Credit Bureaus

[Bugs 455]

My wife has been married to me and and living here in the US for a year and a half now, same address throughout. She got her social security card almost immediately, conditional green card over a year ago, and her state ID a year ago. Almost immediately after she got her Social Security card I also added her as a JOINT owner to my Wells Fargo Credit Card (not merely as an authorized user), checking account, savings, etc.

Other than her addition to my credit card, we never applied for any loan or credit card since then. Until this past month.

This past month, before applying for a joint car loan, I tried checking her credit score on all 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion), and was unable to get one without getting an error page. We applied for a joint loan anyways, and it resulted in a two week long process of the bank trying to verify her identity with the SSA and then a high interest rate due to her "having no credit score/report" (according to the lender). So we ended up getting a loan solely based on just my credit.

We then thought the issue might be she doesn't have enough credit history and decided to get her on another credit card to help boost her score. So she applied for a Target Credit Card. But she just got in the mail the following in response to her application:

"Thank you for your interest in a Target credit card. We had to stop processing your application because we couldn't verify your identity.

"Our decision is not a negative refleciton of yoru credit worthiness. We based out decision in whole or in part on the response we received from the credit bureaus listed below (Equifax), but the credit bureaus didn't play ia part in our decision and can't provide you with the specific reasons we couldn't approve your application."

Seems, overall, this is an issue with the credit bureaus as they don't seem to have a record of her credit due to identifying issues. This concerns me because a few years from now we would like to ultimately get a joint mortgage and if this issue is still present, let alone not being able to build up her credit due to this, then it won't be possible of course.

Is this problem common for those with conditional green cards? What can we do to fix it? And get a Target card for her for the time being?

Edited June 9, 2015 by Leon & Mylen

[TBoneTX 43,058]

*** Thread moved from "Moving to the US" forum to the Tax & Finances forum, where similar issues are often discussed. ***

[Bugs 455]

Thank you TBone

[Fan_Dancer 171]

Her SSN may be too "young". I applied to several jobs and they couldn't verify me even though I have a 2012 SSN. They told me they database had last been updated in 2011.

She should try and build some credit on her own. I don't know how much just being added matters. Try and get a secured credit card.

[jjbandero 39]

Maybe you should try and contacting the credit bureaus and ask in general what may cause her not to be found in the system. I don't think you get very specific data on your wife over the phone (fraud concerns), but maybe they can share what are some of the typical roadblocks.

I was in the US for only six month before I was able to get my first store credit card (Macy's), the limit was ultra low, but they were able to issue it without any problems.