@dddewdrop wrote:You can add her as AU and it will help her score a lot. It will take a little while to kick in for her. I would suggest adding her as AU getting her a separate card and having her make ike one charge on it just to trigger it to report. it will take a little while like a month or two to report. Once she gets as bump in her credit score, she really should apply for some credit cards of her own. She doesn't have to use them at all, it will just just help.
If i were in your situation, which i actually am lol, I would consider putting any big loan for now under your name alone. This is cause you h ave much better credit than her and will qualify for better rates and thus save you both a lot of money. If it is a "political" issue between yo,u and her about her name being on it with you, I would have a talk with her an illustrate to her how much money you can save in the long term with the better interest rartes you can get with your credit alone. Good luck. And remember with mortgages and other debts, always be aware of the big picture and have the goal of owning your house outright. Don't be tricked into having to pay a lot more interest just to have a slightly lower monthly payment. Real wealth comes from increasing your net worth not just having more cash at the end of each month.
This is not always the case, I went joint with my husband on a large auto loan to help his scores, in reality they pulled both our credit reports but based the rate off of mine since I was primary on the application. Not every lender will ding your rate due to the co-borrowers score and it can be a great way to build positive history for a spouse.
In the OPs situation, if they need the wife's income to qualify then he is right to piggyback her to get her scores up... but if they dont' need her income, then he could apply on his own for the house, and then just add her to the title at closing, unless there is a political thing with making her responsible for the house debt too
FICO 9: 
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@CHBH wrote:Yeah,thats the kicker,we need her income to qualify for the house we want.I don' t make quite enough to qualify on my own. Will adding her as a joint account holder on my Visa give her credit a bump? And should I go ahead and add her as a AU on my Walmart card?
Yes to both! Add her on there and wait til they report.. I think she'll get a pretty decent boost from being added.
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!