Dear Liz: I applied for a 10-month, interest-free loan at an appliance store to purchase a washing machine and was refused. We own our house, have no outstanding debt and pay our credit cards in full each month. I’m worried that if something happens to my husband and I want to buy a car or whatever I need, I won’t be able to get credit.
Answer: If you were turned down for credit, you should have been given free access to the credit report the lender used to make its decision. In any case, everyone in the United States can get a free look at their credit reports from the three bureaus once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. You should peruse the reports to see whether there are any obvious errors, such as accounts that aren’t yours or late payments when you paid on time.
The problem could be that all the credit you have is in your husband’s name. If that’s the case, you should begin building your own credit. If you’re already an authorized user on his cards, see if the credit card issuers will report the accounts to your credit reports as well as his. Opening a credit card account in both your names, as joint account holders, also can help build your history.
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