Hello-
I love reading this forum- so many people are very intelligent and give great advice on credit matters! I am hoping that someone will have some insight on a question that I have.
My fiance has NO credit history. We tried to get his credit scores, and it came up saying that they didn't have enought data to formulate one. He has one recent negative on his CR's- a collection on a medical bill that his insurance didn't pay for ($100), that we somehow missed paying- I am either going to try to PFD or try to see if we can still pay the original creditor and get the collection taken off. He is an AU of 3 of my cards- a Chase platinum ($400 CL; $19 balance), a Wells Fargo Platinum ($9000 CL, $1000 balance) and my Amex ($7000 CL, $600 balance). Amex is the only one that shows up on his CRs.
We want to apply for a mortgage within the next 3 months. I have read a lot on this board, and from what I have read it sounds like being an AU does not help your Fico score anymore. I am afraid to have him try to apply for credit cards, because I don't know if he would get approved, and even if he did it would not help in time for us to get a mortgage. My Wells Fargo credit account is almost 7 years old, and has a perfect payment history. Would it be possible for me to add him as a joint account user to this account (instead of being just an AU)? If I did so would it change the length of account history? And if we were joint account holders would his (NO) credit history effect my FICO score?
My Fico (average- I can't remember what it was for each CRA)score is 720, but I am hoping that will go up soon. We recently (about 10 days ago) paid down the WF card from a balance of $7500 ($9000 credit limit) to a $1000 balance, and we paid down the Amex (only a little over 6 months old
) from about a $1800 balance (it was a $5000 CL then- just got a CLI to $7000) to $600, but the CRA's are not showing that updated info yet.
I understand the risks of joint accounts. But he has been an authorized user on my cards for a while now, and nothing bad has happened. In fact he very rarely ever uses the cards, and he tells me every time he makes a purchase (like $20 for gas). My fiance has no credit history because he didn't want to get into CC debt. He is 28 (I am 25), but he has always paid for everything with cash or with his debit card. He has never had any auto loans (he has a truck, but he paid a private party cash payments; he owns it free and clear now). I am glad that he didn't rack up a lot of CC debt, but it sucks that he has no credit right now!
I love reading this forum- so many people are very intelligent and give great advice on credit matters! I am hoping that someone will have some insight on a question that I have.
My fiance has NO credit history. We tried to get his credit scores, and it came up saying that they didn't have enought data to formulate one. He has one recent negative on his CR's- a collection on a medical bill that his insurance didn't pay for ($100), that we somehow missed paying- I am either going to try to PFD or try to see if we can still pay the original creditor and get the collection taken off. He is an AU of 3 of my cards- a Chase platinum ($400 CL; $19 balance), a Wells Fargo Platinum ($9000 CL, $1000 balance) and my Amex ($7000 CL, $600 balance). Amex is the only one that shows up on his CRs.
We want to apply for a mortgage within the next 3 months. I have read a lot on this board, and from what I have read it sounds like being an AU does not help your Fico score anymore. I am afraid to have him try to apply for credit cards, because I don't know if he would get approved, and even if he did it would not help in time for us to get a mortgage. My Wells Fargo credit account is almost 7 years old, and has a perfect payment history. Would it be possible for me to add him as a joint account user to this account (instead of being just an AU)? If I did so would it change the length of account history? And if we were joint account holders would his (NO) credit history effect my FICO score?
My Fico (average- I can't remember what it was for each CRA)score is 720, but I am hoping that will go up soon. We recently (about 10 days ago) paid down the WF card from a balance of $7500 ($9000 credit limit) to a $1000 balance, and we paid down the Amex (only a little over 6 months old
) from about a $1800 balance (it was a $5000 CL then- just got a CLI to $7000) to $600, but the CRA's are not showing that updated info yet.I understand the risks of joint accounts. But he has been an authorized user on my cards for a while now, and nothing bad has happened. In fact he very rarely ever uses the cards, and he tells me every time he makes a purchase (like $20 for gas). My fiance has no credit history because he didn't want to get into CC debt. He is 28 (I am 25), but he has always paid for everything with cash or with his debit card. He has never had any auto loans (he has a truck, but he paid a private party cash payments; he owns it free and clear now). I am glad that he didn't rack up a lot of CC debt, but it sucks that he has no credit right now!
I know my credit is pretty good, but I cannot qualify for a mortgage on my own w/o his income being included. And even after we (hopefully!!) qualify for a mortgage I would like to try to help him establish good credit so he can obtain credit on his own in the future.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
edited to say (since this is the loan forum): we are trying to get a new home build for $160,000 in Phoenix/metro area. We have $20,000 available for a down payment. i hope this info helps.
Message Edited by as985 on 12-03-2007 10:26 PM
