Authroized User ???

[racurran]

Hello.  I need a quick boost to my credit scores because I am getting ready to go through a mortgage process.  My best friend offered to have me put on her Chase Visa as an authorized user to help out.  She has had the card for five years now with a flawless payment history.  This will help because my length of credit history and payment history portions of my credit both show as "not good."  My only concern is that she has 5500 charged on the card.  The credit limit is 26k so the percentage of utilization is not that terrible.  I am worried about raising my utilization since my report is showing utilization as "very good".  Do you think the better payment history and length of credit will outweigh the higher utilization? 

[Anonymous]

WOW!! What an amazing friend!!

As to whether being an AU will help you, bear in mind that it'll change soon ... soon, FICO won't consider AUs as a part of the scoring process.

As to whether the util will help or harm, hopefully someone else can come along and opine!!

[fused]

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racurran wrote:

Hello.  I need a quick boost to my credit scores because I am getting ready to go through a mortgage process.  My best friend offered to have me put on her Chase Visa as an authorized user to help out.  She has had the card for five years now with a flawless payment history.  This will help because my length of credit history and payment history portions of my credit both show as "not good."  My only concern is that she has 5500 charged on the card.  The credit limit is 26k so the percentage of utilization is not that terrible.  I am worried about raising my utilization since my report is showing utilization as "very good".  Do you think the better payment history and length of credit will outweigh the higher utilization? 

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Bad idea! You have too much to lose by becoming an AU on a friend's CC account. This is very risky!

[DustyStash]

I will say that I disagree with using AU as a quick fix to boost scores. I also believe this is a small form of mortgage fraud. They are basing their loan on YOUR trustworthiness, and obviously using someone elses payment history and credit limit ... does not satisfy this.  This is also why I'm glad to see FICO stepping in and no longer rewarding AU's into the scoring formula.

With that said ... I'm not sure if all the bureaus are switched over to the latest update of the FICO software. I do believe 2 of the 3 are now using software that does not recognize AU's anymore. If so, then your AU account will be worthless and not help your score at all. Plus you need to check and see if Chase even reports AU's to the CRA's.  A lot of lenders do not. The majority in fact, no longer do.

As far as would the account help or hurt. I would say that account would definitely help your score out. It's really going to be relative to whats already on your report, your overall credit limits, and overall account age. I can't see how it would hurt your score ... sounds like it would definitely help, even though its a strategy I think is morally wrong. The UTL on that card is not bad at all at 20% or so. So thats not an issue. Just remember, as Fused pointed out ... as an AU, you're at the mercy of the primary cardholder possibly charging the card up and up and causing your score to go down, with really no way for you to do anything about it. It does have its drawbacks. Good luck

Sparky  

[Anonymous]

i totally disagree with everyone who thinks AU are trying to beat the system or something. a couple of years ago my father got a credit card to help me pay off some debt i had, when he applied i was with him and the bank asked if he wanted me to be an authorized user so it wouldn't be a problem when i needed to make a transaction. I had no idea this would report on my credit file but i feel it should because I am the one making the payments and would have no problem proving that! I have never been late making payments and I deserve to have this "good standing" account on my credit report!!!!!!!!!  I MAKE A PURCHASE AND I PAY THE BILL!!!

[DustyStash]

Cantgetahead  -

Your situation is not the AU situation that we were addressing in this topic. What you stated is perfectly legit and I don't think many here would have too much of a problem with it. But lets be honest here, you're still using someone elses credit for your gain. you may be making the payments etc., but if you went in there yourself and applied for that same account, would they have approved you ?  maybe, maybe not.

AU's are usually riding on someones coat-tail. In your situation, I can at least deal with it. But if you look at the original post, and many of the ones in these forums .. they are from people wanting a quick boost to their score so THEY can get a quick loan approval, or better rate ... neither of which they deserve or have earned themselves. This is what I and others refer to as "beating the system" yes.

There are a lot of us in here who have taken many many years to educate ourselves and get our credit on track the proper way.  It takes a LOT of hard work and diligence. I've never asked or used any relatives or friends for their credit, to be an AU to help me. People on here are trying to use the AU thing in an unjust way. The mortgage industry realized this a few years back, and FICO has finally put a period to it. That right there should tell you the practice is morally wrong, and perhaps legally wrong on some level.

So I will respectfully partially disgree with your notion that you deserve to have a good standing AU account on your report. Unless you can come to me and tell me that you could have applied on your own and been granted a credit account like the one you have now, then you too are benefiting from the work of another. And therefore, deserve is certainly not a word I would associate with that. AU's in my 10 years of credit repair experience, with regards to these credit forums, are usually trying to beat the system yes. No doubts about it. You have at least acted responsibly towards the status, and used it in a proper manner, so I don't group you in with the others. Best wishes,

sparky