joint credit / credit

[HumbleLobster]

I just went through adding my wife as a joint owner on my 8 year old US Bank Visa card.  They hard pulled EQ for me but didn't HP her at all.  I called the backdoor and asked why just the one HP and they said they wanted to base it off of my current credit situation to add another owner on, since I had been the primary the entire time.

I also have a Chase Freedom that is 4 years old and when I called to add my wife as a Joint Owner to the they said they would HP both of us, and that she needed to meet the same requirements as a new account applicant.  Based on that I just left her as an AU.

Hope that helps!

[Creditaddict]

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@aloush11 wrote:

From what I Understand accounts that are labeled as AU, do not count towards FICO.

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Might be one version of TU that does this... but I think all the talk years ago about this didn't actually end up being implamented.

[Creditaddict]

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@HumbleLobster wrote:

I just went through adding my wife as a joint owner on my 8 year old US Bank Visa card.  They hard pulled EQ for me but didn't HP her at all.  I called the backdoor and asked why just the one HP and they said they wanted to base it off of my current credit situation to add another owner on, since I had been the primary the entire time.

I also have a Chase Freedom that is 4 years old and when I called to add my wife as a Joint Owner to the they said they would HP both of us, and that she needed to meet the same requirements as a new account applicant.  Based on that I just left her as an AU.

Hope that helps!

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Very good info, I have not added joint since about 2005, but just last year went through process with Chase to remove joint and end result was "ACCOUNT CLOSED"

I really suggest AU only these days.

[HumbleLobster]

I believe that the current scoring model only prevents piggybacking AU and not an actual AU.  I'm not sure what it defines as a true AU, but I know that if you have some type of legal relationship with them (spouse/child/etc.) it will be factored into the AU's scoring.

[Wolf3]

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@aloush11 wrote:

When I spoke to Chase and asked if I can be added on as a joint, the credit rep stated that there would be no hard pull for either the primary or secondary. Everything is based off the primary card holder and that if the primary defaults they would come after me. The account has about 10 years off history, never been late and always PIF. I'm trying to increase my AAOA and at the same time build some credit with prime lenders so I can venture off on my own.

I have been using the the Discover and US Bank cards for the last year and always PIF. For whatever reasons they do not report to my Credit Reports and even if they did they would not effect my scores and possibly not even my AAOA. I feel like I'm helping the primary but not my self.

Do you have any recommendations?

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I suggest you call US Bank and Discover and ask that they report to your CR as AU which will help your credit.

Since you want to be "on your own", a joint account seems the opposite direction.   An AU can help your score and it easy to break away later.   You may want to consider getting a secured account of your own to build your own credit.