Applying for a secured credit card for stay at home mom?

[Anonymous]

My wife and I have been wanting to rebuild her credit some. She doesn't necessarily have bad credit or major negatives, she simply doesn't really have anything. She has some student loans that were previously in forebearance, and has no credit cards in her name, no loans, or anything, so there isn't much of anything reporting any utilization or what not.

We were planning on getting her just a basic secured card and have her use it some, pay it off each month to start have something reporting, showing activity, and credit management. But the first one we applied to with Capital One was simply rejected outright and I think it was because we were unsure what to put in some of the fields.

First, we put that she is unemployed... she is a stay-at-home mom, and the fields were basically employeed full time, part time, unemployeed, or other, with nothing to indicate what other was.

Second, her income was $0. She is a stay at home mom... my income is our income. But paystubs are under my name, and I wasn't a part of the application, so we put $0.

Third, we did put the $200 in monthly debt payments for her student loans. They're in her name, on her credit report, so we included them.

We were expecting with a secured card, that income parameters may not matter as much, since if you are funding the whole thing, then as long as you have the money to give them, you should be able to get a card. Thought that made sense, but nope.

Our thinking was to maybe just go into who we bank with and apply for a secured card in the branch. Then we can explain the situation, they note it correctly for whomever approves, and the money to fund it would be coming from a joint account, so they can see we the money there.

Curious how have others with a non-working spouse applied applied for credit on their own? Even secured credit?

[ezdriver]

The best that you can do is get a secured card in your name and add her as an AU. With zero income I don't see how else you can build her credit.

[RA26]

I am in the same boat. I am a stay at home mom. I was able to get a secured card then a non secured card from Capital One.  I used amount of income that is deposited into our joint account. 

Capital one allows for shared income to be used, so as long as the person is over 21 and money is regulary depositied into either a joint account or regualar account the person applying for as access too. 

I am not sure how long ago you applied and if calling capital one would be an option. If the application was recent enough you might be able to talk to someone at Capital One about it  and see if it's possible to either rework the application? 

I honestly am not sure what other banks allow this. I haven't done anymore looking. If you look at the income section of applications there's sometimes a box that will pop that tells you what you are allowed to use.  I'd love to know what other credit card companies allows this also, for future reference. 

[Dj4Money]

 The only secured card I know if that doesn't pull your credit and has no income requirement is the State Dept Federal Credit Union - https://www.sdfcu.org/emv-creditcards

 You have to become a member of American Consumer Council - http://www.americanconsumercouncil.org/

 The $5 a year fee can be wavied, but it's only $15 for lifetime membership.

 This is the card I will get as soon as I have enough money to get the balance I want.

[junebug225]

I had the same issue when my wife didn't work. We applied jointly and it worked out.