Authorized user on credit card account

[bosox52981]

Current FICO (Equifax) is 628 (started at 540 in July, 2011).

• 4 credit card accounts were charged-off in 2009-2010 reporting outstanding balances by OC (none were reported by a collection agency).

All charge-off balances are now fully paid, and reflecting as such on credit report (resulting in 88 point increase in score).

Charge-off accounts are all closed.

• 1 collection account (Verizon, paid in full in March, 2011)

• Open tradelines include 1 student loan (~23,000 balance owed), 1 installment loan (~5500 owed), and 1 credit card (Macys, no balance).

My wife and I will be looking for FHA pre-approval very soon. I would like to be added as an authorized user on her Bank of America credit card which has a credit limit of 3,000 and has a current utilizition of over 95% with on-time payment history for over 3 years and no negative information.

Does anybody know if BofA reports AU to all 3 credit bureaus, and if this is a quick process? Will this give some increase in my score as it is a bank credit card with excellent on-time payment history, or will the high utilization negate any positive effect?

Thank you for your thoughts.

[PixieQueen80]

The 95% ultization will hurt you more than aide you.  Everything is done on a case by case basis and what is in the individual file report however I can don't see you getting more points for being added to the account even though it has a perfect payment history.

[wallacecody25]

I think if you're an AU on a CC, the mortgage lender will ignore that TL, so if your reason for becoming an AU is to quickly raise your score for the mortgage approval process it may be in vain. Also, I personally would think 95% utilization would bring your score down some, but I guess it depends on your other cards limit to calculate the overall utilization. Correct me if I'm wrong. I am 100% not an expert, but from what I understand this is the way it works.

[wallacecody25]

BTW, congrats on your score increase! That's fantastic! 88 points!

[PixieQueen80]

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@wallacecody25 wrote:
I think if you're an AU on a CC, the mortgage lender will ignore that TL, so if your reason for becoming an AU is to quickly raise your score for the mortgage approval process it may be in vain. Also, I personally would think 95% utilization would bring your score down some, but I guess it depends on your other cards limit to calculate the overall utilization. Correct me if I'm wrong. I am 100% not an expert, but from what I understand this is the way it works.

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Not an expert either but from my understanding you are correct.  The ultization is calculated for all cards AND also for each individual card so the one at 95% would be considered maxed out even if the overall utilzation for all of the cards combined is low.

[p-]

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@bosox52981 wrote:

Current FICO (Equifax) is 628 (started at 540 in July, 2011).

• 4 credit card accounts were charged-off in 2009-2010 reporting outstanding balances by OC (none were reported by a collection agency).

All charge-off balances are now fully paid, and reflecting as such on credit report (resulting in 88 point increase in score).

Charge-off accounts are all closed.

• 1 collection account (Verizon, paid in full in March, 2011)

• Open tradelines include 1 student loan (~23,000 balance owed), 1 installment loan (~5500 owed), and 1 credit card (Macys, no balance).

My wife and I will be looking for FHA pre-approval very soon. I would like to be added as an authorized user on her Bank of America credit card which has a credit limit of 3,000 and has a current utilizition of over 95% with on-time payment history for over 3 years and no negative information.

Does anybody know if BofA reports AU to all 3 credit bureaus, and if this is a quick process? Will this give some increase in my score as it is a bank credit card with excellent on-time payment history, or will the high utilization negate any positive effect?

Thank you for your thoughts.

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Both she and you would benefit significantly if you can get the BofA paid down to 3-9 percent.  If she is a co-applicant for the morgage it will hurt her score too.