and then going and getting better cards.  Once you have your own cards, there's very little point to being added as an AU unless it substantially improves your credit report either in length of the AU tradeline compared to yours, or in helping your aggregate utilization because of a comparitively spectacular limit on the individual card.

In your situation, with both of you establishing credit, neither of those are likely to be the case so they'll wind up being a comparitive negative for you (unless he hits a lender lottery somehow, admittedly stranger things have happened).

Also there are some cards which will approve immediately: your husband would be better off getting his own credit cards in his name from a FICO perspective as soon as possible: thinking the Cap One for Newcomers or similar but I admittedly don't have much familiarity with it.

TLDR: seems like an awful lot of effort for something which really isn't that needed; at most your husband would only need 1-2 of yours added for a jumpstart anyway, from your plan your being added to his actually sets you back.

[wHiTeSoL]

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@ptilda wrote:

My husband is from Haiti, and we are currently waiting for his US visa so he can join me here. Of course, he has no US credit and no SSN. Has anyone here dealt with this?

I am wondering how much I should worry about puting him on my cards and such (I don't have much at this point), or if I should just let him develop his own credit independent from mine. I have a ton of student loans, and don't know if tying him to my other accounts might affect him negatively. Was thinking of adding him on my CU account only and then on one or two cards to help establish him.

I appreciate the feedback on this.

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I am about 1 year ahead of you. My wife is from a SEA country and just arrived in the US under a k1 visa november of last year. After explaining how credit works here (totally different there!) we made a plan. Here's how it's going so far

11/2012 - Arrived in US

12/2012 - Married and added as AU to 2 Capital 1 cards (AAoA 1 year each) had to do it by phone becuase she didn't have a SSN, same with Chase Bank account (in branch)

6/2013 - Her SSN was issued to her (we could of receieved it a lot sooner but i dropped the ball on applying)

7/2013 - Applied for 2 cards. 1) Capital One Newcomer card - Approved $1,000 2) Chase Freedom - Denied due to no credit history

8/2013 - Added as AU to my AMEX cards, was backdated to 2005 

10/2013 - Approved for 1) AMEX PRG 2)BCE 2k 3)Chase Freedom 7k 4) CSP 12k

If you have any specific questions I'm happy to help anyway I can via PM.

[ptilda]

Extremely helpful! Thanks. So I could add him now if I wanted, even without a SSN?

[enharu]

Add him as an AU to your current cards, except for cards that are maxed out or has past derogs, such as lates.

If you can deposit between 5-10k usd, and maintain that balance for some time, many banks will be willing to offer him an unsecured card right off the bat. I know Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and citi can help with cases like this. This is a shortcut for people who have thin files, not bad ones, which is the situation your husband is in.

Check out credit unions. They are usually more personable and more willing to help you.

For secured cards, check out Bank of America. They usually graduate within 6-12 months as long as account remains in good standing. If your husband still doesn't have a SSN by then, it may delay graduation. Some have mentioned another secured card offered by SDFCU? (Can't remember the exact name)

Capitalone also has a decent secured card product. Other national banks that offer secured cards include Wells Fargo and citi, though I don't recommend you go with Wells Fargo.

[enharu]

Wait till he gets his SSN, then add him as AU.