First Card for Fiancee

[Anonymous]

Howdy Friends! Very new here, on the road to some credit repair for myself.

I'm getting married in December, and we are also working on building her credit. She has nothing derogrotory on her report, scores in the 705-715 range. She currently has limited income, but I think we can use my income on an application for her?

Her oldest account is actually older than she is (23) because she is an authorized user on one or two of her mothers cards. She also has two paid student loans.

My gross income is around $48,000 + she makes around 6,000-8,000 a year working part time.

What card should we look at getting for her? I think we'd like to have some card with travel rewards - but really not sure.

Are her approval odds good?

[Anonymous]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, very nice! Wishing much happiness to you both

A few questions: does she have current, open cards listed on her report with herself as AU? That will make a difference in what is possible.

I would recommend for her to start with Capital One, for best chances of success and not getting turned down. Chase and other lenders are not usually thrilled to be the first card someone has in their own name, because your fiancee has not established a card history in her own name, so start slow. 

It can happen, but for best chances of success I'd say to start with Capital One (Quicksilver), have that card open for 6 months, and then build from there. A good second card to try for after she has the Capital One card for 6 months would be Discover.

Many lenders do not put as much weight on an AU account as one might think (especially if her mother put her on the account when she was a young minor child), but it certainly can help in some situations. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I believe she as one Old Navy store card that she is listed as an AU on. There may also be one or two gas cards.

She does not have any cards open in her own name with her as the account holder.

I had read here that some recommend staying away from Capital 1, so wasn't sure if that was the best choice or not? She has pre-qual offers from Capital 1. I was hoping for a Chase card - or if were going with cash rewards only maybe a Citi Doublecash?

[JustBPatient]

I would agree with the above posters.  Cap1 would be just fine to get her started, then in 6 to 12 months with responsible use the sky's the limit.  She will naturally after a time get prequal offers in the mail etc.  There are certain lenders that dont want to be your 1st card but are happy to extend credit once they see some activity from other lenders.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I believe she as one Old Navy store card that she is listed as an AU on. There may also be one or two gas cards.

She does not have any cards open in her own name with her as the account holder.

I had read here that some recommend staying away from Capital 1, so wasn't sure if that was the best choice or not? She has pre-qual offers from Capital 1. I was hoping for a Chase card - or if were going with cash rewards only maybe a Citi Doublecash?

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Chase and Citi are really going to want to see a credit history in her own name first. She does not currently have a credit history in her own name.  I would suggest following the good advice here and applying for a Capital One card. If she manages it well, then in 6 to 12 months she can consider another card in addition.

I'd suggest waiting 12 months given what you mentioned above - the card(s) you mention that she is AU on are a store card and possibly a gas card. Chase and Citi are prime lenders and they are going to want more of her own history with a major card first. Just trying to help increase her chances of not getting turned down.

She's jumping ahead a bit to look at those other cards when she does not have her own credit history yet.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for suggestions!

We ended up applying for Capital One QS and she was instantly approved for $10,000, which was a bit of a shocker!

Her first card is greater limit than my total current credit line! haha

Going to start putting some bills on it to PIF each month and continue to build credit.

Would adding me as AU to her card with higher limit help my score in any significient way?

[FroggieMom]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, very nice! Wishing much happiness to you both

A few questions: does she have current, open cards listed on her report with herself as AU? That will make a difference in what is possible.

I would recommend for her to start with Capital One, for best chances of success and not getting turned down. Chase and other lenders are not usually thrilled to be the first card someone has in their own name, because your fiancee has not established a card history in her own name, so start slow. 

It can happen, but for best chances of success I'd say to start with Capital One (Quicksilver), have that card open for 6 months, and then build from there. A good second card to try for after she has the Capital One card for 6 months would be Discover.

Many lenders do not put as much weight on an AU account as one might think (especially if her mother put her on the account when she was a young minor child), but it certainly can help in some situations. Good luck!

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