need help answering a au question please

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

I recently added a family member as an au on my barclay card and there credit dropped by 28 points.

why would there score drop so drastically? there credit isnt as good as mine and thought it would help there scores or just wouldnt do anything for there score.

gave them the card as a emergency way to pay for stuff incase I was not home. they only have 1 credit card with a lower limit.

Any info appreciated. thanks I know someone on here has the answer

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently added a family member as an au on my barclay card and there credit dropped by 28 points.
why would there score drop so drastically? there credit isnt as good as mine and thought it would help there scores or just wouldnt do anything for there score.
gave them the card as a emergency way to pay for stuff incase I was not home. they only have 1 credit card with a lower limit.
Any info appreciated. thanks I know someone on here has the answer

Anytime you add an account, whether it's your own or as an AU, it has the potential to drop your score because it can decrease your Average Age of Accounts. It can also affect their scores if you carry a balance or have any late payments on the account.

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

Thx Irish80. still a little confused.

why would there score drop if I have a balance,which I do. there not responsible in any way for paying the card. and my credit is fine with 0 zero lates ever and 9% utilization

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Thx Irish80. still a little confused.
why would there score drop if I have a balance,which I do. there not responsible in any way for paying the card. and my credit is fine with 0 zero lates ever and 9% utilization

Even though they are not responsble for repayment, any balance on your card does affect their overall utilization. Now, I'm not saying that the 9% utilization caused the score drop but if you had a much higher one, then it would cause a score drop on their credit report. Most likely the score drop is being caused by the addition of the one card and it's effect on their AAoA.

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

thx irish80.

i didnt know her score would be affected that way.the score she showed me is ck score,i wish i knew what her real score is and if it really dropped that much.

dont trust ck not deflate her score to make more money if she applied for her own card.

will removing the au and putting her on a card with a zero balance help or should i just leave her off completely? she rather upset her score dropped that much and all i was trying to do is help and had opposite affect. thanks for all your help

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
thx irish80.
i didnt know her score would be affected that way.the score she showed me is ck score,i wish i knew what her real score is and if it really dropped that much.
dont trust ck not deflate her score to make more money if she applied for her own card.
will removing the au and putting her on a card with a zero balance help or should i just leave her off completely? she rather upset her score dropped that much and all i was trying to do is help and had opposite affect. thanks for all your help

Oh, a CK score. I wouldn't worry about it then. I can almost guarantee her Fico score didn't drop that much. Ultimately its up to her whether she wants it to stay on her reports but from your description of your card, it will help her in the long run. She needs to check her Fico scores and see what they are and what all shows on her reports.

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

Thx Irish80

will see if I can get her real scores then let her decide if she wants to stay on.

thanks for all your help.

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Thx Irish80
will see if I can get her real scores then let her decide if she wants to stay on.
thanks for all your help.

You're very welcome and good luck. It's very nice of you to help her out.

takeshi74 · ‎03-07-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently added a family member as an au on my barclay card and there credit dropped by 28 points.
why would there score drop so drastically? there credit isnt as good as mine and thought it would help there scores or just wouldnt do anything for there score.

To determine the cause(s) of any scoring change one has to review reports from before and after the change. Don't just assume that adding the person as an AU was the cause or the only cause.

Second, being an AU is not inherently beneficial. Impact all depends on the person's credit profile and how the account factors into that profile. Consider the standard factors and their typical weights.

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

Postive Payment History will help but negative will not. Low revolving utilization (Amount Owed) can help but high revolving utilization will not. A new/young account generally won't help as much as an old account (Length of Credit History).

Additionally, tradelines where one is an AU are not considered in all cases. A creditor may disregard such tradelines on a report. A scoring model may as well.

@Anonymous wrote:

will removing the au and putting her on a card with a zero balance help or should i just leave her off completely? she rather upset her score dropped that much and all i was trying to do is help and had opposite affect. thanks for all your help

You have to consider all of the factors. If the TL is considered for the AU then it basically factors in just like any account.

@Anonymous wrote:
i didnt know her score would be affected that way.the score she showed me is ck score,i wish i knew what her real score is and if it really dropped that much.

Don't rely on oversimplifications such as "real". CK's scores are relevant to creditors that use a TU or EQ VantageScore 3.0. They are not relevant to those who do not. Most creditors use a FICO model but the same consideration matters even with FICO as FICO doesn't have just one model used by creditors. FICO 8 is the most commonly used model but it is not used for all creditors/products.

Anonymous · ‎03-07-2016

Wow Takeshi74 that was a quite a reply.
Thank you for all the info. Thought I was getting a handle on this credit craziness but see I still have a lot to learn.
Since she wasn't applying for any new credit in the near future, I convinced her to keep the au and as I pay down the account that it should help her in the long run.
She's in the 660's across the board,so trying to gain her another 30 pts so she can apply for another credit card. She only has 1 bank card but has 3 store cards