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[Anonymous]

I posted this msg accidentally under Student Loans. 

In order to reduce the number of CCs I had my wife remove me as an AU from a couple of her CCs. Consequently my score TU score dropped by 20 points from 711 to 691. Should I request I be added as an AU again? Also, as I understand, the CCC issuing the CC can be a factor in your score, i.e., major credit cards such as BC and MC are better than cards issued by finance companies. However I have an MC issued by Household Bank and have had the card for several years but the card is actually issued by HSBC. Should I open a new CC from a more prestigious bank like B of A or Citi and transfer the balance? My utilization rate is 20% for the MC CC and 9% overall 

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I posted this msg accidentally under Student Loans. 

In order to reduce the number of CCs I had my wife remove me as an AU from a couple of her CCs. Consequently my score TU score dropped by 20 points from 711 to 691. Should I request I be added as an AU again? Also, as I understand, the CCC issuing the CC can be a factor in your score, i.e., major credit cards such as BC and MC are better than cards issued by finance companies. However I have an MC issued by Household Bank and have had the card for several years but the card is actually issued by HSBC. Should I open a new CC from a more prestigious bank like B of A or Citi and transfer the balance? My utilization rate is 20% for the MC CC and 9% overall 

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If you can't pay the balance off right now and are paying interest, I would look at the Citi Platinum, it's offering 21 months BT 0% right now, just google it for link to apply, I think when you go directly to Citi website, they are offering 18 months.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I posted this msg accidentally under Student Loans. 

In order to reduce the number of CCs I had my wife remove me as an AU from a couple of her CCs. Consequently my score TU score dropped by 20 points from 711 to 691. Should I request I be added as an AU again? Also, as I understand, the CCC issuing the CC can be a factor in your score, i.e., major credit cards such as BC and MC are better than cards issued by finance companies. However I have an MC issued by Household Bank and have had the card for several years but the card is actually issued by HSBC. Should I open a new CC from a more prestigious bank like B of A or Citi and transfer the balance? My utilization rate is 20% for the MC CC and 9% overall 

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First of all, if I may ask, why were you trying to reduce the number of CC's? Although there is a flag that pops up occasionally on myFICO reports for "too many accounts", it seems to be mostly without teeth. Unless you're just having trouble trying to keep track of CC's, which is generally not an issue with AU cards, there's no particular reason to reduce the number of CC's reporting. If you've had any credit troubles in the past that show up on your reports, additional clean accounts will help "dilute" the effect of the negative accounts.

Secondly, FICO scoring does not discriminate among cards according to the prestige of the issuing bank. A lowly fee-incrusted First Premier or Applied bank card is just as useful for scoring purposes as a MegaBank Titanium Diamond-Encrusted Visa or MC, as long as you know how to control the reported balances. Cards from credit unions and local banks have carried slightly less weight than those from nationally-based banks, but I've heard that this might not be the case any more, at least on all reports. (Don't know how correct that is.)

It would be wise to eventually have three CC's in your own name, each from a different bank. Rather than shopping for a BT (balance transfer) card, you'd do better to simply pay off the HSBC balance before applying for anything else, if you can. In addition, for the month before you apply, try to reduce the number of cards reporting balances to just one or two by paying their balances in full before the statement posts, letting them report 0%. That will lower the reported util, and also reduce the number of cards with balances, which will help your scores as well as increase the chances of lender approval.

Your wife's banks should be willing to add you back on and report the cards again. It will just take a billing cycle for the accounts to show up once more. Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

 My reason for reducing the # of CCs (including AUs) was to match the av'g number of CCs for those with the highest FICO scores. I do have 3 CCs in my name (Household MC, Sears MC and Macy's) with  low utilization rates, a car loan, a personal loan (both with low balances) and a student loan. I'm an AU on my DW's Amex but had her take me off her Discover and Optima CCs both with an excellent credit history and very low balances which I realize now wasn't the best decision.. I'll take your advice and reclaim my AU status. My EXP  was 744, EQ 730 and TU 712 before I dropped the AUs so it looks like I lost 21 points on the TU and 10 points on EQ . I'll take your advice and so will my DW to pay the balance before the posting dates. As always I appreciate the quick reply and the depth of the expertise in this forum..

.

[haulingthescoreup]

Ah, gotcha.

IMO, those High Achiever profiles are often of those with either many, many years worth of credit, whose other cards have fallen by the wayside, or those who stayed very conservative in acquiring credit from the get-go. If you fit the second profile, you'll see those scores as your length of history increases.

One useful guide to how to improve your own credit is to check the list of negatives on screen 2 of your myFICO EQ and TU reports. These are the factors holding your scores down (not that yours are particularly down), listed in order. Some things can be worked on, like reported util, while others just have to be waited out, length of history being the most obvious example.

In the meantime, you're fortunate that her cards are helpful. Some people randomly add AU cards without realizing that they can bring problems with them. What to look for in an AU card (for anyone else considering going AU):

1. It actually shows up on the AU's reports (not all do)
2. It's around the same age as your AAoA (average age of accounts), or older
3. It routinely reports $0 or near-$0 balances
4. Most importantly, it's squeaky clean, either without negatives, or maybe one ancient 30-day late if the AU already has a good chunk of negatives of his/her own

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for the additional advice. I'll follow up in a couple months and let you and the forum (altho I know you and many others know what the outcome will be) know the result so other probies, like myself, may benefit.

[DI]

I have been managing credit since 1999 and have high scores.