Using Maximum Credit Available

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, I tried searching in the forums that is similar to my case but did not find one. I currently have 2 AMEX cards. First is supplement card with $20,000 limit which is my brother is the primary and $2,500 as my own. Most of the time, I could almost used up all my $2500 limit on my second card but I never go over. Then if I needed to purchase something else I use the supplement card. I always pay all my dues on or before the due date. Would this hurt my credit score? 

[Anonymous]

Hi coooliced, welcome to the forum.  First I have never heard of a *supplement* card. Do you mean that the card is his and that you are an AU on it?

[SCF]

It would also help us to know what type of Amex cards these are.  Are they charge cards that you must pay off every month (Green, Gold, Platinum) or are they true credit cards, where you can carry a balance (Blue, Delta Skymiles, Clear)?

The type of card you have and the way they show on your reports will change how it affects your score.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply HappyDays! My brother is the primary account holder. I'm not sure what does AU means, but he asked a card from AMEX for me. The card he gave me is linked to his account. He could see all my purchases. But I could not see his.

[Anonymous]

Hi SCF! Both cards I have are Blue Cash. I could carry a balance but I always pay off everything before the due date.  Don't want to pay any interest   I almost always maxed out my own card but the supplementary card that I got from my brother does not reach above 50% of available credit.

[haulingthescoreup]

OK, if I read this right, you have a Blue Cash in your own name, plus you are an authorized user (AU) on your brother's Blue Cash as well. Let's call this your AU card, as there is no such thing as a "supplement card." Looks like they put a limit of $2500 on your AU access.

When you look at the AU card on your credit reports, does it show a $20K credit limit? (It should.) It's the total activity on that card --both yours and his --that will display on both your reports and on his. If a high balance reports, or if there is a late payment of 30 days or more on that card, even if it was his action, it will show up on your reports and hurt your scores.

The other Blue Cash card is strictly yours, of course, and it will be your charging and payment habits that show up.

FICO scores are generated by the information that is on the credit reports, and almost every credit card out there reports the balance as the figure that appears on your statement, even if you then pay it off immediately. So if you charge $2000 on your own $2500 CL card, and that $2000 appears on your statement as the amount due, it is reported to the credit bureaus, and that card will have 80% util (utilization.) You might pay it off the very next day, but that $2000 is what will be reported. Same on the AU card, except that it will be the combo of your brother's and your activity.

What balances show on your credit reports? What util is reported, if it is?

If you have high reported balances and high util, you might want to look at paying off your balance a day or two before the statement is due to post. That way, your own card will report $0 and 0% util, so whatever shows up on your brother's card won't have as much impact.

To add to the fun, American Express updates to the bureaus four weeks later. If your statement drops on the 16th of every month, they will not report that figure until the 14th of the following month, Then two days later, you get a new statement, and that balance will not report until another four weeks later, and so forth. So it takes two months for changed util to show up with American Express accounts. Maddening.

Hope I answered your question.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response haulingthescoreup! I do see the $25k credit limit on my AU card and $2.5k on my own card. Balances are 6.5k and 1.5k, according to the report i'm using I have 35% revolving balances. Those balances are correct since my cut off was on the 15th. Due date was on the 4th and paid all the balance on the 4th as well.  

When you said

"If you have high reported balances and high util, you might want to look at paying off your balance a day or two before the statement is due to post. That way, your own card will report $0 and 0% util, so whatever shows up on your brother's card won't have as much impact."

Do you mean I should pay before the due date on the 4th or before my statement close for the month on 15th?

 "To add to the fun, American Express updates to the bureaus four weeks later. If your statement drops on the 16th of every month, they will not report that figure until the 14th of the following month, Then two days later, you get a new statement, and that balance will not report until another four weeks later, and so forth. So it takes two months for changed util to show up with American Express accounts. Maddening."

My statement close on the Dec 15th and paid the balances off on Jan 4th. Shouldn't the 6.5k and 1.5k not been reported if American Express reports 4 weeks later?

[Anonymous]

One more question if you don't mind. Is www.freeficoscore.com and www.myfico.com related? I pulled from freeficoscore.com on the 15th and got 743 from equifax but when I signed up from scorewatch on 21th. My score went down to 710.  Shouldn't it give the same number since they are both from equifax?

[Junejer]

I am not HTSU, but she was talking about the statement date, as opposed to the due date. So, if you had a new balance on either card as of Jan 15, when the statement cut, then that is the balance that is going to be reported on Feb 14 and should show up on the CRAs in March.

[Junejer]

Please read Credit Scoring 101. You have just discovered the difference between FICO and FAKO. Never pay any attention to the FAKO scores as lenders don't use them. The scores you buy here are the only scores that matter, as over 90% of lenders use FICO.

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coooliced wrote:
One more question if you don't mind. Is www.freeficoscore.com and www.myfico.com related? I pulled from freeficoscore.com on the 15th and got 743 from equifax but when I signed up from scorewatch on 21th. My score went down to 710.  Shouldn't it give the same number since they are both from equifax?

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