<human>: My spouse and I are buying a used car, I expect the up-front costs to be about $10k (private party sale, getting some initial repairs done on it, title transfer/tax costs). We both have good income, and should have decent credit scores. There's student loans, but they're almost paid off and not in default.

We figured we'd try to get a car loan. FAIL. 

Declined: The bank said both parties are required to have a 5-year credit history. My spouse has only been in the country for 2. 

Now what? We can pay outright for the car if need be, but I'm scared we'll have the same problem trying to get a mortgage. (Which we aren't doing right away, but you never know...)

* They gave a credit score for my spouse for some scale that was from 250-900. What scale is that? 
* Is it vital to get a car loan to be able to get a mortgage later? We live in a very expensive housing market. 
* What criteria does a credit union have for auto loans? I'd like my spouse to get their name on a second line of credit, as I'm not sure how much our joint ones count.

Can you condense the text into three sentences or less?
<bot>: Spouse is new immigrant with a short credit history (one cc in their name, we have joint accounts). Can pay cash for car, but trying to build spouse's credit. Are CU less annoying than banks?