1Duckie

As I understand it, you can report your own good credit to the Credit Reporting Agencies by providing them with information such as your SS Number and your wife’s, the address where you live, the amount you pay in rent, then name and address of the person you pay, perhaps you can include some canceled checks as evidence and a copy of your lease agreement. The credit reporting agency will contact that individual to confirm this information and your credit report is updated. If they do not hear back from the land lord I understand they will enter in the information you provided to them.

By the same token you can ask for debts that are not yours to be removed from the credit report.

Now regarding your wife going on your credit card (secured or unsecured)
The credit will not reflect badly on you for her past / delinquent payments.. it will only reflect badly on you if she or you do not pay promptly on credit cards that you jointly hold.

Consider this.
You want a loan for a house.. You have good credit while your wife has poor, the credit cards that you hold together are in good standing.
Your 2 credit scores are reviewed. The person with the poor credit will have to write a letter to explain why they were late on each specific account that shows up on "their" credit report as being delinquent.

If the bank denies you the mortgage it will not be denied because of your good credit plus her bad credit, It would be denied because either your wife had too much bad debt and you "alone" could not afford to pay the mortgage if you had to. Her credit did not pull you down. Her credit simply would not be considered for the loan.

If you look at your own credit report you can see how many companies have requested to view your credit score and you can ask to remove them from showing on your credit report if you did not authorize them to look in the first place.

And you will be able to see if your wives activity shows on your credit report for particular accounts that you jointly hold.

This will give you a PICTURE of your credit standing.

Here is one of your statements:
The only bad points on her credit are lates and a couple of defaulted accounts which were paid off and one which was written off as bad debt, all from her previous marriage and which were he ex's responsibility to pay.

It appears by this statement that your wife was on a joint account with her previous husband. This means that she and he were both responsible for the bill, not that he alone was responsible to pay.

Bad debt showed on her due to her social security number tied to the delinquent accounts which will show for up to 10 years or more on her credit history. Is they claimed bankruptcy it will only show up for 10 years.

Keep in mind that if a person files bankruptcy, they are allowed to keep the credit cards that have no balance or that they do not claim in the bankruptcy.

Noorah101

Hi Patrick,

As far as the Mervyn's card, Sadegh got it in 10 minutes by walking in the store, showing his Wells Fargo visa card, and completing an application. He had the secured WF visa card for about 5 months, and got a $400 credit limit Mervyn's card on the spot. He also had a Chevron card for about 1 or 2 months at that time. Seems the Mervyn's card was pretty easy to get.

Best Wishes,
Rene

inquisitive40

So then Sadegh already had a credit history
My wife has never had a bankruptcy, just defaulted payments, For the last year or so we have been really good about our credit BUT the only thing she has reporting is her student loan and so she has no extended credit on her history which is current.
Oh well, will just have to go see where I can pick up a secured credit card.
ALso considering buying a second car, I presume they will approve just about anyone BUT charge high rates?
Patrick

fatbrit

Not surprised WF refused to convert his secured card now we have the info of two other applications in the first six months. Take it slowly, and choose your cards and other loans wisely. If I were you, I'd just consolidate for the next 6-12 months if you possibly can. Any more lines and the flags will be waving, the bugles blowing, etc when anyone takes a copy of his credit report. You should have no more than 3 or 4 quality credit cards in your pocket for personal use.

fatbrit

I feel I must comment on a few of what I perceive as inaccuracies in your statements:

The Credit Reporting Bureaus are extremely unlikely to be particularly interested in you self-reporting your own credit worthiness to them, and though they will certainly take the information, they are not going to offer you a credit score for it. Your credit score will still be diddly squat. On this topic, never impart information to credit bureaus unless you are sure it is in your best interests to do so – they are not benevolent organizations, and you and your well-being are not in their interests.

The only time the vast majority of landlords are ever going to report you to a credit bureau are when you are in default on your contract, period.

fatbrit

Don't buy a car on credit for just the sake of improving your credit history, as that would be a very silly move! With the precarious state of your current credit, the lucky salesman would be vacationing all the way to the Caribbean this year.

Head for the secured credit card and take it real slow and easy.

berthman

Same Situation, Just arrived, I have just picked up my first job. I have held a Debit card (NOT Credit) from the Key Bank in Seattle, WA for 2 years, but still have the problem of getting first credit, and therefore a history of it. I have applied for 2 cards online and been refused, which I kind of expected, but need to get a secured card, then an unsecured.

the problem is that my wife and I want to buy a house with my Sister-in-law in the next 6-12 months (once we have down payment and another car) but in the meantime is it worth applying for a secured loan (i.e putting down $2000 as security for a $2000 loan) and paying off over 6 months?

thanks

Berthman

fatbrit

Presume you're putting a hefty deposit down. In such a case, a mortgage is the easiest credit to get with no US history. Even so, shop it around to get the best deal -- rates and costs vary greatly and when youre fresh off the boat, some brokers will see rich pickings. Never believe a word they say until you've checked on the web (and possibly on this board!).

If you can live without a US credit card for 6 months (for example, you may need one for car rental), don't bother with the secured card. You'll have a credit score after 6 months of payments have posted to the bureaus. Even so, apply slowly and leave time for building up a portfolio of cards.

Another option if you take your mortgage through a bank or credit union is to ask the manager about the possibility of releasing part of your capital as a HELOC (or even HEL) after taking the mortgage. This would then put a second line on your credit score. If you take the HELOC, the 20% rule for credit cards discussed in this forum does apply. Some banks even offer a credit card linked to a HELOC, but the underwriting for this is quite tight and I would be surprised if you qualified with no history.

fatbrit

Why not just take the secured card route? It'll only tie up $500 and will do just as good for your credit.

inquisitive40

Ok, everyone is talking about $500 deposits, if I use a card that takes a $250 deposit will it be any different as long as I only use 20-30% of the card limit? My plan would be to pay my cable and cell phone bill with it.

Patrick

fatbrit

Take the minimum they offer if you want(I've seen as low as $300). Only use it to make payments to those who you trust though, especially with a low limit.

You don't want to go into default on the agreement -- if the cell phone bill suddenly errupts one month (and I've seen bills that big with folks who download jingles and never stop yapping), you could have problems. My suggestion is usually to use it for gas -- but each to their own!

inquisitive40

Well I would be manually paying these accounts, I am not a believer in allowing utilities to do autopayments , exactly for the reason you stated, if a month is too high it could cause problems.

Patrick

Noorah101

So are you saying that because he's since gotten a gas card and store card, that's the reasons WF wouldn't unsecure his card? I would have thought the opposite actually. I would have thought WF would have said OK, cool, the guy is doing well, and is on the road to building credit. Obviously others don't see him as a risk, so we can release the secured card.

Actually, WF never even took his SS information or anything...they simply immediately said it was their policy not to unsecure the card for 1 to 1.5 years and our 6 months was too early. So I was under the impression WF wasn't holding anything against Sadegh except the timing. In their policy, 6 months is too early to unsecure a secured card.

No biggie....it's just that his business is growing since he's been here 10 months now, and will probably be needing some kind of business loan later this year. I can co-sign for him if necessary. My credit is excellent.

Rene

inquisitive40

Ok, so if I get a card with a low limit on it, can I pay more money into the card so that with a card of $300 limit, I could pay another $200 onto the card on a specific month and so allow me to use the card for a larger purchase? (forgetting about the credit aspect, just a scenario of paying for a more expensive item with the card).
Patrick

snowbunny

The terms will vary. If you are looking for this feature, shop around for it. My primary credit card will NOT allow such pre-payments.