If I add DH as an AU...

[Anonymous]

If I add my husband as an authorized user on one of my cards, will it help raise his score? I have only been rebuilding since February this year, but originally I could only get approved for secured cards; my score has gone up decently and I am getting real cards now. Question is: Is it too soon for me to add him where it will benefit his credit? Could doing so actually hurt his credit?

A little background info: He has a VERY limited credit file, only student loans, old utility bills in collections and NEVER had a credit card.

BTW: Only adding as an AU. Not getting a personalized card issued. I will continue using as normal, keeping UTIL below 30% and PIF every month.

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

Adding him as an AU on a card doesn't cause him to inherit your credit profile as a whole, but rather just the specific history of that specific card.  So in that sense it doesn't matter whether or not you are rebuilding, all that matters is what that specific tradeline looks like.

Can you tell us, for the card you are thinking about adding him as an AU....

   *  When was your card opened?

   *  Has there ever been any negatve data connected with the card?  (lates, etc?)  If so, what and when?

About him....

   *  Does he have any accounts that are clean?  (No lates or other negatives?)  For example, maybe one or more of his student loans?

   *  If so, what is his oldest clean account?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Adding him as an AU on a card doesn't cause him to inherit your credit profile as a whole, but rather just the specific history of that specific card.  So in that sense it doesn't matter whether or not you are rebuilding, all that matters is what that specific tradeline looks like.

Can you tell us, for the card you are thinking about adding him as an AU....

   *  When was your card opened?

   *  Has there ever been any negatve data connected with the card?  (lates, etc?)  If so, what and when?

About him....

   *  Does he have any accounts that are clean?  (No lates or other negatives?)  For example, maybe one or more of his student loans?

   *  If so, what is his oldest clean account?

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The card I want to add him to is my Capital One Quicksilver, but I recently opened it. My oldest card is secured from Wells Fargo (had for 8 months, low UTIL, never late, PIF every month) but I don't think you can add AUs to secured cards, can you? I plan to use all my cards in the same manner.

He does not have any clean accounts. It's very thin. He is younger than me and the only thing he has ever had in his name is utilities and student loans, neither of which were paid off, but they are all a few years old now.

Also, he was recently approved for a Fingerhut Fresh Start account, so if he makes even a small purchase and pays it off in time or early, they will graduate his limited account to a revolving credit account. However, their prices are considerably higher than standard retail prices, I don't even use my account with them for this reason. Do you think this would also help though? Price to pay for bad credit

[Anonymous]

I don't know whether or not you can add an AU to a secured card.  It should be a straightforward thing to call Wells Fargo and ask them if they can do it.

Based on what you have told me, he has no credit cards of any kind on his profile and otherwise every other account he has is negative.  So as far as I can see, adding a clean revolving tradeline could only help him at this point, though how much I cannot say.

One piece of advice for both of you.  Since you have already made the choice to always PIF your cards (great choice, btw!) let me suggest that you keep your utilization much lower than 30%.  A utilization of 5% will give you a sugnifigantly better score than 29%.  It's pretty easy to do.  Just involves paying twice a month, e.g. a week before the statement generates and a week after.

Most importantly, I would suggest that you both put together a complete description of your profiles and visit the Rebuilding forum here and ask for help.  I think your idea of your husband making some very modest Fingerhut purchases and paying them promptly sounds reasonable.  So would a secured credit card of his own.  The best idea is getting clear overarching advice about a plan that addresses all the issues on your credit profiles, rather than narrowly focused bandaid responses.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't know whether or not you can add an AU to a secured card.  It should be a straightforward thing to call Wells Fargo and ask them if they can do it.

Based on what you have told me, he has no credit cards of any kind on his profile and otherwise every other account he has is negative.  So as far as I can see, adding a clean revolving tradeline could only help him at this point, though how much I cannot say.

One piece of advice for both of you.  Since you have already made the choice to always PIF your cards (great choice, btw!) let me suggest that you keep your utilization much lower than 30%.  A utilization of 5% will give you a sugnifigantly better score than 29%.  It's pretty easy to do.  Just involves paying twice a month, e.g. a week before the statement generates and a week after.

Most importantly, I would suggest that you both put together a complete description of your profiles and visit the Rebuilding forum here and ask for help.  I think your idea of your husband making some very modest Fingerhut purchases and paying them promptly sounds reasonable.  So would a secured credit card of his own.  The best idea is getting clear overarching advice about a plan that addresses all the issues on your credit profiles, rather than narrowly focused bandaid responses.

Good luck!

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Thank you four your response! I will start decreasing UTIL and get him to open a secured card. May use Fingerhut too just to fill out his profile.