Question about Joint Debit/Credit accounts

[Valor 131]

Hi All,

While waiting for the interview notice, I have some questions regarding going debit/credit accounts. My spouse and I have a joint debit account which we use it for most of our expense/income. I put all of our utility/rent/cable/cell phone bills on auto payment and directly link to our joint account. The thing is, I'm now trying to build up my credit score and it's definitely helpful if I pay those bills through my credit card (*We also use the joint debit account to pay for our credit cards monthly). Evidence wise, would it make a difference that if I use our joint account to pay for the bills instead of my own credit card? Or there's no real difference as long as I use the joint account to pay for my credit card and explain that the bills are charged from my credit card?

My second questions is, as far as joint credit card goes, does it matter if I am an authorized user or co-owner? I tried to apply for the joint credit card with my spouse from BOA but got denied due to my credit history is still quite short. We just added each other's name as authorized users on each of our credit cards. I'm just not quite sure if authorized user would serve as strong as co-applicant in terms of evidence.

Many thanks!!!

[sumehra29 22]

For me and my spouse he applied for a secured credit card where he put 300 down that def helps your credit

[rutabaga 209]

I don't know how it works at BofA, but my wife's an AU on several of my CCs and there's really no direct way to tell that she's an AU and not a joint account owner other than by pulling her credit report (i.e., with one of the cards the statement just separates our expenses and lists our names and last four of the card with no indication of status, and the other doesn't even separate charges in the statement). Even if it does show the difference, I'm not sure it would matter since you're still co-mingling if you ask me. What I would do though is, if one of your cards does list the users and separates expenses, that you use that as your main card since that will be a more practical sign of co-mingling than just having cards where the other is an AU, but you both just use your own cads.

[Valor 131]

For me and my spouse he applied for a secured credit card where he put 300 down that def helps your credit

Thanks for the information. I had two credit cards right now, but I started using credit card 6 months ago so the history is quite short and that's why the new application got denied. The other thing about joint credit card is that, a lot of banks don't really offer it.

[rutabaga 209]

Thanks for the information. I had two credit cards right now, but I started using credit card 6 months ago so the history is quite short and that's why the new application got denied. The other thing about joint credit card is that, a lot of banks don't really offer it.

I think Discover still offers it and they also might be more likely to approve someone with a thin/no credit profile. You might also want to try Capital One, they too are not too averse to giving CCs to people new to credit (not sure if they offer joint cards, but they do list both people on the statements with AUs).

Edited April 12, 2016 by rutabaga

[Valor 131]

I don't know how it works at BofA, but my wife's an AU on several of my CCs and there's really no direct way to tell that she's an AU and not a joint account owner other than by pulling her credit report (i.e., with one of the cards the statement just separates our expenses and lists our names and last four of the card with no indication of status, and the other doesn't even separate charges in the statement). Even if it does show the difference, I'm not sure it would matter since you're still co-mingling if you ask me. What I would do though is, if one of your cards does list the users and separates expenses, that you use that as your main card since that will be a more practical sign of co-mingling than just having cards where the other is an AU, but you both just use your own cads.

Thank you, that's helpful. I guess as long as they list both of our names on the monthly statement, which I'm not sure if they would do it or not, we should be fine. I guess it'll be more important when it comes to ROC, since they really want to see activities on the joint accounts.

[akihon 129]

I think authorized users is also a good thing, because you're basically allowing another person to use the same credit card number that affects your credit.

Edited April 14, 2016 by akihon