Need Help Answering Question

Anonymous · ‎06-19-2009

Hello. Im new to the myfico site. The main reason I joined was to ask a question, but now I see that this site is pretty useful and I may decide to stay. The question I had for everyone was, I have ok credit...experian says 5pts away from 800 club...transunion says 2pts away. My wife on the other hand, has horrible credit. To make a long story short, she allowed her parents to use her credit card, and they receive the bills at their home, needless to say they have been late several times, and have brought down her credit score. We didn't find out ( I have told her many times to ask what was going on with that CC/ but it's her parents, and she was embarrassed and didn't want to hurt their feelings since they have helped her in the past) until we checked out her credit report. Well its in the crapper. We have since taken a proactive approach to her credit. I monitor my accounts 3 times a week myself(it's almost a compulsion with me) and have vowed to help her get on the right track. The first step we did was call her CC( Bank of America) and negotiate a better payment for her parents (they were paying 27.24%!!!!!!!!). Next we had the bills routed to our home, and now ask her parents to pay us directly. I got it down to 5.5% and a fixed payment of 120 a month for 60 months. But under this plan, we have to close my wife's account. So here goes my series of questions that I hope yall can answer.

#1- If I add her on as an A/U on my BofA card it affect my score? Im guessing not but just want to double check.

#2- Will it help her credit score? I've had this account for 10yrs. I have a decent credit limit on it with no balance.

#3- Will they lower my credit limit on it. I really wouldn't want that to happen, even though it wouldn't really affect me since I have a few CC's with decent credit limits, and my credit utilization on all cc's is 0.(Why I'm not at above 800 already is a mystery to me).

#4 Any other tips/hints everyone can give me would be most appreciated. I would say that I want to get my wife on the right track, but it really isn't her fault. She is very cautious when it comes to credit. So I have no qualms about adding her as an A/U as long as it doesn't negatively affect my score.

Anonymous · ‎06-19-2009

realtrade wrote:
#1- If I add her on as an A/U on my BofA card it affect my score? Im guessing not but just want to double check.

#2- Will it help her credit score? I've had this account for 10yrs. I have a decent credit limit on it with no balance.

#3- Will they lower my credit limit on it. I really wouldn't want that to happen, even though it wouldn't really affect me since I have a few CC's with decent credit limits, and my credit utilization on all cc's is 0.(Why I'm not at above 800 already is a mystery to me).

#4 Any other tips/hints everyone can give me would be most appreciated. I would say that I want to get my wife on the right track, but it really isn't her fault. She is very cautious when it comes to credit. So I have no qualms about adding her as an A/U as long as it doesn't negatively affect my score.

Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances. Mixing family with credit can be dangerous!

In answer to your questions:

1. No, adding her as AU of one of your cards will not affect your credit at all.

2. Yes, the 10 yr. old account will add to her credits AAofAs and the addition of the new card will increase her total CLs thereby decreasing her utilization. How much it improves depends on how much your card increases her AAofAs and lowers her utilization. Both of these actions will improve her credit score.

3. I've never heard of anyones credit limit being lowered because they added an AU to their account. I don't believe the credit card company ever checks the AUs credit at all.

4. Only tip I have is don't ever cosign a loan for the family!

Good luck to you!

Message Edited by VEEnVEGAS on 06-19-2009 06:29 PM

Message Edited by VEEnVEGAS on 06-19-2009 06:31 PM

marty56 · ‎06-20-2009

@Anonymous wrote:
#4 Any other tips/hints everyone can give me would be most appreciated. I would say that I want to get my wife on the right track, but it really isn't her fault. She is very cautious when it comes to credit. So I have no qualms about adding her as an A/U as long as it doesn't negatively affect my score.

DO NOT DO THIS. If she is in a payment plan with BofA you may be violating the terms of the payment plan not to get new credit. BofA might use the AU as an excuse to remove her from the plan.

I applaud you in wanting to help your wife, but she wont be applying for any new credit until the plan is complete and improving her FICO score is mute until the account is PIF. Also with AA all the rage these days, who knows about the effect of the AU on your account. If you are looking for any sort of GW from BofA, you can forget it.

I have a 4 year old major derog from BofA cuased by actions I took while in a DMP program with a BofA product so I know how this story will end, yet my scores arent that bad now and I have been able to get the credit I wanted since DMP, so after a few years your wife's scores will recover too.

Finally, IMHO couples should keep their credit histories seperate. Share a checking account if you want, but keep credit seperate. If something happens to you, she can stand on her own 2 feet.

Message Edited by marty56 on 06-20-2009 06:04 AM

1/25/2021: FICO 850 EQ 848 TU 847 EX

Anonymous · ‎06-20-2009

@marty56 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
#4 Any other tips/hints everyone can give me would be most appreciated. I would say that I want to get my wife on the right track, but it really isn't her fault. She is very cautious when it comes to credit. So I have no qualms about adding her as an A/U as long as it doesn't negatively affect my score.
DO NOT DO THIS. If she is in a payment plan with BofA you may be violating the terms of the payment plan not to get new credit. BofA might use the AU as an excuse to remove her from the plan.

I applaud you in wanting to help your wife, but she wont be applying for any new credit until the plan is complete and improving her FICO score is mute until the account is PIF. Also with AA all the rage these days, who knows about the effect of the AU on your account. If you are looking for any sort of GW from BofA, you can forget it.

I have a 4 year old major derog from BofA cuased by actions I took while in a DMP program with a BofA product so I know how this story will end, yet my scores arent that bad now and I have been able to get the credit I wanted since DMP, so after a few years your wife's scores will recover too.

Finally, IMHO couples should keep their credit histories seperate. Share a checking account if you want, but keep credit seperate. If something happens to you, she can stand on her own 2 feet.

Message Edited by marty56 on 06-20-2009 06:04 AM

I didn't notice that both accounts were with BofA and since Marty has had experience with them in a similar situation, I would take his advice on this point.

I'm not so sure however that you shouldn't add your wife as an AU on some other credit card. It wouldn't be reporting as a new account or new credit...it would carry your old history onto her reports.

I also disagree to a degree to a point on the last paragraph of Martys post...yes, couples should keep their credit seperate, meaning, no joint accounts. I don't see how letting her share AU status on one of your cards would hurt her if something did happen to you. You can easily remove her AU status after her credit has improved if either of you want to do this.