I am contemplating applying for joint status on one or two of my wifes older CC's. The problem is she closed her oldest one (5 years of good history and paid down to zero). The two we are looking at have a great 1-2 year history with good usage and no late or missed pays. We usually pay more than minimum. The only problem is they both have a pretty high balance to CL ratio (like 75-85%) but not maxed. We plan on buying a house before spring with the plan being to pay down balance on the cards to less than 10% using tax return money. Will putting me on now be a good idea? Or should I wait for balances to be down lower? Also, I have a few cards with good history (1-3 years) and very low to no balances. I don't want to put them in her name because her debt to income ratio is already high. Is this thinking correct?
