Student cards and "limited credit history"

[Anonymous]

So I'm trying to get my fiancée's credit started off in a good direction. I'm 23 with a 760 score, but she has used debit cards for everything so she has no credit history. I tried applying to a student Citi card for her, but they declined. Isn't the point of a student card that you likely are young and haven't had much credit yet? I want to try applying to the Chase +1 Student MasterCard for her, but is that gonna be a waste of time too? Can anyone give me suggestions on some good credit cards for having no history? And is having inquiries on your account going to make it even harder to qualify for credit if that's all you have on your credit report?

Also, I added her as an authorized user on all my accounts, but all they asked for was a name to put on the card (no SS#). How can I get her credit rating to be positively affected by leeching off me (haha)?

Thanks 

[Anonymous]

If she has limited or no credit (meaning no bad credit) and is in fact a student, and does not have more than 1 inquiry, try Discover Student card.

You also may want to add her as an AU on 1 or 2 accounts.

[cobaltnv]

Does your fiance live with you? If she has the same address they will find her without a ssn (kinda scary I know) 

Are all your accounts clean with low balances? If any cards have any late payments or high utilization you do not want to add her as an AU to those. 

[Scamp]

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Cryostasis wrote:

So I'm trying to get my fiancée's credit started off in a good direction. I'm 23 with a 760 score, but she has used debit cards for everything so she has no credit history. I tried applying to a student Citi card for her, but they declined. Isn't the point of a student card that you likely are young and haven't had much credit yet? I want to try applying to the Chase +1 Student MasterCard for her, but is that gonna be a waste of time too? Can anyone give me suggestions on some good credit cards for having no history? And is having inquiries on your account going to make it even harder to qualify for credit if that's all you have on your credit report?

Also, I added her as an authorized user on all my accounts, but all they asked for was a name to put on the card (no SS#). How can I get her credit rating to be positively affected by leeching off me (haha)?

Thanks 

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As another member commented, if your cards are in good shape utilization- and payment-wise, your having added her as an AU should help her establish a credit profile.  If you have high util or other baddies, it may not be such a good thing.

If one or both of you have a good relationship with a bank in your area (checking/savings, etc.), and if you have some cash you could use for a secured card for her, that's an option and a good way to start from scratch.

Similarly, CU's can be a good way to go for someone just starting out, even moreso if another banking relationship is already established there.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice so far. Yeah, I have no lates on my credit report and util at under 10%. I added her as an AU on 2 of my cards. We won't be living together until next month when we get married, so I'm thinking it might be best to just have my parents' home address (I get my mail there frequently anyway) as both of our addresses on all credit cards we may have so that the AU accounts will be able to help her credit?

Hopefully that will help. It does seem weird they'd be able to post anything to her credit report without me giving her SSN though.

I'd like to also get real accounts of her own posted to her report though so I'll try looking around at local credit unions and such.

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the advice so far. Yeah, I have no lates on my credit report and util at under 10%. I added her as an AU on 2 of my cards. We won't be living together until next month when we get married, so I'm thinking it might be best to just have my parents' home address (I get my mail there frequently anyway) as both of our addresses on all credit cards we may have so that the AU accounts will be able to help her credit?

Hopefully that will help. It does seem weird they'd be able to post anything to her credit report without me giving her SSN though.

I'd like to also get real accounts of her own posted to her report though so I'll try looking around at local credit unions and such.

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Without a SS# all they have is a name. There is no way the CRA's would know whose report to update as an AU without that information. Am I completely wrong about that?

Also not every CC issuer sends that info in. You need to ask first. I know from personal experience that Discover and Cap 1 do report an AU to the CRA's.

7/09 (myfico)
TU-742
EQ-779

CC interest free as of 8/09
Time can heal all wounds and a low FICO.
"Hello my name is Sandy and I'm a recovering crediholic".

[cobaltnv]

Credit card companies do not need a SSN to report an AU.