Will my score go up if I'm added to an account?

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if my overall FICO scores will go up if my wife adds me to her account that has a very large limit?  Considering I only have a little bit of credit available will that benefit me in the long run because the score will be largely calculated by the debt to credit ratio?

[SCF]

Being added as an AU or joint party to your wife's card will probably help your score.  As long as the util is low on the card, it will also lower your overall utility for a score boost.  Other ways it could help include increasing the AAoA (average age of your accounts), and age of your oldest acount.  It could also hurt, however, if there are any late payments recorded, or if the util on the account goes up.

Basically that card will have the same affect as any other account (at least until FICO 08 kicks in, but I don't think anyone really knows what changes will happen to AU scoring when it does), and if you are made joint on the account, you get all of the benefits of the account as well as any negatives (if/when they appear) and you are also responsible for paying back the debt should something happen.

Hope that helps!

[islandsky]

That answer sure did help me...I just asked about something to this effect and was hoping for a quick response.  What are you referring to when you say "FICO 08"?  What exactly is that and where do I find more info?

[haulingthescoreup]

Due to many abuses of the AU status, creditors asked for an updated FICO scoring formula that would not count AU accounts for scoring. Due to massive outcry and concerns about violations of access to credit, the formula was modified to continue to count AU accounts, but with these provisions: an effort will be made to identify those who bought the histories of complete strangers ("piggybacking"), and it seems that there will be some limits on AU scoring. Possibly only one AU account will be used for scoring, but that's just speculation.

FICO 08 is barely being used now (welcome to 2009, btw!), but they're hoping to get it launched in the next several months.

There are other provisions, including collections for an original amount of under $100 not being counted, changes in how multiple lates are penalized, and so forth.


eta: Also, I would highly advise going AU and NOT joint. There are a lot of problems involved with going joint on anything other than a mortgage.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 01-02-2009 04:40 PM