My wife and I were recently married, and went to Chase bank to get a credit card. The bank informed us that we could not get a single card, that the credit history would only build on ONE person's history, whoever's SSN was used to obtain the card. This seemed annoying, since we're married now, we would have preferred to be able to build credit together.

We decided to each take out a card, and get a duplicate card of each in the other's name. So I got a credit card, and asked for another card linked to the account, in my wife's name. She did the same.

I just checked my credit report, and my card account AND my wife's account show up. I think this is a good thing, since it means when she pays on time is up's my score and vice-versa - but I'm not sure what the heck is going on, since Chase said we couldn't do this in the first place (otherwise we'd have only one credit account with cards for each of us).

Can anyone explain? Thanks!