How to Build my Wife's Score?

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I'm hoping for some advice.  Thanks to this forum I have all 3 of my FICO's over 800.  My wife of 5 years just got her Permanent Residence and SSN so I'd like to build her credit score as directly as possible.  

I'm open to use my credit cards (AU or joint) to help build her score.  I have 3 open accounts and 3 closed accounts on my CR.  

My Open CC's  ($25k CL each):

Citi 2008 (wife is AU with no SSN registered)

Citi 2005

BofA 30+ years

Here's where I'm hoping for some feedback:  It would seem to be a good idea for me to at least add her to my BofA CC to get her a middle range credit score.  Then, once her score is updated, have her apply for a "begginer" type card where the requirements are easier.  I am thinking at a bank with lots of cards (Chase, Citi, BofA, etc) so she could product change if she wanted down the road without adding new accounts.  Perhaps she should go for two new cards in one shot once my BofA card affects her score?  

What would you guys do?  I'm not worried about her running up bills.  In 5 years she hasn't used the 2008 Citi card once.

Thanks,

CK

[myjourney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello All,

I'm hoping for some advice.  Thanks to this forum I have all 3 of my FICO's over 800.  My wife of 5 years just got her Permanent Residence and SSN so I'd like to build her credit score as directly as possible.  

I'm open to use my credit cards (AU or joint) to help build her score.  I have 3 open accounts and 3 closed accounts on my CR.  

My Open CC's  ($25k CL each):

Citi 2008 (wife is AU with no SSN registered)

Citi 2005

BofA 30+ years

Here's where I'm hoping for some feedback:  It would seem to be a good idea for me to at least add her to my BofA CC to get her a middle range credit score.  Then, once her score is updated, have her apply for a "begginer" type card where the requirements are easier.  I am thinking at a bank with lots of cards (Chase, Citi, BofA, etc) so she could product change if she wanted down the road without adding new accounts.  Perhaps she should go for two new cards in one shot once my BofA card affects her score?  

What would you guys do?  I'm not worried about her running up bills.  In 5 years she hasn't used the 2008 Citi card once.

Thanks,

CK

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I would add her as an AU to all cards get a secured card for her and wait a year before any attempts at Chase or Citi.

Cap1 journey might be a good choice at about the 9 month mark also

[Anonymous]

myjourney,

Thanks for the reply.

I added her to all three cards as an AU as you recommended.  

It seems like I should verify she has a credit report and score before I try and get her even a prepaid card.  Perhaps waiting until all 3 accounts are reporting on all 3 CRA's.  I wonder how long it takes for that to happen or should I just try and get her an account with a 3-1 monitoring service right now.

[Anonymous]

IMHO I wouldn't spend the money on a monitoring service right now. I am not sure how the CRAs treat AUs, but typically when people get their first credit cards they don't get a score for the first 6 months.
Adding her to your BofA is a good idea because they ask for SSN for AUs. A lot of cards don't but are able to post correctly because of the name, DOB, address correlation if there is an existing CR. without an existing CR they may not post. In addition I would follow journey's recommendation above

[Anonymous]

I would think that each card would report at their respective closing dates. 

You could try signing her up for quarterly monitoring through here. If she doesn't have a report / score, it won't let you sign her up. If she does, you will get 4 TU reports, 3 months apart, and a score each time (a TU98, but a score, and it will give you a ballpark idea). In addition, QM monitors reports for new accounts and suspicious activity, so you'll get alerts for stuff like that.

[Anonymous]

mauve,

Thanks for the insight.  I had searched around and found no solid information saying when your CR or CS starts.  I knew that it wouldn't start without anyone reporting because that's logical.  

Based on what you said, I figure I'll wait until a week after all 3 cards' statement date and try getting her report/score.

Hopefully I will stick with it and keep this thread updated as things move along over the next couple years.  Stay tuned.

[maceto]

My wife (no SSN) just got approved for Amex SPG and Citi Hilton reserve. That's by just being AU on a few of my cards (11) months. 4500 in total credit with 0 stated income, so yea can be done if playing the game right. Add her to all you got, give it a few months and have her apply.

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

Do you happen to know if it matters whether I actually activate the cards that I added my wife as authorized user?  Matter for her scoring.  

Thanks,

[myjourney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello All,

Do you happen to know if it matters whether I actually activate the cards that I added my wife as authorized user?  Matter for her scoring.  

Thanks,

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You have to activate any cards the you app for otherwise they could get canceled for inactivity  

[Anonymous]

Alrighty then.  Thanks.