AU on friends account

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

I have been an AU on a friends account for 15 years. I haven't charged anything on the account for a couple of years. He pays the account on time, but the utilization is about 75% at the moment and is hurting my score. Right now my AAofA is 1 year and 5 months due to a few new accounts. If I have myself removed from his account, how will this affect my AAofA? My utilization on my cards is about 10% overall. My scores range from 704 to 712 as of today. I read about another person having the same problem. I want to do the right thing to solve the problem without hurting my credit. My friend doesn't expect the bill to be under 30% until Dec.

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
I have been an AU on a friends account for 15 years. I haven't charged anything on the account for a couple of years. He pays the account on time, but the utilization is about 75% at the moment and is hurting my score. Right now my AAofA is 1 year and 5 months due to a few new accounts. If I have myself removed from his account, how will this affect my AAofA? My utilization on my cards is about 10% overall. My scores range from 704 to 712 as of today. I read about another person having the same problem. I want to do the right thing to solve the problem without hurting my credit. My friend doesn't expect the bill to be under 30% until Dec.

Impossible to tell without knowing the number of your overall accounts. Just multiply number of accounts x 1.42. That will give you your total years. From there deduct 15 and then divide by the new number of accounts which would be one less than you had before. That will give you your new AAoA.

vanillabean · ‎05-22-2015

FICO 08 doesn't often consider AUs, if ever. In the case of mortgage FICO 04, the manual review does ditto.

The Long, Twisted History of Your Credit Score

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
FICO 08 doesn't often consider AUs, if ever. In the case of mortgage FICO 04, the manual review does ditto.

I'm really not so positive that FICO 08 doesn't count AU accounts. I added my g/f to several accounts when she had virtually no credit last year and her scores rose quickly.

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

When I check my score on Discover and Walmart, both give me 2 reasons of things that affect my score. One being new accounts and the other being high utilization on an account. All of my accounts are below 10% and the only one that is higher is the one where I am an AU.

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished · ‎05-22-2015

I was formerly on my ex's accounts as an A/U. I canceled the relationship but the accounts still report on my CR. They DO factor into my AAoA.

Some lenders will delete the tradeline when you terminate an A/U, but you won't know until it is done.

You can always be added as an A/U again, so you can undo the damage. Maybe wait till your friend's account is paid down and if the account has been deleted off your reports, have them add you back. If the account remains, it will help you for 10 years.

You have nothing really to lose long term. You can change it back.

vanillabean · ‎05-22-2015

If you go to into the Understanding FICO Scoring forum and search for FICO 08 AU, a wealth of information pops up. Here’s one of many discussions on the topic.

The Long, Twisted History of Your Credit Score

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
If you go to into the Understanding FICO Scoring forum and search for FICO 08 AU, a wealth of information pops up. Here’s one of many discussions on the topic.

That's about balances which I realize was what the OP is asking about but your post made it sound like 08 discounts AU accounts altogether. It doesn't. Or maybe I misread your post.

Anonymous · ‎05-22-2015

I went ahead and had myself removed from my friends account. I will know in a couple of months if I made the right choice. I can always be put back on if I made the wrong choice. Thanks to all who helped.