Adding Authorized User-Amex

[Anonymous]

My best friend has very high utility...and I have very low utility. I have a $23,000 Amex BCE that I'm thinking of adding her to. I PIF. Does this affect my score in any way? And am I correct that it will boost her score because of utility? She's probably around 90% on $30k in credit cards.

[Anonymous]

Also when they pull for CLI's will it still be on just my credit? Or will they then factor in hers?

[ksantangelo23]

You will assume full responsbility for any Authorized user. AU's are only denied in rare cases such as being blacklisted due to prior bankrupcy, non-payment, etc.

AU's play no role in any credit desicions except in possible cases of automatic CLI's granted due to heavy use of a card, but they can be factored in during financial reviews/AA. They can even trigger these events since, again, YOU are responsible. But if you plan to add her to the account just for credit reporting benefits, and cut up the card, there will be almost no risk involved.

Your score will not be affected, but hers certainly can benefit by an overall increase in credit limits, lowering her utilization.

[ojefferyo]

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@Anonymous wrote:
My best friend has very high utility...and I have very low utility. I have a $23,000 Amex BCE that I'm thinking of adding her to. I PIF. Does this affect my score in any way? And am I correct that it will boost her score because of utility? She's probably around 90% on $30k in credit cards.

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It will not affect your score at all unless you give her the card and she charged it up. Yes it will help her utility somewhat but 90% of 30k is kind of hard to cover up.

As for the CLI, are you talking about your cards only? Yes they will only factor your utilization only.

[Anonymous]

We are only looking to boost her score in hopes of maybe a BT offer or something so she can stop paying interest on these cards and get them paid down faster.

I'm not worried about her charging it (unless in the case of emergency which she would get my permission). She's on all my bank accounts and has access to way more than a $23,000 credit cards so it's not something I am concerned about.

I just know that going from 90% to 49% when she has no baddies and 10 years of credit...more than 5 years AaoA it will boost her score quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

Prior to her cards being charged up she was at almost 800 and now she's in the 670's.....

[ojefferyo]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Prior to her cards being charged up she was at almost 800 and now she's in the 670's.....

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Is utilization the only reason her scores are that low?

[Anonymous]

Yes. The only reason. She has excellent payment history. She's had car loans for 10+ years, credit cards, student loans. All excellent payment history.

The only thing she has never had is a mortgage. She will be buying next year...also another reason to try to get these paid down faster.

[ojefferyo]

I would tell her to stop using the cards ASAP and see what she can cut out of her expenses. Keep in mind that some CCC do not factor in being an AU. Have her check some pre-quals and see if she qualifies for anything with a 0% BT

[Anonymous]

I guess I could have explained further. This is not an issue of living above her means. This is a temporary situation. In the next month or 2 the cards won't be used any further other than cash rewards and then paying the charges off. The cards will be receiving payments of $3000+ starting in may. Paying off withi in 9 months.