New to the US

[haulingthescoreup]

Her grandfather would have to add you, as he is the account holder.

This might muddy up the reporting possibilities. Sometimes the lenders or the credit bureaus try to get some match points (same last name, same address --either current or in the past, and so forth) to increase the odds that there is a legitimate relationship between the cardholder and the AU.

The trouble arises from the fact that for a while, there was a brisk industry involving total strangers selling their CC history by adding "AU's" who were willing to pay a stiff fee. This falsified credit history and made credit scores and reports less reliable for lenders to predict risk.

Originally, FICO 08 (the latest version of the FICO scoring formula) was going to ignore all AU accounts, but after enough of us squawked about the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the effect this would have on traditional AU's (often wives without credit in their own names), FICO removed this provision. But there are more efforts to verify that an AU account is not a bought-and-sold piggybacking. Thus my concern that going AU on your GF's grandfather's account might not help you, as it might be too difficult to verify that there is a relationship.

You don't have to wait 6 months. If you can get the AU account to report and create a FICO score for you, you might be able to get a secured card. Just a little advice: don't go nuts with applying. You probably won't get very wonderful cards until you have a solid year's worth of your own squeaky clean credit history. There's no point in loading up with a a half-dozen crappy rebuilder cards that will never grow with you.

You might aim for something like the BofA secured card and a second card from a credit union, which also might be secured as well. After 6 months of these reporting, you might want to add in a story card, like a Macy's card. But the longer you wait before applying for a good card, the better position you'll be in to get one with a good APR, reasonably CL, and all-around decent terms. So don't clutter up your wallet with a bunch of junk from vulture CCC's. A little patience will go a long way.

[Anonymous]

It does not matter. Ask her grandpa if he could add you. Make sure, the cards report to the bureaus (Citi, Amex, Barclay, Chase, they usually report without problems. BoA will report too but they often miss at least one bureau ) As Txjohn said, a good CU will approve you based on your income. Also if you get 3-4 AU lines go ahead and try Amex. If you want store cards as well Best Buy and Nordstrom will most likely approve you. I would open 3-4 cards and then wait for them to age and grow.... Then you can apply for whatever you want. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

i was just like you last year 11/2008, opened a checking with BOA and signed up a $ 1000 secure Credit card with them too, after 9 months they turned my credit card to a regular credit card and returned my deposit increased my credit limit too $2000 my credit score shows up well over 700.

(reminder BOA reports to all 3 agencies) 

use only 1% of your credit limit each month and pay it in full before the due date, just do that for 9 to 10 months you will be doing really good

by the way my wife did not had a good credit thanks to her ex, so you are better off in that regard  

remember DO NOT apply as single applicant for any store cards or ANYTHING which requires credit,

DO apply jointly with your wife or her grandpa as you being primary account holder and they being consignees 

another good step is, if anyone of your family buys appliances/furniture etc! ask them to buy it on yours and their name

which in turn works good, as most places issues a store card in this regard and the card in turn reports to agencies 

as times are tough no one wants to take risk, so no more generous store credits anymore, thats the only step i went wrong as i have around 5 inquiries in my credit report as they did not approve me as single applicant, but i made sure that i got the same cards myself with the help of my family members but the damage was done, as when i see my credit analysis every site says i have too many hard queries in my credit report

Message Edited by jackofall on 12-22-2009 07:12 PM