Hi everyone,   I’ve really been enjoying reading this board but I have a few questions of my own that I haven’t been able to find answers to. Seems like the crowd here is knowledgeable and could help out or at least give some advice.   I’m not so much a credit newbie, as I am new to the United States (since August). I have a Citibank Visa (from August) and another Citi MasterCard (from October). I read about credit piggybacking on here, so my fiancee, who is American, added me to her Discover card and it’s on my report, but that card is pretty new anyway. I’m reluctant to have her add me to her other cards which have longer payment histories, because they have a couple of late payments (though none in the past 3 years).  Apart from my luck with Citibank, however, I’ve not had much luck – I tried to get an Amex and a Nordstrom card in November but was declined. Needless to say, I have nothing “bad” on my report like missed payments or collections or what have you.   I just checked my scores on this site, and I have a 706 on TU and 618 on EQ. So I guess that’s okay, but my credit history is of course very short. I’ve started getting pre-approved offers in the mail (mostly from Capital One and Orchard), but I’m reluctant to apply because 1) I fear I’ll be declined again, 2) the APRs are not that great and 3) Orchard, anyway, has both an application fee and a huge annual fee.   So to get to my question (thanks for reading on this far) – what should I do to get my scorse to increase? I can’t tell if I should be trying to apply to some of these offers or just wait to build payment history and my accounts to age. I’m also not sure if getting my fiancee to add me as a user on some of her older cards would be a net positive, since they contain late payments (though evidently not many since her scores are all above 730).   Any and all advice would be appreciated. I’m not desperate for credit or anything, just trying to chart the right course to build my credit effectively and well here in the United States.   Matt. 

Continue reading about Credit newbie questions