The OP @Anonymous hasnt been here for 6 weeks. If they ever return. Heres a couple snippets.
"there's just 3 that are duds in terms of what they're doing for her credit."
No card is a dude. FICO doesnt care how much of a credit line is on a account. Its whats reported %-wise.
"They have painfully low credit limits, we never use them, and two of them are store cards."
If you dont use the credit. Makes it harder to get CLI's. Usage gets CLI's. Need a couple more MC/Visa's in their name. No need for more store cards.
AZEO is mainly for less than 50% of cards reporting which is ding. And no interest paid.
@disdreamin wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:I agree 100% with those who've pointed out that women need credit in their own names. If your wife isn't managing her own credit, you may *think* you're doing her a favor, but you're really not--just note the replies mentioning things like becoming a young widow. Life happens. As do divorce, death, unemployment, illness, and a myriad of other things that can affect people financially. She needs to have a firm grasp on managing credit, and that includes paying her own bills, on time.
<snip> Considering the late payment issue, I think setting up auto-pay for every account is a good idea, but even with auto-pay it's always necessary to stay on top of things.
I agree with you on the above, but I will say that one partner can often be more interested in credit than the other. In my household, I'm the one playing around on this site and checking credit reports and scores for fun. My SO checks reports when prodded, but would likely never think of it otherwise. I pay the bills, go over statements, etc, but we are both aware of all accounts. We each have individual accounts as well, on which we have designated the other as beneficiary (the joint accounts have our eldest child as beneficiary).
For auto-pay, it certainly isn't 100% or fool-proof, but it's a lot better than relying on someone who has missed payments in the past. It's a cushion, it's insurance. I still pay all my bills manually - either pushed or pulled - but I have auto-pay set on all accounts after an unfortunate Target incident. I view it as a backup in case I'm an idiot again.
OP, the suggestion to encourage your wife to actively pursue improving her credit is a great one. When the time is right, she should carefully choose her next card she'll app for to be something she'll retain long-term. Far too many women find themselves in unfortunate positions due to death or divorce, and without credit it's even more perilous.
In my case, *I* was the spouse who actively managed all the bills--I had to, or they wouldn't get paid. I found that out the hard way when, at 22, I was hospitalized repeatedly and too ill to stay on top of things. Once I had recovered enough to start thinking about finances again...oh my goodness....I literally found boxes of UNOPENED bills in the den closet. My husband, who never cared about having or being able to get credit, had never wanted any part of managing our bills, so it was on me, like it or not. As a result of his failure to even OPEN the bills for a year...we had to file bankruptcy. The combination of medical bills, loss of my income for over a year, late fees, NSF fees, every kind of fee you can think of...we were drowning with no way out. I've written about him on the 'relationships' board; the short version is that after 30 years of marriage, we called it quits. He was, and is, of the mindset that the universe will magically provide for everything, while I'm a realist who believes in socking away money for a rainy day. And I've had a LOT of rainy days!
While I'm very adamant that women need to know how to handle their own finances, It's not really a gender thing. It's a human thing; if you're an adult, you should know how to handle your finances, so if something happens to your spouse, you're not in over your head--like my husband was. BTW, he's seven years older than me, has a fraction of the credit I do, doesn't own a home, lives month-to-month on VA compensation and SS, has no savings to speak of, and when he needs money for an unexpected expense, he borrows it from family--including me!
