updating credit reports to reflect joint ownership of credit card account

[Anonymous]

hi,

I'm new to the forums. I would love any advice to dealing with my wife's credit situtation.

Here's the long version. In 2001, we took what has turned out to be bad advice from a homebuying education workshop, and my wife closed her (Visa?MC?) credit card account (which she had from 1987 to 2001) and a joint Sears card account we had had since 1998, and became an authorized user on my Visa account (which I had had since 1996). (Niether of us had any negative history on any card).

She paid off her student loans in 2004 and didn't have any other debt.

When we checked her credit scores around 2008 they were great. When we applied for a mortgage to buy a home in 2010, we were told by the mortgage broker that "she didn't have any credit." In other words, the fact that she had only positive, paid in full, but CLOSED credit accounts, meant that she had "no credit." We took out the mortgage in my name only.

We also then added her as a joint account holder on my Visa (rather than merely an AU).

However, the fact that she is now a joint account holder has never been updated in her credit report (at least the Equifax). When we tried to get it updated, Equifax responded "The disputed account XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/nnnnnnnnnnnn is currently not reporting on the Equifax Credit file."

I was under the (apparently mistaken) understanding that if you disputed something, they were supposed to investigate (e.g., check with the financial institution), not just tell you they don't have that information. But I suppose it is different when you are trying to get them to add positive information, rather than remove negative information.

(We sent letters to TransUnion and Experian also, but haven't heard back from them yet).

Here is where I need advice. Who do we need to push to get her joint ownership of the account reflected in her credit report? Do we need to push the financial institution to report the joint ownership? Do we need to get written documentation of the joint ownership of the account and send this to the CRAs? Both?

I just sent a message to the financial institution asking them to both update any reporting to the CRAs and to provide us with written documentation of the joint ownership.

Anything else I should be doing?

We are considering refinancing, but I'd like to get this cleared up first. Especially because we bought the house in my name and then added her to the title. I imagine we can remove her from the title, refinance, and add her back, but it seems silly.
 Actually it seems silly to me that she would be seen as a liablity given that she has only positive, paid in full, but closed accounts. It would seem to me that adding someone like that to an application with a spouse with positive, paid on time accounts wouldn't bring things down. But what do I know about the mysterious world of credit  reporting?

[LS2982]

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@Anonymous wrote:

hi,

I'm new to the forums. I would love any advice to dealing with my wife's credit situtation.

Here's the long version. In 2001, we took what has turned out to be bad advice from a homebuying education workshop, and my wife closed her (Visa?MC?) credit card account (which she had from 1987 to 2001) and a joint Sears card account we had had since 1998, and became an authorized user on my Visa account (which I had had since 1996). (Niether of us had any negative history on any card).

She paid off her student loans in 2004 and didn't have any other debt.

When we checked her credit scores around 2008 they were great. When we applied for a mortgage to buy a home in 2010, we were told by the mortgage broker that "she didn't have any credit." In other words, the fact that she had only positive, paid in full, but CLOSED credit accounts, meant that she had "no credit." We took out the mortgage in my name only.

We also then added her as a joint account holder on my Visa (rather than merely an AU).

However, the fact that she is now a joint account holder has never been updated in her credit report (at least the Equifax). When we tried to get it updated, Equifax responded "The disputed account XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/nnnnnnnnnnnn is currently not reporting on the Equifax Credit file."

I was under the (apparently mistaken) understanding that if you disputed something, they were supposed to investigate (e.g., check with the financial institution), not just tell you they don't have that information. But I suppose it is different when you are trying to get them to add positive information, rather than remove negative information.

(We sent letters to TransUnion and Experian also, but haven't heard back from them yet).

Here is where I need advice. Who do we need to push to get her joint ownership of the account reflected in her credit report? Do we need to push the financial institution to report the joint ownership? Do we need to get written documentation of the joint ownership of the account and send this to the CRAs? Both?

I just sent a message to the financial institution asking them to both update any reporting to the CRAs and to provide us with written documentation of the joint ownership.

Anything else I should be doing?

We are considering refinancing, but I'd like to get this cleared up first. Especially because we bought the house in my name and then added her to the title. I imagine we can remove her from the title, refinance, and add her back, but it seems silly.
 Actually it seems silly to me that she would be seen as a liablity given that she has only positive, paid in full, but closed accounts. It would seem to me that adding someone like that to an application with a spouse with positive, paid on time accounts wouldn't bring things down. But what do I know about the mysterious world of credit  reporting?

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I would deal with the creditor about it and also in that process get documentation and fax it to the bureaus. Hopefully that works out for you!

[Anonymous]

So while we try to get this straightened out, is there any reason to think that it would be harmful to either of our credit to take out a new joint credit card?

I know there would be a hard pull for each of us, we don't have an excess of HPs. Her Experian shows 3 since 2010.

If we had done that in 2010 when we found out about the problem, she'd have actual credit by now. But just adding her to my card hasn't done anything (until we can get the CRAs to recognize she is a joint owner).

She has no open cards or other credit accounts (which is the problem). I have one CC, a student loan, and the mortgage in my name. At the time I took out the mortgage, I had excellent credit. I have no reason to think it has gone downhill (everything has been paid on time).

I'm thinking of the US Bank Cash + Visa or the AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card.

Any reason that would hurt if we were then to try to refinance? Any idea how long it would take before the mortgage lenders start considering her as having credit? (Again she has a positive credit history, but none of the accounts have been open since 2004).