topic Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:18:09 GMT

I am still working on helping my wife re-build her credit and want to add her as an authorized user on a couple of my accounts. Does anyone know if the addition of her as an AU impact her credit negatively due to new accounts? I don't know whether to go on and add her to a couple of my higher limit accounts now or wait. She has gotten three accounts on her own within the last 30 days so there are three new accounts on her report. Will my adding her ding her with additional new accounts? Thanks

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

simplynoir — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:23:39 GMT

For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:30:04 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.

Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

CJ7 — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:31:00 GMT

What simplynoir said is true.

Add the oldest accounts with the highest limits for best results.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

CJ7 — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:32:29 GMT

They will only be "new" accounts if they are indeed new. I'm assuming yours have aged.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

simplynoir — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:37:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:
For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.

I think adding 2-3 of your cards to her report will be fine as long as she's going to let her new accounts age for the next 6-12 months. I don't think there will be any danger of issuers taking a second look at her accounts as long as she doesn't plan to apply for anything else anytime soon. You will, though, have to keep in mind for possible future applications for her the various rules some lenders have with regards to getting new credit such as Chase's 5/24 rule.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 02:25:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:
For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.

How old are the accounts you want to add her to? If the accounts are 5 years old they will appear as 5 years old on her report and won't appear as new accounts and would increase her AAOA. If the accounts are new for you than adding would hurt her AAOA. So it all depends on how long you have had those accounts open.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

grower1 — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 02:47:56 GMT

My husband added me to his Chase Freedom Unlimited and it did impact my score negitively. He did it as a "surprise", but if I had of known I would have told him not to add me. He didn't do it to help build my credit, it was more so to give me an extra card to use in case I wanted to shop etc..

I can't recall exactly how much it dropped my score but if you really need to know I can try to go back and check my records. I was actually sad about it because I was so focused on my score growth. My scores were in the 770 range at the time, they are now in the 759 - 763 range.

Chase also did a hard pull on Experian and Equifax. So I was dinged for the new account, and 2 credit pulls.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 03:00:11 GMT

I love Chase. But those double HPs... grrrrr!

But you benefit from the age of his card?

@grower1 wrote:
My husband added me to his Chase Freedom Unlimited and it did impact my score negitively. He did it as a "surprise", but if I had of known I would have told him not to add me. He didn't do it to help build my credit, it was more so to give me an extra card to use in case I wanted to shop etc..

I can't recall exactly how much it dropped my score but if you really need to know I can try to go back and check my records. I was actually sad about it because I was so focused on my score growth. My scores were in the 770 range at the time, they are now in the 759 - 763 range.

Chase also did a hard pull on Experian and Equifax. So I was dinged for the new account, and 2 credit pulls.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

jdbkiang — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 04:17:05 GMT

Wait, you got a double HP for being added as an AU? I didn't think that was possible.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

HeavenOhio — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 14:15:56 GMT

If the purpose of the AU is to build or rebuild credit, choose a card that's at least two years old and one where it's relatively convenient to report a balance of zero if the need arises. Avoid AMEX altogether as it'll report as a brand new account.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 15:13:41 GMT

@jdbkiang wrote:
Wait, you got a double HP for being added as an AU? I didn't think that was possible.

+1, I would be interested to hear if others have experienced this.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 15:18:58 GMT

@grower1 wrote:
My husband added me to his Chase Freedom Unlimited and it did impact my score negitively. He did it as a "surprise", but if I had of known I would have told him not to add me. He didn't do it to help build my credit, it was more so to give me an extra card to use in case I wanted to shop etc..

I can't recall exactly how much it dropped my score but if you really need to know I can try to go back and check my records. I was actually sad about it because I was so focused on my score growth. My scores were in the 770 range at the time, they are now in the 759 - 763 range.

Chase also did a hard pull on Experian and Equifax. So I was dinged for the new account, and 2 credit pulls.

Was this a result of being added as an Authorized user or a joint account holder?

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 15:28:14 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
If the purpose of the AU is to build or rebuild credit, choose a card that's at least two years old and one where it's relatively convenient to report a balance of zero if the need arises. Avoid AMEX altogether as it'll report as a brand new account.

Thanks for the Amex heads up. My Amex is new so I am not planning to add her now and maybe never. With her scores in the 620 range right now I don't want her to lose any points until she has had her own cards for a while. The two I want to add her to have zero balances/large limits and are two of my oldest accounts (but my cards were issued within the last three years so they are not very old). I cleaned up my mess first and then moved on to her this past month.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

jdbkiang — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 19:24:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@HeavenOhio wrote:
If the purpose of the AU is to build or rebuild credit, choose a card that's at least two years old and one where it's relatively convenient to report a balance of zero if the need arises. Avoid AMEX altogether as it'll report as a brand new account.
Thanks for the Amex heads up. My Amex is new so I am not planning to add her now and maybe never. With her scores in the 620 range right now I don't want her to lose any points until she has had her own cards for a while. The two I want to add her to have zero balances/large limits and are two of my oldest accounts (but my cards were issued within the last three years so they are not very old). I cleaned up my mess first and then moved on to her this past month.

Actually, if they're 3 years old with zero balance and a large limit, adding her as an AU will bring her AoOA to 3 years, lower her utilization, and up her limit overall. It still would benefit her score.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:07:19 GMT

@jdbkiang wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@HeavenOhio wrote:
If the purpose of the AU is to build or rebuild credit, choose a card that's at least two years old and one where it's relatively convenient to report a balance of zero if the need arises. Avoid AMEX altogether as it'll report as a brand new account.
Thanks for the Amex heads up. My Amex is new so I am not planning to add her now and maybe never. With her scores in the 620 range right now I don't want her to lose any points until she has had her own cards for a while. The two I want to add her to have zero balances/large limits and are two of my oldest accounts (but my cards were issued within the last three years so they are not very old). I cleaned up my mess first and then moved on to her this past month.
Actually, if they're 3 years old with zero balance and a large limit, adding her as an AU will bring her AoOA to 3 years, lower her utilization, and up her limit overall. It still would benefit her score.

Thats what we need so hopefully it works out. Thanks for info.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

jdbkiang — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:51:47 GMT

Yeah, no problem. I’d say definitely go for it if everyone is comfortable. If in the off-chance it doesn’t help or actually drops her score, you simply remove her from your accounts and no harm done.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 21:15:44 GMT

Interesting, I think you guys are on to something. Gotta follow this thread for updates.

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 21:34:01 GMT

Here is my recent story with Chase.

DW apped for the Chase FU with 0% APR for 15 months. Since all my daily drivers are have an APR of 11.74 or higher, she added me as an AU. As it turns out, Chase winded up HP'ing my EQ dinging me about 2 points. I have 2 Chase cards, with my first one going back to 2011.

Now I am thinking what I could possibly do to leverage this new HP. Should I call and ask them to give me a CLI on my older cards? The HP is dated 09/12. Maybe its too late?

Re: Is Authorized User Dinged For Adding New Accounts?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 21:57:57 GMT

When I hear people talk about leveraging a single HP for several things, the multiple things are almost always on the same day. I can conceive that 48 hours might work. Over a month? I am pretty darn doubtful, but I know far less than many folks here about applying for lots of stuff. Perhaps they can chime in.