Question about adding an AU on new CC

[canusa11]

So I was just approved for $5,500 on Discovery it card. My question, is if I add my husband as an AU will it help lower his DTI? He has a bBarclays card with 4K limit with $1,300 balance, two cap ones with $500 limit both have zero balances & a walmart card with $1,500 limit with $1,300 balance. We are looking to buy a home this summer and want to get our dti down to the 9%. We just spent $4k paying off/down our credit cards. I have same cards as him all are pif, except I owe $1,000 on my Barclay card. Don't really care about bumping his score, just want to get his dti down. He is in the low 700 range lender pull right now. Lender just wanted his dti lowered.

[Nightfall_X]

pay down your cards instead, why would you try to buy a house having credit card debt? and yes it will lower his utilization, but it won't help much because he's only an AU.  and if you plan on getting a house stop applying for credit cards and getting inquries.

[canusa11]

Wow!! I only have a ballance on 1 credit card and him two! Also didnt think having 3 credit cards would hurt when buying a house.

[webhopper]

Hello and welcome to MyFico forums! Please disregard the prior posters comment. My advice would be to do a BT of all of the hubbys debt onto your new discover. Otherwise do not use it. Do not add your hubby as AU.

That advice is if he is applying by himself on the mortgage. Are you in a community property state? Is he applying alone for the mortgage? Leave a $20 balance on the oldest account.

[webhopper]

Also,

I see that you are looking at the possibility of a mortgage in the future... since that is the case, I highly recommend that you check out the MyFico Mortgage Loan forum.

Below is a short list of helpful mortgage loan related links that may help you prepare for the process:

Guide to Common Abbreviations - Barry

Mortgage Acronyms & Abbreviations (what does PITI mean?) - ShanetheMortgageMan

Good Faith Estimates Explained - ShanetheMortgageMan

The Mortgage Pre-Approval Process - ShanetheMortgageMan

Evaluating Conventional vs. FHA (VA & USDA)- ShanetheMortgageMan

Definately feel free to post any questions you have about DTI over there! We have very knowledgeable members that are very helpful in general.

[DiabolicallyRandom]

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@canusa11 wrote:

So I was just approved for $5,500 on Discovery it card. My question, is if I add my husband as an AU will it help lower his DTI? He has a bBarclays card with 4K limit with $1,300 balance, two cap ones with $500 limit both have zero balances & a walmart card with $1,500 limit with $1,300 balance. We are looking to buy a home this summer and want to get our dti down to the 9%. We just spent $4k paying off/down our credit cards. I have same cards as him all are pif, except I owe $1,000 on my Barclay card. Don't really care about bumping his score, just want to get his dti down. He is in the low 700 range lender pull right now. Lender just wanted his dti lowered.

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Congrats on your approval. Adding him as an AU user will help his utilization, but it wont do anything for his DTI.  He would still have the same amount of debt vs. income. It also adds a new account to his reports and will lower his AAOA and possibly cause score drop. The general rule of thumb when app'ing for a mortgage is no inquiries or new accounts for at least 6 months before applying.