Will removing myself from my wifes credit card hurt my credit?

[Anonymous]

About a year ago my wife added my name to her credit card for the purposes of building my credit. Low balance, always paid on time, etc. It helped. Over the past few months we had a higher than the suggested 30% available balance on her card, and that appears to have knocked our credit score down a few points. Card is about to get paid off anyway.

I no longer need to be on her card. My credit has improved, we have a mortgage, things are good.

Will removing my name from her card hurt my credit for any reason? Will it help? She is the primary on her card.

thanks!

[RobertEG]

It could vary monthly depending upon whether the overall effect of that account in your scoring is positive or negative.

For example, if its AAoA is longer than yours, then it is helping in that one category, but when the % util is high, that effect is hurting more than the increase in AAoA might be helping, and thus the overall effect will be negative.

Additonally, should a derog ever occur on her card, that would likely make and keep its overall effect as negative.

Regardless of scoring impacts on your credit, if the AU is removed, you will then have a score that is representative of only your own history, and thus others will not, upon a manual review, have concerns that they are not seeing a "real" score based only on your history.

[Anonymous]

Very thoughtful reply by RobertG.  I share his view that that anyone who is using an AU should also be planning for when he can drop it so that his account consists solely of his own cards.

That said, it's possible that now might be a little too soon.  Or it might be fine.  We can give you better advice if you tell us:

ABOUT THE AU CARD

*  How old is it?  (I.e. when did she first open it?)

*  What is the credit limit on the card?

*  I think you mentioned that her AU card will be paid down to $0 soon.  (But kept open.)  is that right?

*  Will she be continuing to use it?  Or will the balance stay close to $0? 

YOUR OWN ACCOUNTS (not counting the AU card)

How old is your oldest account?

How many accounts do you have?

What is your total CC credit limit?

What is your total amount owed?

Are you paying your cards in full each month?

[Anonymous]

she opened it a few years ago. I have been on for about a year. 2k

Paying it off is what we always do, maybe spend a few hundred a month. Ran into a case where we could not pay if off for a few months straight.

I have no other credit cards. I have a mortgage for the past 6 months, private mortgage for 3 years before that ( sadly not on credit score), and a car loan for 4 years. Zero payment issues. I have a business lease that just ended, but oddly is on my personal credit. Again, all good.

7 months ago my score was around 680 and climbing after issues 5-9 years ago. Last week it was at 660. Cannot understand why except for her card, possibly. Zero issues have come up and the car/mortgage are only 18% of my stated income.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! 

Right now you have no credit cards of your own, so it is too early for you to be removed as AU on her card.  You need at least one card of your own to develop a decent score.  Actually both of you would benefit from having three each, all in your own respective names.  I know that must sound crazy, but I promise you it is in your interest to do that.  It's just how credit scoring works.  You wouldn't have to use them a lot.  And getting three can be a longer range goal.  One of your own right is pretty crucial, then another in eight months once you feel comfortable with it, then after that she can take you off her card as AU.

You mention that you had credit issues 5-9 years ago.  Do you know if any of those resulted in what are called "negatives" or "derogatory" information on your credit report?  Have you pulled your credit reports in the last several months?  (Note that a credit report is different from a credit score.)  If you haven't seen your credit reports recently, you might benefit from joining a service called Credit Karma, which would give you your reports for free as often as once a week using the data at TransUnion and Equifax.  You can ignore the scores you get at Karma, but the reports are invaluable.

It sounds like a few months ago your CC utilization went from a very small number (which FICO likes) to a number over 30% (which FICO doesn't like so much).  You are right that this would cause your scores to go down.