Can adding spouse as authorized user lower scores?

[Anonymous]

Greetings! Apoligies in advance if anyone is annoyed, but I posted this in the "repair credit forum" and got no reponses there...maybe it was the wrong place, so I'm asking again here:

I have been lurking on the forums and paying down my husband's debt (well, I guess its mine, too, since we got married!). I just paid off all the credit cards yesterday - FINALLY!! All that's left is about $50.00 on an installment loan (wedding rings), and my hubby's $20k student loan, which will kick in during January 09. Now that the debt is gone, we have about $5k saved, and we'd like to save a little more to buy a home (thinking FHA  - start looking in June, maybe, when the market will potentially bottom out) and start planning for a family.

My hubby's credit score is 686. I have no idea what my score is, but I know my file looked bad. I maxed out a card with a $250 limit due to a travel emergency when I was about 20 (7 years ago), then lost my job. So, I know I have 30,60,90,120 day lates, but they should be off my report very soon. I got a $8300 Discover @ 7.99% in April 08, and a $4400 Chase in Sept 08 @ 0% til Aug 09, then it jumps to 6.99%. I always pay more than minimum or pay in full each month (depends on our mostly commission-only income). Now that my hubby's cards are paid off, I'm planning on rotating use and paying in full each month to keep a low utilization reported.

Question: Hubby and I recently added each other as authorized users on each other's accounts, except for his cap1 ($500 limit @ 22%, zero balance). Before that, I was only on his wamu card ($3k limit @ 11%, zero balance) and we jointly have a GE moneybank carecredit card ($3600 limit @ 0%, $750 bal). His score had been consistantly rising (abotu 100 points in the last 12 months). After we added each other as authorized users, his score went up only ONE point, even though we paid off $3k of debt. Would the score jump if we removed authorized users? I'm a bit confused. We did it for the sake of emergencies (if something happened, the other person could access and use all accounts), but it is not essential for any other reason.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

if you have no debt it proboly wont make a difference. I think AU is added into util sometimes so adding a card with high balance will hurt and adding card with 0 or low balance should either do nothing or help. Also if you got approved by chase and discover you likely have fairly high scores

[Anonymous]

Congrats on getting those cards paid down! Once everything updates with each of the credit bureaus, he should see an increase in scores. If the AU accounts report (some banks don't) then it would only affect the other if there were late payments and high utility on the card. If the account is new and shortens the average age of the history, then that can also bring down the score. To get the most benefits of AU accounts, you usually want one that has long history, perfect payments and low balance (less than 10% of CL).

I would recommend ordering your hard copy reports from www.annualcreditreport.com for both you and your husband.  These are free once a year under FACTA. Go over them for any errors. If you had accounts that went bad over 7 years ago, they should not still be listed. The SOL for CRTP (credit reporting time period) is 7/7.5 yrs after the DOFD/DOLA.

Before house hunting, you may want to pull your FICO scores from this site to see where you stand. If you go for certain types of mortgages, then your scores may be important to know ahead of time. If you google for a discount code, you may be able to find one that will save a few dollars off the price. If you are signed up for emails from myfico.com, they may have specials with discounts during certain times of the year as well.

It sounds like you have a good plan so far, Good Luck!

Message Edited by stef37 on 11-12-2008 07:02 PM