Wife wants to add me to her CCs- will this help my FICO score?

[appstate]

I have a 619 and am trying to increase my score.  She thinks if she adds me to her cards, it will increase my score.  I currently have an AmEx account.  According to the wife, she said AmEx doesn't report credit limit properly so it looks bad.

Is this true?  And will this help my score?

[Creditaddict]

which amex do you have?

her adding you will help your fico. 

[appstate]

GOLD AmEx.

[appstate]

Will there be a chance that I will get denied if she tries to add me to her account?

[Creditaddict]

that does not report a limit because there is no limit. It still helps your credit, it just won't count in your util.

[Creditaddict]

no auth users have no responsibility to paying the account, most of the time they don't even ask for your social.

with a 619 and amex, you could probably get quite a few accounts on your own if you prefer to do that. 

[oracles]

Hi Appstate and welcome to the forums

Adding you to your wife's card depends.

First -you need to consider if the card reports AU's.

Some cards do not report AU's.

Is she adding you as an authorized user or a joint account holder?

If it is going to be a joint account holder then they will report but I do not recommend this.

You never know the future and if (I hope not) things should ever go south, it is really a difficult position to be in.

We can get into that later

Second- Depends on the history of the card -  if the card is maxed out or has a lot of negatives on the card, then this would actually hurt your score instead of helping it.

If it is a card that has a high credit limit with small balances (ie 10k limit balance $50 dollars) and no baddies such as lates, and a long history of being open, then it will help your util% and history.  Definitely go for it.

Third- Depending on the type of Amex card you have will depend on the reporting. If it is a charge card ie green, gold, platinum, then this is correct with what your wife states. It does not help your util% because it only takes your highest limit and not a pre set limit. Therefore there is a possibility that you could look as if you are maxed out on your credit card which is a bad thing. You want your util% to be as low as possible (1-9%)

BTW - Util = the total balance of all your cards divide by the the total credit limits of all your cards.

Also fico looks at util% on individual cards as well. Again, if amex is your only card and it is one of the cards I mentioned above, it could look like you are maxing out your card. Not a good thing.

If you have a card like the blue and it reports the credit limit and you only let 1-9% report at the end of the month for amex, then this is good.

Hope this helps and keep us updated 

[Creditaddict]

way to go oracles with that detail!

[Scamp]

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appstate wrote:

I have a 619 and am trying to increase my score.  She thinks if she adds me to her cards, it will increase my score.  I currently have an AmEx account.  According to the wife, she said AmEx doesn't report credit limit properly so it looks bad.

Is this true?  And will this help my score?

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The AmEx charge cards CAN be a headache, score-wise, because they have no credit limit reported, so util calculations can get messed up, particularly if they're not coded correctly.

Whether or not becoming AU on your wife's cards would help depends on the state of her accounts - if your stuff all has a loooong history and is otherwise in good standing, and her stuff is all recent and perhaps carrying high balances, then adding you to her stuff would hurt you, instead.

What all do you have, in your credit profile?  Accounts, ages, etc.?

What's the state of the cards she wants to AU you on - ages, credit limits, balances?  Any late/missed payments?

[oracles]

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@Creditaddict wrote:
way to go oracles with that detail!

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haha

Thanks CA