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The only CR that sometimes messes up Amex Charge for util calculation is the old TU scoring I believe.
Otherwise if they pulled more than just TU, it should not have been an issue at all!
But you have to also consider that they usually pull a "Auto-Enhanced Fico" which could be higher or lower then regular Fico and you would have no access to that until the dealer pulls it... but I would make them show you the report and the score and what is negative on your record that is effecting approval, then you can come back home and get your credit report and work on those negatives before applying for more.
It was strange, indeed. To answer your question they did both. One offered really bad terms and the other flat out denied. OH credit isn't perfect which is why I added him as AU, thinking the Amex would help. We were shocked at the response. We explained that it was a charge card that had to be paid in full monthly. They insisted that they still have a "pay over time" option. Although that is correct it only applies to certain purchases. It concerns me that this will become a problem for my credit as well, should anyone ever scrutinize it in this way. I love my Amex but this made me reconsider whether I'd be better off using a credit card with a high limit for my daily purchases.
Yeah, I'm just guessing that they were using the AMEX card as an excuse to deny/offer bad terms, if his FICO score didn't fit their lenders criteria. I wouldn't worry about it too much, I don't think that charge cards get scrutinized like this very often.
@Creditaddict wrote:The only CR that sometimes messes up Amex Charge for util calculation is the old TU scoring I believe.
Otherwise if they pulled more than just TU, it should not have been an issue at all!
But you have to also consider that they usually pull a "Auto-Enhanced Fico" which could be higher or lower then regular Fico and you would have no access to that until the dealer pulls it... but I would make them show you the report and the score and what is negative on your record that is effecting approval, then you can come back home and get your credit report and work on those negatives before applying for more.
Actually the problem was more the people that was looking at the report. I don't think the Amex affected his score either way. But when they looked at it they said "your card is maxed out". They just didn't understand what they were looking at. OH already bought a car so that's no longer the issue. Now we are just working on raising his score and the appearance of his history.
My DH is AU on my GECRB Wal-Mart card and it reports on his CR.
@Anonymous wrote:I would like to hear everyone's experience with this. I am trying to help my OH bump up his score and added him to my Amex Premier Rewards Gold awhile ago. He recently was in the market for a new car and due to the Amex not having a credit limit, every place that he applied looked at it on his report and assumed it was maxed out. A couple of weeks ago I added him to my BofA CC, which I'm pretty sure will report for him as well.
Which other creditors do you know of that report on authorized users? I'm interested in hearing both major as well as consumer cards. Thanks!
Car dealerships are notorious for being dishonest about a customer's credit. They're also the ones most likely to balk when you ask to see the report for yourself.
When someone asks me "Can we pull your credit?" my response is always "Are you giving me a copy?". If they say no, I won't do business with them.