Refinancing question, AU accounts considered?

[webhopper]

I'm thinking of making my husband a authorized user on several of my credit card accounts to help him qualify for a better rate when he goes to refi his jeep. Do these count towards helping his score for the refi? Also, would it help if we opened a joint secured card with a 5k limit? Looking for a refi this summer, currently paying high interest. Also we are getting married this year.

Any advice appreciated!

[cdtotten]

Adding him as an AU on your account, as long as their history is longer than his average history, have very low utilization, and no prior lates will help his score no doubt. However, there are some lenders that upon manual review of the report don't like it if he has a limited history himself. This is usually not a problem though.

I would not open a joint credit card account with anyone, let alone someone you aren't married to yet. I know things seem great now, but things happen, divorces happen and joint credit cards can screw you both up badly. Just have 1 person apply, other AU on it if you want to.

And for everyone reading, please remember to not co-sign for anyone. It is never a good decision... it has no upside for you, but a lot of downside if things go bad.

[webhopper]

He does not have a limited history, and is very responsible. Also he's in about 2k in expenses for the house I'm buying. This isn't for someone that is using/taking advantage of me. It's for my fiancé who I will marry within the next 6 months. We are both in our 30s. He experienced some credit problems in 08 as a result of being laid off when the economy took a downturn. He came home that day early due to the layoff and found the wife in the tub with a 20 yr old guy. So his income took a nosedive and suddenly he was filing for divorce.

Obviously he's in the rebuilding stage, and I would never cosign on a vehicle or anything like that, but a 5k secured card when I make over 120k a yr is not a big deal, especially since he's paying for my cell phone and he paid over 1100 dollars on inspections for the house I'm buying. This isn't something he"s asked for, it's something I'm doing just because he takes care of me and I want to do something that will benefit him in return.

[Revelate]

It's worth a shot; if it gets him over some auto-approval (no pun intended) hump, then it's worthwhile.

As others have stated, there's plenty of lenders though which will disregard AU accounts depending either on the type of pull (I'm sure there's a score out there which discounts AU accounts), or their own algorithm, or a manual review process.

I would agree with your assertion that it isn't really a big deal in terms of risk, and if it helps him out now, it helps both of you when married.  Personally I'd do it if I were in a similar situation to what you described on the assumption I ever meet the theoretical fiance.

[webhopper]

Thanks for feedback, and considering the other poster, I may start with a 2k limit and then up it later through adding to the cd.

[Anonymous]

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@webhopper wrote:
Thanks for feedback, and considering the other poster, I may start with a 2k limit and then up it later through adding to the cd.

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Personally, I would not open a joint secured card with my DH, let alone my fiance. But, I'm pretty adamant that the only joint ownership that a couple should have is a house, and maybe a vehicle.

If you want to add him as an AU to your existing cards (that are older than his cards, with perfect payment history), then that should help. Adding a secured card now will likely, temporarily, lower his scores (new INQ, new account, reduced AAoA), unless he has high utilization that will be lowered to offset the new account hit & lowered AAoA hit. And, if high UTI is an issue, I'd take the funds that you were going to use to secure a new credit line and pay down the revolving debt for maximum FICO boost.

[webhopper]

Interesting perspective...

At this time in my life I would never have joint ownership of a vehicle or a house with anyone other than my parents. Now that I'm financially independent, I don't need them to co sign for anything, and I'll never co sign for anyone on a vehicle. My ex spouse just had to have a vehicle after we got married, I co signed on it. When we split up, he took the vehicle, I never saw him again, and he didn't pay on it. I paid what I could, but eventually the creditor found him and reposessed the vehicle and sued me for the balance. It ended up being $14,000 out of pocket.  

Here are my assets/liabilities owned under my name, keep in mind that I just turned 30:

Duplex

Single Family Home

50k in Retirement Accounts

Discover Card opened in 1999, never late $4200 limit.

Best Buy Card opened in 2008; $600 limit

JC Penny Card opened in 2003 $124 limit

Gordon Jeweler's account opened in 2004 $764 limit

He only has a Jeep, and the payment is with Americredit. He has no credit cards... His former spouse had opened several credit card accounts with balances in the 20-30k range using his information fraudulently. He had those accounts removed from his credit report.

He doesn't like credit cards, He pays cash for everything or uses his debit card. He actually helped me pay down my Discover card before I applied for the mortgage.

I was thinking of making him an AU on Discover and JC Penny.  The JC Penny account is one I don't remember ever using, so I'm going to call them and see if I can get them to send me a card and I'll charge like an outfit for an upcoming conference and pay it off. They have good work clothes, and good bras and panties. And then maybe open a joint card in both our names with a 2k limit.