Adding spouse to credit cards

[beaner0500 0]

Nigel is having trouble even getting a secured credit card so I am considering adding him as an authorized user on my Chase credit card. My only fear is that his lack of credit will drag my very good credit down. Does anyone know if this is the case? I don't want to do anything to hurt my credit since we'll need it soon to buy a car and/or house.

Thanks,

Christine

[john_and_marlene 162]

It doesn't hurt yours and it will absolutely help his.

I added Marlene to my Chase card as an authorized user early this year. It made no difference to my credit, but with that as her only credit reference, she had a credit score of 785 when we bought her new car last month.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

My husband added me to his credit card as I could not get one of my own.... within 6 months I was receiving credit card offers in my name.... doing it this way does not seem to have had any effect on his credit score.... and mine has gone from 0 to 790 in 6 months....

Kezzie

[CutienPurg 0]

Ok so my big question on this is how do they associate the added persons name to a social security number, when the person doesnt have a ssn. I added my husband to one of my cards as an authorized user but I cant figure for the life of me how it can improve his credit score if he doesnt have a number coinciding with his name. Afterall it's our number that identifies us not our name. Im sure there more than few that share his name being it's a fairly common name.

Does that make sense?

[john_and_marlene 162]

Ok so my big question on this is how do they associate the added persons name to a social security number, when the person doesnt have a ssn. I added my husband to one of my cards as an authorized user but I cant figure for the life of me how it can improve his credit score if he doesnt have a number coinciding with his name. Afterall it's our number that identifies us not our name. Im sure there more than few that share his name being it's a fairly common name.

Does that make sense?

Name and address

[chri'stina 190]

My husband added me to his credit card as I could not get one of my own.... within 6 months I was receiving credit card offers in my name.... doing it this way does not seem to have had any effect on his credit score.... and mine has gone from 0 to 790 in 6 months....

Kezzie

Same here.

[Canuck Carrie 1]

What if it's the other way around, the USC doesn't have the best credit. Would adding the foreigner still be beneficial to the foreigner?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Virtually all US credit companies do not look at the foreign spouse's credit scores and histories prior to their arrival in the US so having a good score in another country, such as Canada, almost always counts for nothing here in the US. There is a possibility some one MIGHT be able to get a company to check the foreign spouse's foreign credit, but I wouldn't count on it, so while a good US spouse's credit will help a foreign spouse gain credit, it is not likely to work the other way around.

My husband (then fiance) added me to his credit cards and bank accounts before I had even left Canada let alone have a SSN. When I arrived here and got a SSN we provided it to them then. I have been deluged by credit card applications from almost everyone under the sun since shortly after my arrival - hehehe in fact it was some of the first mail I received addressed specifically to me here in the States.

[broma25 2]

Does this mean then, that if I add my spouse to my card (and dont let him use it) then it will improve his credit score?

[john_and_marlene 162]

Does this mean then, that if I add my spouse to my card (and dont let him use it) then it will improve his credit score?

If the card is in good standing--yes.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Okay, this is great information!

My fiancee is Canadian, and while she has a lot of credit built up in Canada, I doubt any of it will transfer here to the United States. Therefore, it's good to know that I can add her to my credit card(s) and help build up her credit score.

I do have a question though...

My fiancee has some debt. I won't go into detail about what kind of debt or the exact amount, but it's a fair amount. Would that debt affect me in any way? I'm more than willing to help her pay it off in time (I can't pay it all off in one lump sum, unfortunately...), but does debt in Canada transfer over and affect one's economic standing in the United States?

Thanks ahead of time.

[broma25 2]

Maybe I should have been more specific in my last post, my spouse USC has bad credit history. I have a credit card, if I were to put him on mine would this improve and eventually make his bad credit good (he has paid off all debts but still left with bad credit score).

Thanks

Deadpool, Canadian credit will not transfer to the US. Your fiance will start again in the US with zero credit history and score.

[john_and_marlene 162]

Maybe I should have been more specific in my last post, my spouse USC has bad credit history. I have a credit card, if I were to put him on mine would this improve and eventually make his bad credit good (he has paid off all debts but still left with bad credit score).

If your card remains in good standing, in time it will add to his credit score.

[payxibka 10,047]

Nigel is having trouble even getting a secured credit card so I am considering adding him as an authorized user on my Chase credit card. My only fear is that his lack of credit will drag my very good credit down. Does anyone know if this is the case? I don't want to do anything to hurt my credit since we'll need it soon to buy a car and/or house.

Thanks,

Christine

The whole idea behind a secured credit card is that it is secured... If you put up $500 on a card that has a $500 limit, I don't know why you are having trouble.... Why do you think you are having problems? How many different companies have you tried?

[CarolineM 0]

The whole idea behind a secured credit card is that it is secured... If you put up $500 on a card that has a $500 limit, I don't know why you are having trouble.... Why do you think you are having problems? How many different companies have you tried?

have to agree here. they aren't giving you credit - it's like a debit basically...