Question about sign up

[Anonymous]

If you are married do you have to sign up for 2 separate accounts or can it be together?  We are trying to raise our credit to purchase a home.   Thanks!!

[haulingthescoreup]

You each have individual credit histories, reports, and scores. There is no such thing as a combined report for a couple, even if you hold some credit jointly.

When you go for a mortgage, the lender will pull all three of your individual scores, so six in all, look at each of your middle scores, and generally go with the lower score. So if you will need both incomes to qualify, it's very important that you each get your credit as good as possible.

[llecs]

That's always a personal preference. DW and I have only one joint checking account, however, we also have 3-4 other checking and savings accounts solely in our own names. All of our CCs are in our own names. Major purchases like our cars and future home are/will be joint obviously. Why seperate? Our scores were low when we started but going solo gave us a chance to rebuild at an equal pace. Our banking info (has no impact on FICO) was set up on a whim so as to develop a relationship with key banks for future CC apps.