credit card advice

sm0240

hi

i am looking to get a credit card and my credit score is the highest possible but it is my husband who earns the money. his credit score is only fair. i was just wondering if we could get a joint credit card or can i apply and use his income to fill in form. i would like to get a credit card so that he could boost his score, its not due to bad credit his score is only fair it due to lack of having credit. any advice?

Tixy

No such thing as a joint credit card. A card has to be in one person's name and that person is legally entirely responsible for the debt. On some cards its possible to have an additional card holder but the debt never appears on their credit file.

If you apply then you cannot enter his income as your income - if the application asks for household income you could enter it in that box but most applications no longer have such a box.

Don't worry about credit scores and boosting scores they mean very little - and actually most people who have never had credit have a very high score (which proves how pointless they are).
If husband wants to boost his credit file (not score) then first has he tried applying to his own bank to see if they will give him a credit card? if they won't then he could try applying for a subprime card to start building a credit history - these have very high APRs so make sure he repays in full each month so as to avoid costly interest. After 6-12months of using that card and repaying every month then he might well be considered for a more mainstream card.

First it might be worth checking his credit file (the main report not score) to see that everything shown is accurate.

sm0240

i got both our credit reports from credit expert and everything seems fine. if its not his credit score that coints what is it they look at then when he applies for card.

thanks for reply btw

Saints2011

All of the data inside other than the score i.e e roll, credit accounts, search's etc this is what the lenders see and will make decisions based on, they will not see or use experian, equifax or call credit's so called score what so ever.

Tixy

Lots of different things - some of the key ones include

any credit history for any accounts he has on his file (late payments anything negative etc),
whether he is on the electoral roll,
if he has an overdraft whether he uses that every month,
his income
his affordability to repay the new account
his job stability and address stability
if he is financially associated with anyone what their credit history is like
whether he has made a lot of recent credit applications

sm0240

thanks
i am a bit iffy about applying for a card just now as we have just moved house and i have only just changed all our addresses on accounts we have. so maybe its best to hold off for moment till they see we have been here for a while.

Tixy

Are you/he on the electoral roll at the new address yet? I would certainly wait until you are on the electoral roll and are certain that the credit reference agencies have been updated to reflect this new address (it can take a while for this to happen).

sm0240

we are on the electorol roll but it doesnt seem to have been updated on credit file.

thanks for your help

izools

Yes good move, wait until you've been there for several months.

There are some cards that don't ask for your individual income, but your "household" income - like the creation card:

http://apply.creation.co.uk/creation-card/web_channel/cards/microsite/carddetails.aspx?termsAndConditionsCode=MC0710&MC=18000075&operatorCode=WebMC&responseCode=ORGCRE

Give that a go after a few months and see how you get on