Need Help Advising Girlfirend with Building Credit

[CMoney91]

Hello all,

I'm trying to help my girlfriend out with building her credit score.  She's 22 years old, and only has one credit card that's solely in her name. It's a Well's Fargo card with a CL of $2500 which she opened just a couple months ago (for some reason the limit in CK only shows as 1k).  All through college (last 4 years or so) she was an authorized user of four cards in her mother's name.  To my knowledge, these cards have all had perfect records since she was an authorized user.

I had her create a profile with Credit Karma, and her score was a 718.  I expected her to have a lower score than me since I have more history using cards in my own name, but was then surprised when I saw her report card (I have a 766).  The report card has her Credit Utilization Ratio as an A (4%, and lower than my 5%), Payments on time at 100% (equal to mine), AAoA of over 8 years (Far exceeds mine which is less than 2 years),   Total Accounts a D with 6 (better than my F), Credit Inquiries an A with 0 (better than my 2), and 0 Derogatory Marks (same as me).

So looking at her report card, her profile is much better than mine.  Yet her score is almost 50 points lower.  Is it because they know 4 of the credit cards weren't really hers and the only credit history she has by herself is the Wells Fargo card that's 2 months old?  Or might it be something else?

She wants to apply for a couple new cards which would be in her own name.  Do you think based on all of this, she wouldn't definitely be approved for Discover it?  What about Chase Freedom or Cap One Quicksilver?  What's the max amount of cards she SHOULD app for right now if any?

Would it hurt her if she cuts the cord immediately with her mom's 4 accounts?  I'm thinking she should app for 1-2 cards, garden them, then remove herself from her Mom's cards, but I have no idea how that impacts her.

Thanks for reading.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  You all are the geniuses!

[daybreakgonesXe]

C-Money: I made this step-by-step guide to help people who are just building credit

Don't rely on the CK scores; those are FAKOs, and usually don't mean much. However, the information CK provides is gold!

Just follow the steps I described in this post, and your girlfriend will be good to go! I also give some card recommendations, but depending on how good your girlfriend's mom took care of her cards, your girlfriend may have the choice of (almost) any credit card she'd like.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Garden-Club-Meeting-July-2013/m-p/2306249#M648941

[Kels]

I think she will be approved for Discover IT based on personal experience with it and the couple of people I recommended the card to. We were all approved including my 20 yr old sister who only has one department store card (less than 9 months old) and some student loans to her name. Their credit profiles seem very similar to each others so I think your gf will be fine with Discover.

EDIT:

I also wanted to say that Creditkarma's scores have never matched my FICO scores. CK was always lower than my FICOs.

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@CMoney91 wrote:

Hello all,

I'm trying to help my girlfriend out with building her credit score.  She's 22 years old, and only has one credit card that's solely in her name. It's a Well's Fargo card with a CL of $2500 which she opened just a couple months ago (for some reason the limit in CK only shows as 1k).  All through college (last 4 years or so) she was an authorized user of four cards in her mother's name.  To my knowledge, these cards have all had perfect records since she was an authorized user.

I had her create a profile with Credit Karma, and her score was a 718.  I expected her to have a lower score than me since I have more history using cards in my own name, but was then surprised when I saw her report card (I have a 766).  The report card has her Credit Utilization Ratio as an A (4%, and lower than my 5%), Payments on time at 100% (equal to mine), AAoA of over 8 years (Far exceeds mine which is less than 2 years),   Total Accounts a D with 6 (better than my F), Credit Inquiries an A with 0 (better than my 2), and 0 Derogatory Marks (same as me).

So looking at her report card, her profile is much better than mine.  Yet her score is almost 50 points lower.  Is it because they know 4 of the credit cards weren't really hers and the only credit history she has by herself is the Wells Fargo card that's 2 months old?  Or might it be something else?

She wants to apply for a couple new cards which would be in her own name.  Do you think based on all of this, she wouldn't definitely be approved for Discover it?  What about Chase Freedom or Cap One Quicksilver?  What's the max amount of cards she SHOULD app for right now if any?

Would it hurt her if she cuts the cord immediately with her mom's 4 accounts?  I'm thinking she should app for 1-2 cards, garden them, then remove herself from her Mom's cards, but I have no idea how that impacts her.

Thanks for reading.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  You all are the geniuses!

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[09Lexie]

CK does not take into AUs plus its a FAKO. As long as her mothers credit is providing a positive source it will not hurt her. I'm confused as to why there are no no inq's since she just received her WF.

IMO, she's good with a freedom ( app first), Discover and/or Amex.

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@09Lexie wrote:
CK does not take into AUs plus its a FAKO. As long as her mothers credit is providing a positive source it will not hurt her. I'm confused as to why there are no no inq's since she just received her WF.

IMO, she's good with a freedom ( app first), Discover and/or Amex.

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Lexie, I think he meant that there's no inquiries on TU. That WF HP is probably hanging around EX or EQ somewhere!

[09Lexie]

@daybreakgonesXe

Got ya!

[kimmiller112]

The three you mentioned would be a good start.  Then she needs to garden for a year and maybe add in Amex to the mix, plus another card or two that would meet her needs.

[CMoney91]

Thank you all so much for the information.  Definitely extremely helpful.

One thing I forgot to mention is that she currently has no income; she's applying for jobs now, and plans to have a job in a month (income will be pretty low though).  Should she wait, or try to app now? 

[09Lexie]

She should wait until she has income. What would she put down as employment?

Edit: typo

[Pilotdude]

Aye. +1 to Lexie's questions