Is there ANY advantage to being an AU based on my profile??

[Anonymous]

I've been an AU on my dad's credit card for a little over a year, but looking at my credit profile, I don't think it's really necessary for me.

I have 5 other personal cards in my own name all with limits between 2K-9K and my AAoA is about 2 years 2 months. I added the AU last year thinking I would get a score boost but when I log onto Experian "Free Credit Score" or Discover "ScoreCard", neither of them show that my AU has any effect on utilization, AAoA, etc. Even when the AU has a balance, it doesn't get factored into my utilization on either of these scoring sites.

So this leads me to ask the following questions: Will keeping this AU account do anything positive for - 

1) Underwriting to buy a home in 3-5 years? 

2) How lenders view my profile? (AU is 30 year old card, even though it doesnt count. Card is older than I am).

3) Payment history

Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Shadowfactor]

For automatic reviews it would definitely help to bump your AAoA up significantly that’s an impressive trade line age.
Both Experian and discover use FICO scores so if it didn’t help. I’ve noticed that discover doesn’t calculate my Util correctly if the balance is on an AU card.

On a manual review though, it probably wouldn’t help.

[Anonymous]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
For automatic reviews it would definitely help to bump your AAoA up significantly that’s an impressive trade line age. You may even see a score bump if you moved to the next age bracket on the scoring system.

On a manual review though, it probably wouldn’t help.

There’s not a reason I can think of not to do it.

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Ahh I see, so the computer checking my credit won't likely tell that the account is an AU and therefore will factor in it's account opening date. Okay I guess that is reason enough for me to keep the tradeline. Thanks @Shadowfactor

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the card.  If its an Amex card then there will be no increase in AAoA since Amex only reports the date the AU was added and does not backdate the history of the card.

[Anonymous]

It is a Citi card and it has backedated on my credit reports to August 1st 1994, however when I look on FICO scoring pages it doesn't calculate my AAoA or my utilization with the AU card added.

My AAoA without the AU is 2 years 2 months, with the AU it is around 5 years. Only CreditKarma shows me the AAoA with the AU factored in

[seattlecredit08]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It is a Citi card and it has backedated on my credit reports to August 1st 1994, however when I look on FICO scoring pages it doesn't calculate my AAoA or my utilization with the AU card added.

My AAoA without the AU is 2 years 2 months, with the AU it is around 5 years. Only CreditKarma shows me the AAoA with the AU factored in

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This seems odd.

Generally, true FICO scores/models do factor in AUs when calculating AAofA.

To check, what you can do is create an Excel of ALL your accounts (BOTH open and closed) in months and then compute the average in months and divide that average by by 12. This should roughly match what you should see on a true FICO report from let's say MyFico or Experian.

Are you seeing a major discrepancy when comparing computed AofAA with AU vs. reported?

Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Yes there is a major difference when comparing AAoA with the AU and without the AU (the former of the two being a few years larger).

However, Experian’s freecreditscore .com shows my credit age as “fair” with the AAoA best representing my cards without the AU included.

This leads me to believe that while the AU card is backdated, it doesn’t really get factored into my FICO score.

[marmaladepie]

Age of accounts aside, what is the CL on the card?
You mentioned that you have your own cards in the $2-9k range. But if your dad’s card is significantly higher, like 15k+ it could look good for your profile at first glance.
Just a thought!
When I was rebuilding 9 years ago, I had two cards under 1k limit and AU card with 34k. They were only a year apart in age. But in the long run I think it’s helped me.

[HeavenOhio]

It's very possible that the AU doesn't help your FICO8, but it may help you with other FICO scores. It's really tough to tell whether an AU "counts" or not. If you head over to the Scoring forum, the gurus can offer a test that can confirm whether it's helping or not.

Lenders will do what they want to do, despite what FICO does. Some will be impressed, even if FICO doesn't count it. Others (like Chase) will ignore it, even if FICO acknowledges it.

You have plenty of credit to stand on your own with your primary accounts. But I really like the 1994 date. As long as utilization on the card is under control, it's not hurting you. If utilization is frequently higher than desirable, then definitely drop the AU.