Stay at home mom using household income on loan application

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are trying to pay off some high interest credit cards with a personal loan. Unfortunately, he has pretty poor credit and all the income. I have fair to good credit, but zero income. Putting him on a loan application all but guarantees we’ll be denied, but obviously no one will give me a loan with no income. Can I use his as my own? What if we’re asked to provide proof? It looks like it’s a little easier to fudge this on a credit card application, but we need a loan rather than more revolving credit. Is this doable? Are there any banks/credit unions/loan sites that do this?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, personal loans are very difficult to get when you need them, but completely easy to get when you don't need them.  Loans are vetted much more closely than revolving apps, so proof of income might be required.

It would probably be faster and easier to fix your husband's credit than apply for even more debt (loan) -- but a lot depends on how well you live by your budget, what your actual credit card balances/limits are, if you're late on anything, etc.

Getting "debt consolidation" loans are next to impossible -- I don't know ANYONE who has managed to get one when they're carrying very high credit card utilization.

[Anonymous]

His credit does need to be fixed, but that’s kind of low on the priority list at the moment. We’re throwing money at these credit cards and not making any headway on paying them off, which is why we think a loan (that has an actual end date) would help. We’re fairly credit savvy, so I know it would take a couple years at minimum to fix his score, and our high utilization rate isn’t helping.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
His credit does need to be fixed, but that’s kind of low on the priority list at the moment. We’re throwing money at these credit cards and not making any headway on paying them off, which is why we think a loan (that has an actual end date) would help. We’re fairly credit savvy, so I know it would take a couple years at minimum to fix his score, and our high utilization rate isn’t helping.

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Makes sense to me.  I went from 550 scores to 720 in about 7 months last year, so don't assume it'll take years to fix his score.  Might be much faster.  I'll likely go from 500s to 800 in 2 years or less total.

I am really doubtful about you getting a loan with no reported income, or attempted to report his income without him being on the loan.  I'd say your best bet is to cut spending as much as humanly possible) and look for alternative income methods like working part time for Uber or Instacart to throw more cash at the debt.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
His credit does need to be fixed, but that’s kind of low on the priority list at the moment. We’re throwing money at these credit cards and not making any headway on paying them off, which is why we think a loan (that has an actual end date) would help. We’re fairly credit savvy, so I know it would take a couple years at minimum to fix his score, and our high utilization rate isn’t helping.

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I’d put both of you on the application. Joint application using both your credit. Then you can put all of the household income. If your credit is higher than his they probably will let you get the loan. YRMV of course. If you are able to do this I’d SD all your credit cards but one for monthly expenses for now. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

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wrote:
My husband and I are trying to pay off some high interest credit cards with a personal loan. Unfortunately, he has pretty poor credit and all the income. I have fair to good credit, but zero income. Putting him on a loan application all but guarantees we’ll be denied, but obviously no one will give me a loan with no income. Can I use his as my own? What if we’re asked to provide proof? It looks like it’s a little easier to fudge this on a credit card application, but we need a loan rather than more revolving credit. Is this doable? Are there any banks/credit unions/loan sites that do this?

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Depends on the situation, if you have a much better credit score, definitely put yourself as primary. as far as income is concerned, ask the bank/cu since you and your husband fild joint tax return, whether or not they will work with you, I would highly recommend go to a branch and talk to a banker instead over the phone. Bankers will try to work with you always. Ususally for personal loans there are 3 big areas they look at. 1. Credit Score (ask the bankers to pull up their credit table for personal loan. to see what credit score generally is needed to get approved. your base interest rate would be affected by it. Best rates are usually given to someone with 720-740++ scores, however some banks do offer flat rate personal loan regardless if you have good or bad credit, but the rate would be like anywhere from 8.5%-12%, aproximately) 2. Credit history ( any collections or deliquincies will affect your chance of getting a loan from anyone, how many is the max you can have on your report varies from different institutions) 3. Debt to Income ratio ( lenders will look at your monthly debt every month as well as your pre-tax income to calculate the ratio. Generally nowadays most banks will not go over 45% DTI. All debts used in the calculation are what's in your credit report. )

Lastly, if you are using the loan for debt consolidation, I'm almost 100% certain the lenders will ask you to close any accounts you are using the loan to pay off.

[Anonymous]

The majority of creditors that give personal loans will not ask the applicant to shut down credit card accounts.

OP, if you file a joint tax return, use that as your income. Period.

[QCS123]

I did something similar when I got an auto loan.  We have a Credit Union that we bank with so I went in, they used my FICO and all my info but since the income is all his, he needed to come in and sign the final papers to make it a joint auto loan.  Basically they used my FICO and info, but added him as the joint to make sure there was a financial source to insure payment.  I got a very good APR and there is NO way I would have gotten that APR with his FICO.  Years ago when I got an Auto loan at the same Credit Union we asked about a loan and were told they would need to use his FICO, but was standing right there, so I think it was different when I went in along and got everything going then brought my husband into the mix.  So you might try your Credit Union if you are a member of one.  I don't know if a Bank would use just your FICO, but a Credit Union might.

Good luck!