Hi forum, my close friend has multiple credit cards with very high utilization on most of them, one of them nearly maxed. If I were to add him as an AU onto my card with a $0 balance and a higher limit than most of his cards combined will that raise his scores and lower his overall Util or will it further lower his scores by lowering his AAOA?
Thanks in advance,
Must garden until 2/1/2022 to hit my goal AAOA. 
4/6 accounts are older than 2 years. Oldest card 6 yrs old
The effect on the AAoA will depend if your accounts are newer, or older than his.
Elaborating on my previous post, it will certainly lower his utilization. But the affect on his scores could be negated if it affects his AAoA heavily enough. Chances are his scores will go up a good amount 
@ksantangelo23 wrote:The effect on the AAoA will depend if your accounts are newer, or older than his.
Elaborating on my previous post, it will certainly lower his utilization. But the affect on his scores could be negated if it affects his AAoA heavily enough. Chances are his scores will go up a good amount
I see what you're saying now. His oldest card is 6 years and another 2 older than 3 years old. I think I would lower his AAOA a little and reduce his Util by a lot. IDK the weighting though so you're right, it could go either way.
Bumping for more opinions.
@takeshi74 wrote:
@SecretAzure wrote:If I were to add him as an AU onto my card with a $0 balance and a higher limit than most of his cards combined will that raise his scores and lower his overall Util or will it further lower his scores by lowering his AAOA?
Do the math to determine the impacts to utilization and AAoA and also consider:
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx
It could help with utilization but your friend just needs to get his balances down. Being an AU can help but one has to work on one's own tradelines and cannot just rely on being an AU. There are creditors and scoring models (in certain cases) that do not consider accounts where one is an AU.
If he has multiple cards with high utilization and one nearly maxed then scores are the least of his concerns right now. He needs to focus on getting utilization down on all cards as quickly as possible to minimize the risk of adverse action.
That's his goal, he's got a new, better-paying job coming in April but he's been stuck in minimum payment world for a while and this has been more difficult for me to sit here and witness than it is for him to keep paying only the minimums. Lol.
@newhis wrote:I think if you can add him to a card (not Amex) that is older or close to his AAoA that will benefit the most. Of course, the biggest jump will be when he gets each card below 30%. I think there are a lot of lost points when you get near the max even in a single card.
You specified not Amex, why is that?