Capital One AU: when will it show up and what kind of score increase can we expect?

[Anonymous]

I added my fiancé to my capital one cc 2 weeks ago. We are trying to get a mortgage and his score wasn't quite high enough to qualify, so we thought this would be a good way to bump it up a bit. He usually is the one making the payments on the card and we both use it together anyways, so I felt it would be appropriate to have him added. When do you think it will appear on his credit report?

Also, how much might it improve his score? He currently has one account with late payments, but the last late payment was almost 3 years ago. He opened a secured cc recently, and has an auto loan. He also has 2 collections accounts that we're working on resolving. His score is a 574 right now, should the AU credit line increase it to closer to 600? Our goal is to get it to 620. Any info or help is appreciated! Also, my capital one line is 4 years old, has a 12g limit and is at about 15% utilization. No late payments ever.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I added my fiancé to my capital one cc 2 weeks ago. We are trying to get a mortgage and his score wasn't quite high enough to qualify, so we thought this would be a good way to bump it up a bit. He usually is the one making the payments on the card and we both use it together anyways, so I felt it would be appropriate to have him added. When do you think it will appear on his credit report? They'll show up after 1 or 2 billing cycles. Did this for my wife last year.

Also, how much might it improve his score? He currently has one account with late payments, but the last late payment was almost 3 years ago. He opened a secured cc recently, and has an auto loan. He also has 2 collections accounts that we're working on resolving. His score is a 574 right now, should the AU credit line increase it to closer to 600? Our goal is to get it to 620. Any info or help is appreciated! Also, my capital one line is 4 years old, has a 12g limit and is at about 15% utilization. No late payments ever. No telling how much the score will improve as everyone has different files and different factors that contribute to one's credit score. I would get that util under 10% to see a bigger score increase also. It is recommended to have 3 tradelines with only  one reporting a util of less than 10% and the other two showing as 0.

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[RobertEG]

Whenever a consumer has an AU in their credit report, that automatically means that their credit score is no longer representative of only their own assessed risk.

A propspective creditor has no way to "back out" the impact of an added AU account should the wish to view a score that is representative of only that consumer's assesses risk.

I would not assume that adding an AU is necessarily beneficial when applying for a mortgage.

I would recommend asking the potential mortgage lendor about their policy regarding AUs before taking that step.......

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I added my fiancé to my capital one cc 2 weeks ago. We are trying to get a mortgage and his score wasn't quite high enough to qualify, so we thought this would be a good way to bump it up a bit. He usually is the one making the payments on the card and we both use it together anyways, so I felt it would be appropriate to have him added. When do you think it will appear on his credit report?

Also, how much might it improve his score? He currently has one account with late payments, but the last late payment was almost 3 years ago. He opened a secured cc recently, and has an auto loan. He also has 2 collections accounts that we're working on resolving. His score is a 574 right now, should the AU credit line increase it to closer to 600? Our goal is to get it to 620. Any info or help is appreciated! Also, my capital one line is 4 years old, has a 12g limit and is at about 15% utilization. No late payments ever.

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Like RobertEG, I'm just not a fan of the AU thing- FICO is consistently reducing the scoring impact of AU accounts. Better to just make him a joint holder on the account - if Cap One will let you do that.

He needs to follow the standard Credit Recipe - Three or more revolving accounts, one installment account, keep UTI% low and on one card, drop it down to under 10% for maximum score juice before apping.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice! I dropped the balance down to 8%, and I'll call capital one tomorrow to see if he can be a joint user instead of an authorized one. I wasn't aware there would be a difference between the two with how it would effect his credit score.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the advice! I dropped the balance down to 8%, and I'll call capital one tomorrow to see if he can be a joint user instead of an authorized one. I wasn't aware there would be a difference between the two with how it would effect his credit score.

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Joint holders are treated equally for all scoring models, as both are held responsible for the account. With AU accounts the AU side is not fully included in a lot of the FICO calculations, particularly with regards to newer score models.

[lindsaydruart]

I don't think Cap1 offers joint. An AU can give a nice boost in order to be able to use the standard recipe. Once the recipe is cooking, you can remove the AUs. I wouldn't suggest using an AU for a mortgage though, only during rebuilding.