Joint CCs - Edumacate me!

[JNA1]

DW and I have been married nearly 20 yrs and we’ve never financed anything together jointly, so I have no DPs in any area about this. I noticed that some cards have the option to do joint applications, and I wondered what the affect of doing that has on SL’s, APR, etc?

Do the collective credit profiles help you get large SLs or is it more of something where the better profile is basically backing up the lesser one? My scores are in the mid 700’s (exact figures in my sig below) and hers are 697 - 713, but it is a new file. She has the 2 cards listed in my sig below, and is a AU on 4 of my cards. We are not coming out of the garden for a while, so I’d guess both of our profiles will be 10+ points stronger and hopefully we’ll get some CLI luv before we escape the confines of the garden.

When it’s time to come out of the garden and to get some of my goal cards, would us doing it jointly help or hinder the chances to get high SL’s?

[K-in-Boston]

Outside of major purchases like a mortgage or possibly an auto loan, I'd advise against joint accounts for a number of reasons.  Yes, it can somewhat be considered the same as "co-signing."  Since you can use household income if you have reasonable expectation to have access to each other's incomes in a 2-income household, there's really no benefit as far as income goes.

For credit cards, certain things can be a nightmare, like needing the consent from both parties to make any changes to an account such as a credit line increase.

[Remedios]

I wouldn't for several reasons, but two most important ones are sometimes marital situations change, and joint accounts make untangling finances exponentially difficult 

Second reason is a bit more pragmatic, keep as many accounts separate as possible, including AU accounts because if it happens that one of you carries a balance, both profiles wont be affected negatively by utilization.  That way, at least one of you would be in position to apply, should there be a need for CC app when you cannot make your CR look pretty in a hurry 

[omgitsMatt]

I had a Cap1 CC for 6 months, $300 SL.

Was an AU on two of her cards. One a yr old, other 2 yrs. Give or take a few months.

That was my entire profile 1 yr 3 months ago.

I had TU score of 780 I think? I'd have to look.

Her history was 13yrs old, thick and in good standing.

Her student debt, revolving credit utilization and new auto loan had her scores just under 700.

We went to a local CU. I applied for a CC in my name.

They said no. We applied jointly.

With her history, we were able to get a 15k limit. However, they used my score to dictate the APR rate.

We needed the promo BT offer so took it. Saved a fortune paying everything off over time.

I would suggest no joint accounts unless you have a good reason. That felt like a good reason.

[JNA1]

Great info, thanks. We’ve never had a reason to get anything jointly before, so I didn’t know the ins and outs of doing it. I’m at the point that I don’t really need any of the goal cards that I want later on, I’m just trying to build a good strong profile and get numerous relationships with good lenders. Knowing how I usually do with these things, I feel like at some point I’ll really like one of the lenders and do most of our banking besides cards with them.

I just thought it was worth an ask to educate me on the subject.

[wasCB14]

I still have a joint Discover with my mother. I had initially applied individually but was declined for having too short a history (4-5 months). Back then, access to a free FICO score was rare and that was the appeal (along with 5% cash back).

It's been a bit of a nuisance at times. She's mainly a Freedom Visa user, and had it declined (fraud concern) when she tried to use it for the fist time at a Sam's Club (which only took Discover and MC at the time).

We got a $2k SL (sometime before, I had seen her Freedom limit was something like ten times that), and at once time requested a CLI so she could buy an Apple computer through ShopDiscover (+5% cash back, x2 "first year" doubled rewards when they were letting existing customers into that promo).

The CLI process was a major PITA and in the end only increased it to $3k. We both had clean histories and good incomes, so while $3k was enough for the laptop purchase it would have been nice to get a more useful limit.

But the CL isn't a problem anymore. They've done so much to hurt the value of the card (in terms of rewards and protections) that I'd never use it for anything other than a small rotating category purchase.

*I once requested a new design on my card (by phone, not through the website) and they instead put the design on her card and sent it to her address. We have to share one login, which caused some confusion at first. Generally not recommended.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Im gonna eduMAcate you! Joint CCs hapen when 2 credit cards are consistently engaged on top of each other in a wallet for days, weeks, even months at a time. It isnt slways pretty but the end results usually make for a entertaining story

[JNA1]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Im gonna eduMAcate you! Joint CCs hapen when 2 credit cards are consistently engaged on top of each other in a wallet for days, weeks, even months at a time. It isnt slways pretty but the end results usually make for a entertaining story

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So THAT'S how baby limit subprime cards are made! I never knew!

[coldfusion]

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@Remedios wrote:

I wouldn't for several reasons, but two most important ones are sometimes marital situations change, and joint accounts make untangling finances exponentially difficult 

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Huge issue, and it's both easy and realistic to run into problems with behavior by the other cardholder leaving stains on your credit profile that court orders and consent decrees cannot resolve.