topic Re: WILL AU HELP? in Rebuilding Your Credit

WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:19:45 GMT

1. Im trying to raise my credit score (555 TU) and I have a friend that is willing to add me to her CC that she has had over 5 years with no missed payments and she has a great score in the 700's her utilazation is between 30-50% a month but shes never missed payments. I currently only have a auto loan for 2 months and 1 secured CC for about 5 months with a limit of 500 and Ive kept it below 9% utit and PIF everymonth. So my credit history is short so will it help to be added?

2. Also I found a local bank that I can get another secured cc that only does a soft inquiry, do I need another card for another Tradeline?

Im working on DV on the baddies but thought this might help while Im working on those.

thanks in advance for any help!!!!

Re: WILL AU HELP?

daisyduke — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:27:54 GMT

In regards to you being an AU on your friends card - you need to know 1) how long this person has had the card (sometimes if its a lot older than your credit, it can help with history 2) does the issuer report AU's esp. if they are not at the same address, they might not - some cards do not ask for social security numbers, but they end up getting reported via address matching so it may not help at all if they don't ask for your SS and you don't share the same mailing address...3) i'd have to think about the higher utilization, running it up to 50% probably won't be that great for your utilitization...let us know which card it is and someone can chime in to see if the card reports AU's and so forth.

I thought I read that FICO scoring likes to see two bank cards reporting on your credit report, so getting another secured may be the way to go.

Keep up the good work.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:38:59 GMT

thank you so much for the fast response, this website is the best!

1, She has had the card for over 5 years. Its a sears mastercard, she said its not even close to limit, below 30% ( I miss understood her at first) Does sears mastercard report AU's.

And my average tradeline shows 4 months.

2. I will another card then. Does it matter about the amount of just keeping util low?

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:04:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thank you so much for the fast response, this website is the best!

1, She has had the card for over 5 years. Its a sears mastercard, she said its not even close to limit, below 30% ( I miss understood her at first) Does sears mastercard report AU's.
And my average tradeline shows 4 months.

2. I will another card then. Does it matter about the amount of just keeping util low?

FICO only needs one bank/national cc. You're fine with one card as long as it is in that category - bank or national cc. Who is your current card with? Doesn't matter what the CL is - just keep the utilization low (or zero with one).

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:09:38 GMT

IT is with a credit union. A local small bank offers a secured with only a soft inquiry. Is a credit union cc ok, or do I need a bank CC? Ive keep my util below 9%

Do your think the AU will help since I only have 4 months history?

does anyone know if sears mastercard reports AU?

This website Is so great, thank you for everyones help. I feel so lost with all of this

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:13:10 GMT

also would a secured loan help?

When i went to creditkarma.com for my score it gives me a letter grade for each catagory.... ccu, on time payments, history, accounts, hard inquiries. I have an A for the util, on time history, and a letter B grade for hard inquirys. But I have an F for length of history and for number of accounts

trying to raise my score to 650 for a home in 6 months...... if possible.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:31:55 GMT

Ignore credit karma's advice. They are offering you FAKO scores and the advice that goes along with them is not necessarily helpful- and often downright harmful to your FICO score.

Have you pulled your report here?

It will give you your FICO score along with what's helping your score and what's hurting your score. It also has a simulator that will estimate the impact to your score if you take certain actions i.e. open an account. Google myfico discount codes, and you only need to pull one report, but you need to see what your real score is and what FICO recommends. That's one of the most vital things you can do right now - rebuilding without knowing what your foundation is can be very frustrating.

The CU card does not count as a bank/national cc. So opening a secured CARD at a bank will help your FICO - quite a bit! Does the bank that offers the card report to all 3 CRAs. What bank is it?

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:27:08 GMT

good to know! I was thinking about getting my score here but do I need to get the scorewatch or which of the four they offer? My credit score when I got my car 2 months ago was 565 lender pull.

The bank that offers the secured card is bank independent its a local bank in al. It does report to all three and it doesnt report secure and no hard inquiry with an option to unsecure after one month of on time payments. Interest rate was 29% i believe but i intend to PIF like im doing with my other card (thanks to advice on here, many thanks!)

