Adding more AU accounts?

[Anonymous]

I have 4 cards individually with oldest being

a little over a year and the rest 3 only 6 months old

I added 2 AU's last month. kohls and macys.

both have over 6yrs no lates low util.

I have the chance to add another 2 AU accounts

with over 5 years of history. a Citi and Lowes

Will adding all these AU accounts somehow

 impact my credit negatively.

But i figure since my AAoA is only a year old

it might help adding accounts with age.

[SwiftTone]

There is a point where too many AU accounts start to have a negative effect in the CCC's eyes. Having around 2 is fine but more than that the bank will start to have trouble judging your personal risk. This is because when you add AU accounts, it effects your FICO score but the bank may want to know what your FICO score is if you didn't have all those AU accounts.

[Anonymous]

but is that really a negative.

If by those extra AU's my score is 760

but in reality my score is proably more like 720.

Maybe that will give me a edge getting

approved for primer cards.

Maybe Adverse action?

But aslong im still in the 700's and my utilz isnt 80%

[SwiftTone]

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@Anonymous wrote:

but is that really a negative.

If by those extra AU's my score is 760

but in reality my score is proably more like 720.

Maybe that will give me a edge getting

approved for primer cards.

Maybe Adverse action?

But aslong im still in the 700's and my utilz isnt 80%

---

If you're a 760 with AU accounts but under review, they don't know what your score is without those AU accounts, they might guess 670 even though your score would be 720 w/o the AU accounts.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on if they are legitimate AU accounts.   By that, I mean do you actually have the card and can you spend with it?   Having an AU only for purposes of improving credit score may be considered Fraud.

[Anonymous]

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@SwiftTone wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

but is that really a negative.

If by those extra AU's my score is 760

but in reality my score is proably more like 720.

Maybe that will give me a edge getting

approved for primer cards.

Maybe Adverse action?

But aslong im still in the 700's and my utilz isnt 80%

---

There is a point where too many AU accounts start to have a negative effect in the CCC's eyes. Having around 2 is fine but more than that the bank will start to have trouble judging your personal risk. This is because when you add AU accounts, it effects your FICO score but the bank may want to know what your FICO score is if you didn't have all those AU accounts.

If you're a 760 with AU accounts but under review, they don't know what your score is without those AU accounts, they might guess 670 even though your score would be 720 w/o the AU accounts.

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No.

First of all, virtually no bank approves based on FICO score alone.  There are numerous well-documented cases of folks with very high FICO scores getting shot down for new accounts and CLIs just as there are of folks with relatively low FICO scores getting approved.  Card issuers place more emphasis on length and depth of history, derogatories and income. 

Second, unless one is an underwriter then how would they know what looks bad or not?  DW and I have a policy that we place each other as AU on virtually every account we have so that gives me well over 70 tradelines, about 30 of which are AUs.  I almost always get instant approvals and can't even remember ever getting declined on an app.  In those instances I have had to call in for a decision, nobody has ever questioned why I have 30 AUs.  Then there are some banks, like Chase, that do not even consider AUs in the credit decision process.

An AU tradeline on your credit report does not indicate whether the account owner is your mother or Santa Claus.  I would be more worried about excessive joint accounts as they do show up on your credit report listing the other co-owner's name.