My Wife New To Credit

[Anonymous]

Since I have been of the Rebuild train for the last couple of years I figured it was time to get my wife on board. 

The first thing i did was sign my wife up for credit karma and we discovered that she had no score. 

I had her get a Capital One secured card 4 months ago and now credit karma is showing 650ish scores. I think I read on here somewhere that it takes 6 months to generate a fico score. 

I think since she is starting fresh her scores should come up relatively quick with no baddies. My question is score aside, how much of an AAOA does she need before she can get a decent card? I / she doesn’t care about big limits, but we would like a card for her that could earn rewards. I think the best cards that would suite her spend would be a Chase AARP, Citi DC, or Amex BCP in that order. Should she wait it out 6 months to 2 years (whatever it takes) to get one of the above cards or get another secured card or two to thicken her file first?

Thank you

[DollyLama]

Do you have a decent history with 1 or 2 good CCs that you carry no balances that you could add her as an AU? She will generate a FICO as soon as it is reported as an AU, plus she gets a longer AAoA, and no hard credit pulls. It will also bounce her score higher as adding the extra 2 on a thin file will help.  See where her scores are then. She will need the credit mix of an installment loan, does she have any on record, deferred student loan, etc OPEN of any type? If not another score bump (after her credit is established a bit) with the Alliant SSL technique. Once she establishes her credit good, and is able to obtain cards that are free of fees, not secured, decent cards, she can be removed as an AU (although it will drop her Average Age of Account and Oldest if she was added to a decent history of a CC)

If you do not have any of the above, or do with some derogs on the cards (do not add then), perhaps a family member. Otherwise, let her Cap 1 graduate unsecured through their steps program, and apply. Not sure if she will be auto in the "prime" category yet, but Discover IT likes thin files and she would be able to check on their website for a pre-approval first. -Wait till the FICO scores generate. 

I'm sure in your rebuild, you already know most of credit utilization being low, only having one card report a balance of all CCs, remaining zero balance by statement cut for optimal scoring. 

[jamie123]

You really want her to get 3 cards as soon as possible. They will help to build history and there are a few scoring calculations that need a minimum of 3 cards to be able to achieve the maximum points.

A lot of the so called "prime" banks like for you to have a minimum of 1 years history managing at least 2 cards before they will let you have their best cards. Don't worry, building credit takes time, it's not a sprint but a marathon.

I would suggest waiting until her Cap1 card is 6 months old and then apping for 2 more cards. As another poster mentioned, some banks like thin files better than other banks. I would suggest that she app for a Discover IT and maybe a Chase Freedom or Cap1 Quicksilver.

Once all 3 cards are 1 year old her scores should be into the 700s and she can then app for whatever cards she wants.

Make sure to sign up for automatic minimum monthly payments so at least the minimum payments are always made on time and you are never late. Don't close any cards that you don't want anymore but sock drawer them and let the lender close them for non-use. It might take a lender a couple of years before closing them for non-use and in the mean time they will be giving you good marks every month for having them open.

[HeavenOhio]

Six months of history is too early for Chase, particularly if there's only one card on one's report.

It gets tricky. Chase wants age and experience, but they also don't like new accounts. I'd suggest at least a year of history, at least two cards, and a six-month period of gardening before applying.