Do you think the AU will help since my history is so short?

Re: WILL AU HELP?

RobertEG — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 03:45:34 GMT

The AU will help until it hurts. If the cardholder misses a payment, or drives up uti, then it can hurt. So it is a risk

Currently, many creditors are restricting grant of AU status to direct family members. In the past, the use of AU was sold to anyone on the net for a fee, and gained a really bad reputation. Fair Isaac even, for a time, proposed the elimination of AU status accounts for their credit scoring. They have backed off from this drastic approach, but many are putting restrictions on the grant of AU status.

First, have your friend contact the OC and get their policy on grant of AU status.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:54:35 GMT

thank you roberteg! She called last night and at first they didnt ask for my ss# but she said I was going to be charging and helping to pay the bill so she wanted to make sure I got the credit for it on the credit report so could they take my social and they said sure and took my ss# and dob and they said they could only send the card to her address not mine though. (which is not a problem, because I dont have to actual use the card right?) So Im going to sign up for one of the credit monitoring and hopefully it will show up!!!

Do you recommend the Fico standard or Score Watch for me to monitor? Im not sure which I need ( I dont want to go by creditkarma since I was told its not acurate)

Also it was mentioned I need a national bank Secured card would help raise my score. Will a local bank help or does it need to be a bigger bank ( the small bank doesnt pull hard inquiry, so I thought that was good)

you guys are the best, I actually feel like I might have a real chance of pulling my score up with all this help. Then one day hopefully I can pass that advice on....many thanks

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:04:59 GMT

Does anyone know how long it takes for an AU to show up from sears mastercard?

I signed up for the score watch today, and i have another question. When I did the simulation for a CC my score range was from lower to alittle above where it says i am now, but does that account for a hard inquiry because i could get this card without an inquiry so will it help to get a bank card if no inquiry?

and It only gave me my ex score, is there somewhere I can get my TU score?

sorry for so many questions, thanks for all the help!

Re: WILL AU HELP?

llecs — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:43:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone know how long it takes for an AU to show up from sears mastercard?

I signed up for the score watch today, and i have another question. When I did the simulation for a CC my score range was from lower to alittle above where it says i am now, but does that account for a hard inquiry because i could get this card without an inquiry so will it help to get a bank card if no inquiry?

and It only gave me my ex score, is there somewhere I can get my TU score?

sorry for so many questions, thanks for all the help!

YMMV based on the CCC. I'd give it a few days after your next statement date to first appear.

Congrats on signing up with SW. I recommend to immediately go into your Settings and then change your Target Score to EXACTLY match the score that you received today when you signed up. If you do this, each time your score changes, up or down, you'll get alerted. And each time your score changes, via a SW alert, new pull, etc., immediately go back in and change your score again to match that latest score. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

If you need a new CC, then by all means. If you are lacking a good mix of credit, then that'll help your score too. They estimate a lower score because the new credit will ding you, though if lacking a solid mix of CCs, that ding would turn into a gain when it first reports.

SW gave you your EQ score, not EX. You can get your TU FICO from here via one of two ways: FICO Quarterly Monitoring or "FICO Standard" (select TU not EQ). Aside from myFICO.com, you can also get your TU FICO from transunioncs.com (note the -cs) or from your lender.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:49:39 GMT

THANKS IIECS! I JUST SIGNED UP TO THE TU QUARTERLY MONITORING. And changed my setting score so I will get alerts.

How will I know if the AU is listing, will it show up under my accounts( sears being listed) on the scorewatch or will my length of history just change. My true TU score was alot higher than the FAKO score on creditkarma so im wondering if the AU couldve listed since last night or if the fako was just way off?

Ive also sent out some DV letters so it could be that i guess

Im excited my TU Is higher, now if I can just get one of the other two raised up to get a house!

