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!

You can get a credit card in several ways:

1) Single Account: one party responsible, no other cards. payment history reports only on that person's credit reports.

2) Single Account, with authorized user. One party responsible, a second card used by your spouse, but they are not responsible. Payment history reports onto both the responsible account holder, and the authorized user's reports.

3) Joint Account. You are both responsible. Payment history reports onto both account holder's credit reports.

You were originally trying to set up the accounts as (3), but it sounds like you have set up your two accounts as in (2). No problem. Just be aware of the trade offs as you both build up your good credit.


Either way, you still want to make sure both your accounts are always paid on time, since your payment histories for both cards will be reported on both reports. The main difference is that if one of you defaulted on one of the cards, the other spouse would not be legally responsible if they were only authorized user, but the negative information would still get reported unless you could get it removed by disputing. Also, be aware that if you are in a community property state, you might both be reponsible for your household debts anyway.

If you are just starting out and trying to build upon a thin credit record, authorized user accounts can help. Usually you do this by adding an authorized user to an existing account, adding the account reporting of that account to the credit report of the spouse with the thin credit history. Your combined good payment history will pull you both up, while any negatives, such as late pays on either account, will pull you both down.

As you both develop several years of good credit history, and additional accounts, you might want to cancel authorized users, since you would no longer have any need for them, and they can cause problems by damaging both your credit reports if one of your accounts gets into trouble. You would want to limit the risk of simultaneous damage to both your credit histories due to such things as problems in disputing payments or charges on one account, or if you separate, get divorced, or one of you becomes incapacitated with overwhelming medical bills, or even dies. Note that even if you have good insurance coverage, a flood of medical bills that may get messed up with errors in claims can trash your credit unless and until you get it straightened out. Preserving the ability of the other spouse to proceed with, say, a home refi or line of credit to try to get thru a rough period might be critical.

Although the authorized user may not be legally responsible, the negative information still ends up on their reports, and CAs might still try to collect from them. The records to show that they are only authorized, and not joint, may be hard to force the OC to produce.

From the point of view of hedging against various risks, you each want to have good credit, while limiting the risk that damage to one party's credit will simultaneously damage the other party's credit.

(Note: I am not an attorney. The above is my opinion of how to manage credit reporting risk.)