getting a credit card to boost credit score, a few month before asking for a mortgage?

TheLittleSaver

Hi everyone

to make it short, my wife has a so called "thin" credit history, as I have always been the one who officially paid rent and bills since she moved to UK (even though she would pay her share). So, as we are thinking about asking for a mortgage this year, I would like to do everything we can to improve her credit score asap.
As well as opening an account on Credit Ladder for her too and start splitting the rent, I was also thinking to make her apply for a credit card now (she doesn't have one), but I don't know if this would be a wise move, in case we actually apply for a mortgage in, let's say, 3-4 months time? Would that be counter-productive, or worth it? Would her thin credit history affect negatively our joined application (I have a pretty good credit score, always paid my credit card in full, etc...)?

Thanks

Sandtree

What are your relative earnings?

New credit records can often be more of a hindrance than a benefit but if she is a major contributor then something may be better than nothing

TheLittleSaver

Sandtree said:

What are your relative earnings?

New credit records can often be more of a hindrance than a benefit but if she is a major contributor then something may be better than nothing

Pretty much 50-50%
So you are saying that even if she will get a hard search for the credit card a few months before the mortgage, it would still be worth doing it?

Sandtree

TheLittleSaver said:
Pretty much 50-50%

So you are saying that even if she will get a hard search for the credit card a few months before the mortgage, it would still be worth doing it?

No, because every lender is different and so no one can say the absolute certainty the impact. Were she the minority contributor then certainly the argument would be to not rock the boat. 

PRAISETHESUN

The general advice is to not make any credit searches in the 6-12 months leading up to a mortgage application. That said, a new credit card isn't going to have a huge impact on improving her creditworthiness over 4-6 months - generally you'd want a year or two of good repayment history before lenders start seeing it as a positive.

A thin file and/or recent credit applications are going to hamper your efforts to get a mortgage either way, so I suspect getting a specialist broker involved is going to be more beneficial than anything else.

MEM62

You have left it a bit late to build some history for her if you are thinking a a mortgage within the next few months.  You cannot short-cut the process as, by it's very nature, a credit 'history' takes time to establish.  Ideally you would want this going back much further than a few months.  She could apply for a CC in her own name and perhaps a phone contract of she does not have one (I assume she has her own bank account?) but it will take time for these to have an impact.      

[Deleted User]

Please note also you do not have a credit score in the UK, the gimmick numbers on sites like Clear Score are never seen by lenders.

I agree with the above about not rocking the boat but 6+ months, it might be worth getting a card and using it every month and paying off in full, particularly if the mortgage takes longer, it at least starts building a credit history