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:26:32 GMT

how will I know that the AU is reporting....will it show up under my report like I have a new account/another account or will it just change my history catagory?

thanks

Re: WILL AU HELP?

llecs — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:00:43 GMT

It'll certainly show up as a SW alert once it reports and you'll get alerted via e-mail maybe one or two days max after it appears.

For TU, I have to assume you'll get alerted. Despite my DW having this product, I cannot remember if it'll alert you to new TLs since she hasn't added anything in a year or two. You may want to double check with the product description, but I bet you'll get alerted.

EQ is traditionally faster to update than TU, so expect an alert via SW first.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:36:33 GMT

1. So when SW alerts me will the AU show up and Ill be able to see that card listed under my open accounts or does it just change the history. or is it just help your score but not listed since the card isnt mine, sorry Im alittle confused on this.

Im trying to figure out if the 90 point increase from the creditkarma fako to the real fico is just because the FAKO is just way off or if the AU has already shown up.

I dont see a sears mastercard listed under my accounts when I bought the scorewatch yesterday but I didnt know if it would since i would just be an AU.

sorry again if I sound dumb with this I just wasnt sure how the AU would show up on the credit report.

oh and thanks for recommending the SW it has so many helpful areas, I liked the credit simulator!!

Re: WILL AU HELP?

llecs — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:34:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

1. So when SW alerts me will the AU show up and Ill be able to see that card listed under my open accounts or does it just change the history. or is it just help your score but not listed since the card isnt mine, sorry Im alittle confused on this.

Im trying to figure out if the 90 point increase from the creditkarma fako to the real fico is just because the FAKO is just way off or if the AU has already shown up.

I dont see a sears mastercard listed under my accounts when I bought the scorewatch yesterday but I didnt know if it would since i would just be an AU.

sorry again if I sound dumb with this I just wasnt sure how the AU would show up on the credit report.

oh and thanks for recommending the SW it has so many helpful areas, I liked the credit simulator!!

With SW, you'll get an e-mailed alert that looks similar to this one below. If your score changed as a result of that new TL, and if your settings are correct (again, set the target score to always match your current score), then you'll see a mention of that too:

llecs,

There are a few changes to your credit report today:

A new account has been added to your credit report.

Please log into Score Watch anytime to find out more.

Thank you,
the myFICO^® team

____

When you log in you then can click the "Alerts" tab and actually see more detail on that TL as to who it is, balance reporting, etc. Unless you pull a new FICO report, you won't see it in any of your old reports. You can only see the alert until you do pull or purchase a new report. Once you do that, then it'll appear in your "Accounts" section of your FICO report. Of course it can easily impact your balances, AAoA, history, util, etc., but you'd have to pull a new report to see those details.

I don't know how it works with FICO Quarterly Monitoring. I do know that once the quarterly report is available automatically, everything is visible.

If you got a new report yesterday for SW due to subscribing, and you don't see it in the "Accounts" section, then it hasn't reported yet to EQ.

Ignore Credit Karma's score. It is a FAKO. Specifically, it is a TransRisk score. They calculate their score much differently than FICO. For example, their AAoA is based on open TLs only. FICO factors in ALL OC accounts, good or bad, open or closed. CK factors in inquiries for 2 yrs. FICO only for 1 year. CK doesn't factor in LOCs into util. FICO mostly does.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:17:43 GMT

THANKS IIECS for clarifing. All the FACO, FICO, AU things can get confusing but I think Ive got it now. Im excited that my FICO was that much higher, now if the AU goes on my report maybe it will help more. And with some DV letters maybe there is hope I can get a home next spring!

then hopefully I'll know enough to help someone else, love this site! thanks

Re: WILL AU HELP?

llecs — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:21:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

then hopefully I'll know enough to help someone else, love this site! thanks

That's what keeps many of us around...paying it forward.

Re: WILL AU HELP?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:54:15 GMT

UPDATE!!! THE AU USER JUST SHOWED UP ON EX TODAY AND I GOT A 14 PT INCREASE! (I know thats faco score so i cant go by the 677 score but at least I know it showed up and caused an increase of some amount) It hasnt showed on EQ OR TU yet but hopefully ill get an alert soon!