helpful advice requested

[s_rob7488]

Recently got married and my wife has a Cap1 Venture (the gold one) with 3k limit. That is the only credit card that she has but she has numerous store cards. I know she has good credit as she is always approved for anything and with really good CL's. We are trying to figure out if she should just keep the card which she doesnt even use because she is AU on my CSP or if she should close it or get a different card from different Company and SD the Cap1 card? idk, open to suggestions. 

[RockinRay]

My vote goes to keep it open and use it from time to time.

Is there an AF on that card?

She really needs to have her own credit along with joint credit with you. That is the best of both worlds in my mind.

My wife and I have our joint credit, but we also have individual credit cards too. I was told by our financial advisor that was the best practice.

And - congrats on your marrige!  

[s_rob7488]

I'm not sure if it does or not. I know she did a PC from a no hassle card to the Venture. Is there a way to tell if she has an AF? Should she get a 2nd card such as a chase or Amex or whatnot while keeping the Cap1 just for the trade line? EDIT: No annual Fee

[webhopper]

I would recommend an amex for your wife; maybe bce or bcp. What do her scores look like?

[s_rob7488]

Not sure actually. I was thinking of having her pull them. Or we could go in blindly but I wouldn't want to waste an inq even tho CLI with Cap1 would be HP more than likely. Will see if I can convince her to pull a report lol

[marty56]

If she has good credit and good CLs, why apply for a new CC.  What is her long term goal?

[s_rob7488]

She only has 1 Visa card right now the rest are store cards and she was just asking what to do with it. I told her I hated Cap1 and that she should get 1 card and put old one in SD. Long term would mainly be house hopefully within 5-7 years. More than Mything I don't know if her CL is at a point where it can't be increased 3k now, because it was her 1st card then she PCed to Venture card and I want her to have a card that will grow with a good company.

[marty56]

I owuld recommend a good store product.  GE is tops in my book for that sans the interest rate.  Also if you qualify for membership, a local CU is the way to go for all types of credit and banking for that mater.

[jamie123]

I think you need to get some more information about her credit history first.

Sign her up at CreditKarma.com and take a look at her history. (It's totally free!)  The score they will give you is a FAKO but you will be able to study her past history and actually see how many accounts and installment loans she has had in the past.

If the Cap1 card is her oldest, I would find out how much AAoA she would lose before deciding to close it. At least have a prime CC in hand before closing the Cap1 card.

Congrats on the marriage!

Just a bit of advice about joint credit from a person that has been married three times:

KEEP YOUR CREDIT SEPARATE EXCEPT FOR A MORTGAGE!

It is a real pain in the butt to sell, transfer or register anything that has both your names on it. (Cars, boats, CC) Even if it was split-up by a judge in the divorce, the bureaucrats you will have to deal with in government to license or sell these items don't really care. It has two names on the title, they want two signatures.

[LS2982]

I would recommend pulling a FICO EQ report from here, as well as TU. You cannot buy an EX FICO anymore since 2009. If you need to see EX, freecreditreport.com can give you here report and a FAKO score.

Before you app for anything I would look at whats on her reports.