Looking for a bit of credit advice for my wife.
A little over a year ago when I first checked my wife's credit, she was sitting at a middle score of 725. However, even with a healthy score, she had a real hard time securing a cash back card due to lack of credit history. I quickly added her to a few new cards I had opened up (CSP, BCP & IT), then luckily a few months later she was able to secure a Chase Freedom card.
In the meantime, between then and now, I accrued pretty substantial debt on my cards. However, as I have a much longer history and a few more cards + car loan, my score hasn't fluctuated much.
Fast forward to today, I just checked her credit score and was shocked to see them down at 650 !
While the initial plan had helped (she secured credit on her own), over the long-haul it has effectively hurt her score (due to my increased debt load).
We will be loan shopping (Quicken Loan) as early as next month, so I want to resolve this as quickly as I can.
Is this as easy as me removing her from these cards?
Looking for assistance, thank you!
Randy
Starting Score: (2009) EQ = 626 | TU = 664 
@Anonymous wrote:I would suggest you do an informal audit of your wife's credit, and ask whether there's anything on her reports beyond the AU angle that would drag down the score.
In particular, I would look at derogatories and utilization, and then look at areas like inquiries, short history, AAoA, and so on.
If those areas are fine, then after removing her as an AU I would consider ways to thicken her file over time, for example by adding an additional card or two.
For purposes of optimal scoring and mortgages and so on, a typical suggested minimum is three cards.
I checked all bureaus, nothing else reporting to indicate other areas which may be dragging down the scores.
My thoughts are to remove her as an AU on these three cards, watch the scores come up, then apply for the mortgage loan. Then, once the mortgage is approved and only after we have the keys, will look into other means of revolving debt to strengthen her debt portfolio.
Is my thinking OK ?
@Anonymous wrote:Let's say you remove your wife as an AU, and her score goes up.
Is the loan you're looking at largely score-driven, or are there other qualifications?
For example, some mortgage lenders like to see three or more CCs on a report.
She would still have 3 cards under her name (Freedom & Commenity Bank for Express and VS). I have about 6, so would think we are all set when it comes cards in the pile.