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Hey all! I've been rebuilding mine and my husbands credit for the last several months using the forums here. We have made amazing improvement with the information we've received. We're getting ready to close on our first home in 2 weeks, but after we close I need to continue working on building our credit. I do not have a single revolving credit card that isn't a store card. I didn't know the difference when I applied for the credit cards I have. On top of that, I only have 2. They're both Comenity products with pretty low credit limits ($190 and $250). I'm ready to upgrade to a big girl card. 😂 I am wanting to apply for something at navy federal, but I'm not sure which product would be best? Or where to start? If I don't get an unsecured card, I'm going to opt for the secured card to build a relationship.
Anyways, this may be a stupid question. Lol. When I'm applying, do I include my husbands income because we share money and will be paying the bill together? Seems like a silly question, but I obviously want to fill out the app correctly.
Which card you apply for depends on your needs/wants.
Do you prefer cashback or points?
Do you travel often (not including current pandemic; during "normal" times, I mean)?
Are you willing to pay an annual fee?
Do you care about perks with cards?
Do you have a preference for lenders?
Also, yes I believe you should be able to use household income in your credit apps seeing as you're married.
Finally, we will need more data points on your current profile on top of answering the above questions I asked in order to give you better, more personalized suggestions for cards. We will need income, current scores (FICO, not Credit Karma. If you don't have them handy, you can sign up for a $1 seven day trial at creditchecktotal.com, just be sure to cancel before trial ends or else you'll be charged full monthly membership price of $29.99), list of all accounts on your file (store cards, auto loans, student loans, etc.) along with their limits and current balances, as well as if your file has any baddies (ex: charge offs, collections, tax liens, etc.).
It may seem a bit invasive, but it's only so that we can get a better picture of where your profile stands at the moment and in turn offer tailored advice which would lead to higher success at approvals.
I think our wants/needs are a higher credit limit? Lol. I'm honestly just not sure! Would prefer no annual fee. Don't have a preference in lenders. Cash back is awesome, but not a necessity.
Me:
Income: $66k
Scores: EQ 608, TU 643, EX 614
Accounts: Comenity Card Victoria Secret balance is $0/$190
Comenity Toyota balance is $0/$250
Joint Car Loan: Santander crap interest rate and took a couple month forbearance to pay off some collections and charge offs. Balance is $28,600k....original balance was $28,690k. Lmao. We opened it in November 2019. Hoping to refinance this at the end of the year.
Student Loans: $55k in forbearance, no lates.
Capital One charge off: $0 balance
I have recent lates. 3 total on Comenity cards, and a crap ton from my previous car loan that closed in February after I paid it off.
Husband:
Income: $60k
Scores: EQ 629 TU 610 EX 611
Accounts: Kohl's $0/$300, Discover secures $18/$200
Chase charge Off $0 balance
Citi Charge Off will have $0 balance
Has the same car loan
Student Loans: $60k in forbearance and no lates
Same situation with lates. Recent 3 lates with kohl's, and a crap ton on a previous car loan that closed and paid off November 2019.
All of our collections have been paid and removed.
With regards to your husband's income, you can include it. The CARD act lets anyone over 21 include income from others that they regularly use to pay their bills on credit card apps. If you're married and filing jointly that should definitely qualify. I've been a homemaker since January, so no personal income, but I was able to use my SO's for my recent Chase app.
@Slabenstein wrote:With regards to your husband's income, you can include it. The CARD act lets anyone over 21 include income from others that they regularly use to pay their bills on credit card apps. If you're married and filing jointly that should definitely qualify. I've been a homemaker since January, so no personal income, but I was able to use my SO's for my recent Chase app.
While this is completely true for major banks, I have read where Navy asks for individual income and there have been reports of them denying people who used spousal income unless it was a joint account.
@Cjethompson2017 high limits comes with time and improving profiles. My personal opinion is to try to find a card that is potentially useful long term so in a year from now you are not making post about if closing a "useless" card will hurt your scores.
@dragontears wrote:
@Slabenstein wrote:With regards to your husband's income, you can include it. The CARD act lets anyone over 21 include income from others that they regularly use to pay their bills on credit card apps. If you're married and filing jointly that should definitely qualify. I've been a homemaker since January, so no personal income, but I was able to use my SO's for my recent Chase app.
While this is completely true for major banks, I have read where Navy asks for individual income and there have been reports of them denying people who used spousal income unless it was a joint account.
@Cjethompson2017 high limits comes with time and improving profiles. My personal opinion is to try to find a card that is potentially useful long term so in a year from now you are not making post about if closing a "useless" card will hurt your scores.
Hm. A rep for a small cu I'm in just told me that they won't consider a spouse's income on an individual cc app. Idk if cu's are regulated differently under the CARD act, but if you do apply at Navy, OP, I'd call and ask whether you can include your husband's income before making the app.
Ok, this is good information. I'm glad I came to ask. Last thing I want is to fraudulently claim I make more than I do. I'll take what I can get with what they tell me to put. Lol. Thank you!
OP, you might want to take a look at PenFed as a good CU option for rebuilding. From my own experience and many others around this board, they have been in a generous mood lately with regard to their CC products, even for those with less-than-stellar credit. I agree that you would want to get your vehicle refinanced and out of Santander's high-interest clutches, and a CU is a great way to go about an auto refi. In fact, you may be able to apply for the refi and then have that same HP used to consider for a card.
[Edit] Forgot to mention, PenFed allows you to use household income when applying for credit products. At least, they did for me!
@sarux3 I didn't realize that was an option. Thank you! What type of accounts do I have to have with PenFed in order to have credit accounts with them?
@Cjethompson2017 wrote:@sarux3 I didn't realize that was an option. Thank you! What type of accounts do I have to have with PenFed in order to have credit accounts with them?
It used to be that you needed military or DoD affliation, or membership in one of their charitable groups, but these days they've opened up the gates to anyone with $5 to put in a share savings account. I went in a couple weeks ago with no affiliations and opened a share savings, a checking account, and applied for a Power Cash Rewards card and was approved over the weekend. The checking account boosts the rewards rate of the PCR from 1.5% to 2%, but it's not necessary for approval of that card.