topic Re: Authorized User Questions. in Rebuilding Your Credit

Authorized User Questions.

jcstarkey8826 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:50:50 GMT

I was recently told that adding myself as an AU on a credit card with great history would improve my score, but then was told by lenders that being added as an AU did that in the past, but recently that changed and being an AU no longer improves your score.

Anyone recently been added as AU and had a score bump? Im wondering if they just wanted me to apply for my own (knowing I was rebuilding my credit I dont see why) or if this change has taken place??

Thanks guys!

Re: Authorized User Questions.

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:01:01 GMT

My husband added me as an AU on his Cap one card. My score has gone up, but there were alot of other things going on at the time ie, deletions, new trade lines etc that could have been responsible for the increase. I do know that it made my file look better because before that card I had 0 trade lines.

Re: Authorized User Questions.

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:03:34 GMT

I am in the same boat. I asked both of my parents to put me on their cards just as an AU and that I would send them the cards or they could watch me destroy the cards via webcam.

But I've read mixed reviews on being an AU, some say that scores will go up, some say they wont. I only asked last week and am not sure if they have even been applied yet.

Will post back if it does

Re: Authorized User Questions.

jcstarkey8826 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:05:29 GMT

so it shows on your CR, and did the history of that account come with it? I have a chance to do this, but dont want to do so if its not going to help. While the card is very trustworthy and history is clean, you NEVER know. And I only have a few tradelines, so i thought it might look better if the history came with the AU addition.

Re: Authorized User Questions.

jcstarkey8826 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:06:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I am in the same boat. I asked both of my parents to put me on their cards just as an AU and that I would send them the cards or they could watch me destroy the cards via webcam.

But I've read mixed reviews on being an AU, some say that scores will go up, some say they wont. I only asked last week and am not sure if they have even been applied yet.

Will post back if it does

exactly! I get such mixed reviews which is why im hoping for some real-life experience with it. Let me know how it goes and how it reports.

Thanks for the help

Re: Authorized User Questions.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:24:31 GMT

I would like to know this answer also. To my understanding it does not have any effect on the AU just the original account holder, but please note that some creditor allow accounts to switch to joint accounts, in this case it will increase on both members. People saying yes, that it will increase as AU, might have been switched by the company as joint and thats why they notice changes.

NOTE: The creditor have the ability to just update the account as joint without needing to close it and re-open a new one. Gd luck

Re: Authorized User Questions.

llecs — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:43:53 GMT

Per FICO, AU CC accounts weigh the same as individual or joint accounts. They can be a great tool in rebuilding. At one point, the newest version of FICO (of which lenders seldom use anyway) was going to exclude AUs from scoring, but that never came to be. All of the account holder's history with the card will get transferred to you and your mix of credit can be improved as your CC util if that helps. Your FICO can certainly drop too if it contained derogs, hurts your overall CC util, or negatively impacts AAoA.

Re: Authorized User Questions.

rckstrscott — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:08:54 GMT

@llecs wrote:
Per FICO, AU CC accounts weigh the same as individual or joint accounts. They can be a great tool in rebuilding. At one point, the newest version of FICO (of which lenders seldom use anyway) was going to exclude AUs from scoring, but that never came to be. All of the account holder's history with the card will get transferred to you and your mix of credit can be improved as your CC util if that helps. Your FICO can certainly drop too if it contained derogs, hurts your overall CC util, or negatively impacts AAoA.

Often, an underwriter for financing might omit those accounts, or ask you to remove them (like if you are getting a mortgage)

But WHILE rebuilding? Best tool I can think of to be honest... It 100 percent counts the same, and all factors of it come with it, such as util, AAoA ect ect

-scott

Re: Authorized User Questions.

jcstarkey8826 — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 19:42:02 GMT

That's all I wanted it for! Rebuilding. As I don't have a lot of derogs, I don't have much good either. Thanks for the help!

Re: Authorized User Questions.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 19:54:20 GMT

@rckstrscott wrote:
@llecs wrote:
Per FICO, AU CC accounts weigh the same as individual or joint accounts. They can be a great tool in rebuilding. At one point, the newest version of FICO (of which lenders seldom use anyway) was going to exclude AUs from scoring, but that never came to be. All of the account holder's history with the card will get transferred to you and your mix of credit can be improved as your CC util if that helps. Your FICO can certainly drop too if it contained derogs, hurts your overall CC util, or negatively impacts AAoA.

Often, an underwriter for financing might omit those accounts, or ask you to remove them (like if you are getting a mortgage)

But WHILE rebuilding? Best tool I can think of to be honest... It 100 percent counts the same, and all factors of it come with it, such as util, AAoA ect ect

-scott

Is this 100% accurate, that AU will help rebuilding credit., can someone else confirm? If this is true, I can be AU for many credit line, I never did it because I thought it didnt make a difference.

Re: Authorized User Questions.

RobertEG — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 20:32:13 GMT

Yes, its accurate, providing, as has been said, that the creditor is relying primarily on your credit score in their lending determination.

If the principal is low and the score appears to meet their current lending criteria, they may base their decision primarily or only on score.

It costs them time and money to do a more intense review.

However, as the principal and risk rises, they may choose to do a more thorough manual review. At that point, they may choose to discount the credit history of another in their decision making.

The presence of credit history of another will make it impossible for them to generate a score that is based only on your own history.

Its great for rebuilding.

Re: Authorized User Questions.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:32:15 GMT

So what happens if once you are done rebuilding, you ask to be removed as an AU? Does it remove the history as well?

Re: Authorized User Questions.

llecs — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:21:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So what happens if once you are done rebuilding, you ask to be removed as an AU? Does it remove the history as well?

The TL disappears as if it were never there. Of course that can have a pos/neg impact on your mix of credit, CC util, AAoA, and length of history.