Hi all! I'm pretty new here!
About a month ago, my wife and I decided we wanted to work towards buying a house. We have no debt, but also no credit.
So, we went to talk with our Credit Union on April 11th, and they told us to get some credit cards, a personal loan, and wait a year.
On that day they gave us a $500 unsecured Visa, and then we got a CapOne, $49 secured for $200. We went back the next week and got a $4k secured loan at 2 years.
Before she ran our credit on the 11th, my wife had no score, and I only had a score with TU of 654. My wife had nothing on her credit report, completely blank. I had a student loan that started in 2004 and was paid off in 2007. (We had credit cards years ago, but ran into some problems and chose to live without credit)
With the hard hit on my credit that day, my score at TU dropped to 642. All of this was before I found this forum.. so I didn't know about keeping your cards at 0% and one card at 1-9%.. which is how I'll be moving foward.
Anyhow, come May 1st, the credit union visa reported a balance of 30% on my report and my wife's report. My TU score jumped to 717 and my wife got a TU score of 668.
The only difference is the old student loan on my report, which I think will drop off next March (10 years).
I thought it took 6 months to get a score, so was surprised to see her have one.. but she did have history over 10 years ago.. just nothing showing on her report right now. Is this why?
Anyhow, I thought it was interesting to see how one old loan can jump a score that much.
With my new score, I went an applied for a Discover yesterday and was approved at $1,500. I was really suprised! So now, with three cards, and the personal loan, I think we're going to sit tight for a bit. Was wondering about a gas card.. but not sure.. any thoughts?
Love this forum, and hope I can contribute as I've already learned a ton!
Oh, and tomorrow night my wife and I are taking a first time home buyers class. Excited to be moving that direction!
Mark
