Usually I'm asked this question in reverse, but after a little thought I said to myself, "You know, that's really a good question."

When people apply jointly for a mortgage, they're doing everything together. They pull their own credit reports, their own income, their own assets … everything. Sometimes one person has great credit and the other person has terrible credit. So the question is always, "Hey, my spouse has terrible credit, but my credit is excellent. What do we do?"

You may be surprised at some of the answers. Some think that the good credit will outweigh the bad credit. Or some hear that lenders average everyone's credit scores together. If Jane has an 800 credit score and John has a 400 credit, score, their combined score would be 800 + 400 = 1200 divided by two, giving a not-so-terrible-after-all score of 600. Okay, close to terrible but certainly nothing near 400.

Of course, that's not so. In either case. Good credit doesn't erase bad credit. In fact, bad credit will kill the deal altogether. And scores aren't averaged, they're examined independently and the 400 score would render the 800 score impotent.

If a spouse or joint borrower has bad credit, and the person with good credit can qualify on her own, then leave the person with bad credit off the mortgage and simply include him on the title. That's the question I've answered over and over again since I can remember.

But an up and coming Realtor, Chloe Weiss of Wilson-Goldrick Realtors in Austin, threw me a curve with her question.

"David," said Chloe, "I have a pair of newlyweds buying a home and the wife has excellent credit and can qualify on her own but the husband has zero credit" (why is it that it's the guy who always has credit issues? Just wondering.)

"He doesn't have to go on the mortgage, but if he does will that help his credit or hurt the loan application." See? The question is in reverse. Smart Realtor, that Chloe.

The answer is "certainly." That sounds like a trick answer but it's really only understood if the answer were reversed. If John didn't go on the mortgage, there would be no immediate affect on his credit. Eventually perhaps, his name might be picked up by a credit bureau as being a responsible party then one day he would get credit for paying the mortgage on time. But really that would occur only due to an error in the system and also only if that mortgage were never refinanced, paid off or otherwise altered from its original term.

Yes, by not going on the mortgage there could still be some long term benefit but by all means nothing like going on the original note upon inception. The thought was with no credit whatsoever his application would be a detriment to the entire file, so would it be better to leave him off the note? The answer of course is "no." No credit isn't bad credit. It simply means this young man hasn't established a credit profile, but a lender won't turn down the deal due to lack of credit on his part. Just the opposite. It will tremendously help his score. Nothing better than a good mortgage history.

Seems his new bride brought another present to their union -- a healthy credit score!