Piggybacking still works?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,I'm improving my score the hard way,a divorce several years ago had led me to fix my credit the hard way,it's 603 FICO,FAKO 620,VANTANGE 641
Sighs...it's improving,it's improving,a friend told about piggybacking,I look around,but I find different info all over,any input is greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I just got married.  Wife has amazing credit and accounts with high limits, low balances, and long payment history.  It helped me quite a bit.

[annielorie]

Piggy backing was taken away(the benefits) for awhile but now it is figured into fico scoring as any other account with the exception of mortgages.  You need an account with a good history no lates and hopefully with small utilization since thats  30% of score. It helps your AAOA the most so the older the account the better. If its Amex as far as them considering yoou a member since the original member since date well thats your mileage will vary some get that awesome date  some do not good luck!

[Anonymous]

From my experience Amex is a real shot in the dark when it comes to backdating your account age. Both my brother and I are AU since 09 on an account active since 89. Last year I got my own account with them and they backdated the account age to when I was added as an AU in 09 (can't argue with a brand new 2 year old account), but my brother opened up an account a few months later and his account was backdated all the way to 89 giving him a huge bump in AAoA and FICO with TU. I haven't been able to figure out any rhyme or reason to how they decide what date to associate with the account.

[annielorie]

Maybe the wind was blowing east?

[RobertEG]

Sure, the account history of another consumer, if postive, will be scored just as if it were your own.

But no creditor has to accept, knowing a score is most likely inflated if it includes credit history that is not the consumer's, from giving full credence to that score.

Just as you cant factor out the contribution of another's credit history when an AU status is reported, neither can a creditor.  Nothing requires that their lending decision be based primarily, or even partially, on a credit score that does reflect the actual consumer's own personal risk.

[pizzadude]

Any account that you are added on as an authorized user will be scored by FICO as if it was your own account.   So obviously you would want to make sure that the accounts you are added on have a clean payment history and low utilization.

Generally you can't be added as an authorized user on most installment loans, including mortgages and auto loan.   However if you are a co~signer or jointly responsible on these accounts then they would show on your reports and be included in your FICO score as well.

[Anonymous]

I have added people to my Capital One cards and they have reported on their credit bureaus.  Also, I was just added to someone's Sears account and it report and raised my score also.  Good luck!