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Just Married, he has bad credit

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Anonymous
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Just Married, he has bad credit

My husband and I just got married and are trying to plan for our financial future.  I have decent credit (low 700s) and his credit is lower (620).  He has no debt, and his low score is due to some pretty nasty fraud that took place over 3 years ago, and resulted in 3 foreclosures on his credit report.  We are working with lawyers to rectify that (to no avail, so far), but are trying to figure out the best steps to take in the meantime.

 

He has a CC in good standing with his credit union.  I have two major CCs in good standing.  We were looking to get a joint card that we could use for expenses now that we are married (and PIF every month). Is there a risk that my credit score is negatively impacted if we get a card together, or if I become an authorized cardholder on his credit union CC?  Should we open an entirely new CC together? We are hoping to build his credit, so we can eventually buy a home (we will need both of our incomes to qualify for a mortgage).

Message 1 of 6
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Anonymous
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Re: Just Married, he has bad credit

Hi jbmlove16,

 

Welcome!  And congrats on your wedding!

 

When you become an AU on another's account, neither person's credit report or score will be impacted by the other persons credit report or score.

 

However, when you're an AU, you do take on the account and its history - that will affect your credit report and sometimes your score.

You'll be impacted by the age of the account (that can be a plus or minus, depending on how old the account is)

You'll also be impacted by the history.  If there's ever been a late payment, it'll now show on your credit report.

In addition, you'll be impacted by the CL and the utilization on that card.

And its good to note that not all cards report AU's to the CRA's.  If you post which cards you're working with, folks are pretty good at chiming in and will let you know if they've been reporting AU's for them.  Or you can ask the creditor if they report AU's.

 

You may want to consider having DH become an AU on one or both of your cards.  The age of your card will be helpful to him, as well as it's good history (remember any lates will show up for him as well).  This will probably be more helpful to his CR than opening a new joint account.  There's no advantage to him if you add yourself as an AU to his account, and it appears that you are focusing on rebuilding his credit. 

 

And utilization is always good to keep in mind.  For best FICO scores, the general mantra is to let all cards but one report a zero balance; with the remaining one card reporting less than 9% utilization.  When you have joint and AU cards, a balance will show up for both folks and you'll want to keep that in mind.

 

 

Message 2 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Just Married, he has bad credit


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi jbmlove16,

 

Welcome!  And congrats on your wedding!

 

When you become an AU on another's account, neither person's credit report or score will be impacted by the other persons credit report or score.

 

However, when you're an AU, you do take on the account and its history - that will affect your credit report and sometimes your score.

You'll be impacted by the age of the account (that can be a plus or minus, depending on how old the account is)

You'll also be impacted by the history.  If there's ever been a late payment, it'll now show on your credit report.

In addition, you'll be impacted by the CL and the utilization on that card.

And its good to note that not all cards report AU's to the CRA's.  If you post which cards you're working with, folks are pretty good at chiming in and will let you know if they've been reporting AU's for them.  Or you can ask the creditor if they report AU's.

 

You may want to consider having DH become an AU on one or both of your cards.  The age of your card will be helpful to him, as well as it's good history (remember any lates will show up for him as well).  This will probably be more helpful to his CR than opening a new joint account.  There's no advantage to him if you add yourself as an AU to his account, and it appears that you are focusing on rebuilding his credit. 

 

And utilization is always good to keep in mind.  For best FICO scores, the general mantra is to let all cards but one report a zero balance; with the remaining one card reporting less than 9% utilization.  When you have joint and AU cards, a balance will show up for both folks and you'll want to keep that in mind.

 

 


 

+1     If it does report on you as AU ... it is better no to add you as an AU on his cc.   I totally agree with beam.

 

Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Just Married, he has bad credit


@Anonymous wrote:

My husband and I just got married and are trying to plan for our financial future.  I have decent credit (low 700s) and his credit is lower (620).  He has no debt, and his low score is due to some pretty nasty fraud that took place over 3 years ago, and resulted in 3 foreclosures on his credit report.  We are working with lawyers to rectify that (to no avail, so far), but are trying to figure out the best steps to take in the meantime.

 

He has a CC in good standing with his credit union I have two major CCs in good standing.  We were looking to get a joint card that we could use for expenses now that we are married (and PIF every month). Is there a risk that my credit score is negatively impacted if we get a card together, or if I become an authorized cardholder on his credit union CC?  Should we open an entirely new CC together? We are hoping to build his credit, so we can eventually buy a home (we will need both of our incomes to qualify for a mortgage).


 

Welcome to the forum  and  Congratulation on your wedding!   

I am so happy to hear that both of you are willing to work together to reach financial goal.  Very Good!

 

Yours  

 

Credit Card

Date of Open

CL

Balance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His

 

Credit Card

Date of Open

CL

Balance

 

 

 

 

Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
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Re: Just Married, he has bad credit

Thanks everyone for the replies! Very helpful.

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Just Married, he has bad credit

Keep us posted on your progress!  You'll get a lot of helpful posts from good folks here.

 

Best wishes!

Message 6 of 6
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