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  • When Choncé Maddox and her husband were dating, she offered to help him build his credit using what she had learned from boosting her own credit score.
  • By opening the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card and using it responsibly, he was able to start developing positive credit history.
  • Choncé and her husband also used the free service CreditSesame to monitor their scores and identify areas where their credit could be improved.
  • Having a budget and a plan for paying off debt were also important elements that helped both of them develop excellent credit.
  • Eventually, her husband ended up with a credit score north of 800, which helped him get approved for the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card and qualify for a great rate when they purchased their first home.

I've never been one to shy away from talking about money — especially in relationships. Back when my husband and I were dating and started getting serious, I initiated the money conversation.

"How much money are you making?" That was easy. We were both working part-time jobs in college but had an idea of where we wanted to take our careers. "So how much debt do you have?" During college we both took out student loans and were pretty open about it.

I was pleased to know that my husband didn't have any credit card debt at that time. However, he didn't have much of a credit score either. Or even so much as a utility bill in his name.

Nevertheless, I was glad that my husband didn't try to hide this from me because I was more than willing to help him establish his credit the responsible way. Our relationship has always been about helping each other succeed. We don't believe in specific gender roles or competing with one another to see who could get the best results. Instead, it's more effective to collaborate and work as a team, so I elected to help my husband with his credit.

Here are five strategies that helped him arrive at a credit score of 800.

We understood how credit works

In order to help my husband get his credit score to 800, which is considered an excellent score, I first had to help myself and understand how credit works. I spent two years prior (before we met) learning about credit and boosting my own score.

Your credit score is basically a three-digit number used to determine how trustworthy you are as a borrower. If someone just came up to you on the street and asked to borrow $5,000 and you had the money would you give it to them? Probably not. You don't know them and therefore don't have any trust in them. This is how banks and lenders feel when giving out credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, and mortgages. A healthy credit score helps them feel like they're taking less of a risk and it also helps you get the funds you need.

To understand how to build credit, it's important to know how credit scores are calculated. Some credit score factors matter more than others and as a result, they'll have the biggest positive or negative impact on your score.

Here are the factors that determine your FICO score:

  • Payment History - 35% of score
  • Credit Utilization - 30% of score
  • Length of Credit History - 15% of score
  • New Credit - 10% of score
  • Mix of Credit Accounts (how diversified your accounts are ie. student loans, mortgage, credit cards, auto loan) - 10%

We monitored his score through CreditSesame

Credit monitoring also played a huge part in my helping my husband get an 800 credit score. We each signed up for the free credit-monitoring with CreditSesame. It was an easy way to make the goal of increasing my husband's score visual.

CreditSesame uses a grading scale to measure your credit health and also makes recommendations on specific things you can do to improve.

creditsesame
CreditSesame

You can see your TransUnion score for free but if you'd like to request a full credit report from all three bureaus, Credit Sesame offers this for an additional fee. (Note that you can request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three bureaus once per week during the coronavirus pandemic.) Still, even without the paid credit report, we were able to use CreditSesame to pinpoint where my husband could improve his credit, thanks to CreditSesame's Debt Analysis and Credit Analysis tools.

We chose to start focusing on three of the most important factors: payment history, credit utilization, and length of credit history, which in total would contribute to 80% of my husband's score.

He applied for a card to start building credit

My husband didn't have any credit cards at first. We both had past experiences where people warned us about how horrible credit cards were. While I'm sure these family members and friends meant well, their advice was flawed.

Credit cards are neither good nor bad. They're a neutral tool that you can use to build your credit and get extra perks. Not having any credit cards whatsoever was actually a great place to start because I figured my husband would at least qualify for a basic unsecured card.

He decided to get the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card— a great option for those who are new to credit or trying to rebuild their score. This card has no annual fee and gives you 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The card also offers an intro 0% APR on purchases for the first 15 months, then a  15.49% - 25.49% variable APR.

He used the credit card — wisely

Once he got the credit card, the next step was to focus on using it wisely. My key strategy in building my own credit was to use a quality credit card because it provides ongoing credit history.

Taking out credit builder loans at the bank was an option but we didn't consider it because you eventually have to pay those loans back. Once you do, that credit history can disappear which can cause your score to decrease again .

I've found that using a credit card wisely is one of the best ways to build positive credit history. My husband focused on keeping his utilization low on the card and paying off the bill in full each month. His starting limit was $1,500 so he always aimed to use less than 30% of that.

One easy thing we did was set up a regular small monthly subscription like Netflix or an auto-pay bill so the card would be charged each month to build active credit history. We both never used our cards for mindless shopping and opted to save up for things like Christmas, vacations, and emergency expenses.

He had a budget and a plan for paying off debts

Of course when you're using a credit card to build positive credit history, temptations to overspend can easily arise. When we got married, we combined finances and created our household budget together.

I created a spreadsheet to track our income, expenses, and debt. Having weekly finance dates helped as well since it allowed us time to sit down to discuss our goals and progress. We wanted to make sure we were living below our means and managing money wisely so neither of us had to rely on credit cards or debt to get by.

In terms of coming up with a debt plan, my husband chose to just pay the minimum on low-interest debt like his student loans. He paid his car loan off and any other bills, but decided to use the student loans to gain more credit history and diversify his credit profile.

Remember, your credit mix typically accounts for 10% of your score. It's a small amount, but it can still play a role in the grand scheme of things.

Reaping the benefits

An 800+ credit score didn't come overnight, but it has contributed to us getting more on the same page financially.

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CreditSesame

When we were engaged, we were both able to get the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card and use it to pay for wedding expenses. We had already saved up for our wedding, but used the rewards cards to pay for expenses then we paid the card balances off in full with our cash right away. This allowed us to gain enough rewards points to score nearly a week in the Caribbean at an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon and flights for less than $400.

When we bought our first home in 2018, I didn't have to worry about our lender using my husband's credit score or mine as the "lower score" to consider us for the loan. We both had excellent credit and qualified for a great mortgage rate.

When financial setbacks do come our way, we are able to remain open and honest with each other about the situation, then work on a game plan to solve it.

More Credit Card Coverage
The best credit cards for average or fair credit
The best cash-back cards to open in 2020: credit card experts weigh in
The best rewards credit cards of May 2020
The best starter cards: Cards for no credit or building credit in 2020

The information related to the following cards has been collected by Business Insider and has not been reviewed by the issuer: Chase Freedom Unlimited®, Chase Freedom®, Chase Slate®, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card, United ClubSM Infinite Card, United℠ Business Card, British Airways Visa Signature® Card, The World Of Hyatt Credit Card, Citi Diamond Preferred Card, Citi Rewards+ Card, Citi Rewards+ Student Card, CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard, Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite™ Mastercard, American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp Card, Citi Secured Mastercard, Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi, Citi Prestige Credit Card, Citi Premier Card, Citi Simplicity® Card

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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.