Bit of background,
I basically govern most of the financial moves/decisions between me and my wife as she hates dealing with money, bills and credit. Before anyone frowns up, she is 100% aware and we discuss of any use of money, payments and future financial moves that are being made. Teamwork makes the dream work lol. About a yr ago I began managing my wife's credit while I was in the middle of rebuilding mine. All of her scores were low to mid 400s (happenings before our relationship). Once I established my base with the Chase Trifecta, a Discover IT card, BankAmericard, Capital One card and a JSC FCU credit card, I added her as an authorized user on the Chase and Discover cards as they have the higher balances.
In addition she already had a few of her own cards. Target Card (store only), Capital One Quicksilver, Credit One and a Indigo Card. At the time of me taking them over all of her cards were maxed out and had at least one missed payment, which made her payment history around 86%. So after 9 months of being an AU and maintaining her accounts we were able to get the payment history to 93% and raise her overall credit limit from 2k to 15k (most of the limits are AU). Also tremendously jump in her scores from the 400s to EX: 670, TU: 680 and EQ: 674.
Action Plan:
- We really want to close out the Indigo and Credit one cards as they essentially are useless and have no benefit anymore. But before that I would like to replace the balances they represent. That way her UT and overall CL wont take that much of a hit.
- Looking to app spree for her own Discover IT, a “Hotel” card and a “Miles” card. She would like to app for the Chase Preferred, but I believe she is at 5/24 with her being added as an AU on my Chase cards. She would also like to app for a “entry-level” Amex. Not sure her profile is strong enough for Amex just yet.
- Then it's to the garden for the next yr while we fulfill our SUBs. We are saving for a house and have 20% of down payment goal of 25k, saved from the last 2 month.
Looking for opinions and recommendations the forum might have on a good base of cards will allow her to strengthen her profile that isn't based on AU accounts. I know she'll take the hits from thr HPs but after that we will have no need to take any HPs until we apply for a mortgage.
Here are some of her additional data points:
Current FICO 8: EX: 670, TU: 680 and EQ: 674.
Income: 65k individual (145k accessible)
Inquires: 10-12 ( 5-7 falling off in Aug/Sep)
Auto Loan: 30k of 36k remaining (My car; 100% payment history)
Avg. Monthly UT: 3-5%
Student Loans: $0
Collections: 0
Revolving Limit: Appx. 15k
Target Card: $300
Cap1 QS: $770
Indigo: $300
CreditOne: $400
Chase Freedom AU: $5000
Chase FU AU: $2000
Chase SP AU: $5000
Discover IT AU: $1700
Thank you in advance forum!
