Next Level of Credit

[felyasocal]

Good Morning Folks!

So my wife has been in the country for about 3 years now. I started building her credit just about 2 years ago. I added her to two of my cards. Then she got a CapOne of her own and now she has a Discover. She also has a few store cards, a gas card, and a CareCredit credit card. He FICO ranges between 720 and 750. 

Here is my question(s): She travels to the home country a lot, or least wants to travel a lot, so I would like to get her a card with benefits\rewards. I honestly don't know much about rewards cards or how they work, especially the ones with "miles". And not looking to do this just for the rewards, but I want to get her something more on the high end. Should I wait until her FICO is even higher and then try for a high-end AMEX or should I try now? I've been really good with building her credit and her FICO will be even higher by this summer I am sure. I am just not exactly sure what to do next =( Should we just wait and use the cards she has or should we apply for more credit cards or may be even store\gas cards? Not for the sake of just having more cards, we don't really use more than 10-20% of total credit and pay off everything every month, but for the sake of taking her credit to the next level, using rewards, and having better quality cards?

I'd love to get her a nice AMEX card with "Miles" and many be another gas card or store card, but I don't just want to run her credit and have more inquiries if there is no need for it. So, I am basically not sure what I should be doing next and your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

One of the main reasons I am doing this is that we are planning to buy a house in about 3 years or so. Plus her car is lease is ending in about a year and a half and i want her to be able to get another car under her own name instead of cosigning for her

PS. Should I keep her as an AU on my cards?

[taxi818]

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@felyasocal wrote:

Good Morning Folks!

So my wife has been in the country for about 3 years now. I started building her credit just about 2 years ago. I added her to two of my cards. Then she got a CapOne of her own and now she has a Discover. She also has a few store cards, a gas card, and a CareCredit credit card. He FICO ranges between 720 and 750. 

Here is my question(s): She travels to the home country a lot, or least wants to travel a lot, so I would like to get her a card with benefits\rewards. I honestly don't know much about rewards cards or how they work, especially the ones with "miles". And not looking to do this just for the rewards, but I want to get her something more on the high end. Should I wait until her FICO is even higher and then try for a high-end AMEX or should I try now? I've been really good with building her credit and her FICO will be even higher by this summer I am sure. I am just not exactly sure what to do next =( Should we just wait and use the cards she has or should we apply for more credit cards or may be even store\gas cards? Not for the sake of just having more cards, we don't really use more than 10-20% of total credit and pay off everything every month, but for the sake of taking her credit to the next level, using rewards, and having better quality cards?

I'd love to get her a nice AMEX card with "Miles" and many be another gas card or store card, but I don't just want to run her credit and have more inquiries if there is no need for it. So, I am basically not sure what I should be doing next and your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

One of the main reasons I am doing this is that we are planning to buy a house in about 3 years or so. Plus her car is lease is ending in about a year and a half and i want her to be able to get another car under her own name instead of cosigning for her

PS. Should I keep her as an AU on my cards?

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First. it does not help to keep her Au at this time. your utilization is probably bring her scores down. her scores are great and could be better. if you start to focus on utilization. and keep totals under 10 percent. total.

does not matter which country wife is from. but i would highly recommend Delta. from amex. the limits can rise quickly and Delta flys to most countries around the world. as it is what i have. my self.

easy to get miles. just spend. and their ownline portal allows many points per dollar if you buy online. others will give you tons of cards. including travel cards. but if you want the big limit fast. then Delta amex is the way to go. she will have to no problem. after 3 years. remove her as Au and let her stand on her own. and it will really help her. remember focus on payments and on utilization. and her scores will rise quickly.

[TheGardner]

No more store/gas cards. Having too many will hurt you on manual review (as we just learned with discussion with a CCC employee thread).

You should be safe to apply for a Amex I think. With 3 years history (2 years by herself) I think she will be good. Look for nice signup bonuses (50kMR/100k etc) these will help fund that trip home. When applying you can get 1 charge 1 revolver same HP (YMMV) usually.

May want to close any store cards you don't use. You can maintain some if useful. I think it was said more store cards than major cards was an issue.

[TheGardner]

Check prequalify link.

[felyasocal]

Thank you for the information. I will be analyzing your input!

[Anonymous]

Don't take her off your cards. You are married and that is her oldest credit. Just go to a prequal site and see what she qualifies for. With a score of 720-750  go for an Am Ex with miles, and check Chase and Capital One Venture or  Quicksilver.

Do you belong to a credit union?  You could check with a local credit union and upon becoming members, try for their Visa/MC account.

No more store or gas cards. What limits are on those cards and what companies are they with? You could try for cli's with sp's.

She has a good credit score. Just keep util under 20% and it should stay above 720-750.

[Anonymous]

You want a card with NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEES. Those add up fast. I believe her CapOne already does that, so maybe look for a CapOne travel card.

BoA travel card is a good one, no foreign fees, and you earn 1.5% on purchases that you can use towards travel. 

If you wanted to go Amex the delta cards have no foreign fees. If you want to upscale, the Gold card and Gold Premier are supposedly dropping foreign fees come June.