Remove Myself as Authorized User on Accounts that are in Good Standing, but Highly Utilized?

[CBear]

When my husband and I divorced last year, I asked him not to close any accounts so that I could use them to work on my individual credit. He's been "OK" and not had any late payments, etc. However, I didn't realize that HIS utilization rate would affect my score the way it has.. My FICO reporting is showing me at 110% credit utilization. I have only a mortgage and an auto loan, no credit cards. So, he's making the payments, but carrying high balances.

My question is: should I remove myself as an Authorized User on these accounts - they are in good standing, and I don't have any credit. (Mortgage and Auto Loan haven't had missed or late payments for several years.)

Will it ding my score - or improve it - to not have the high utilization? It's not my utilization - but, the accounts ARE in good standing. Which would benefit the FICO score most?

Dropping the good standing accounts that are showing high utilization? Or keeping them because they're in good standing?

Thanks in advance!

[SMikulski49]

Since you are the authorized user if he uses it, it will also affect your score. If the utilization is high it will affect you, if he misses a payment it will affect you, whatever he does it will help or damage your score. If you trust him enough and you know he will pay it down, leave it be. As soon as he pays the cards off your score will recover.

If you choose to get rid of the card it will keep helping you for 10 years until it drops off your report. You should think about opening your own credit card or two and built your history like that, you knever know what he will do with the cards and it is risky not having any control over what he does with the cards. 

[Anonymous]

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@SMikulski49 wrote:

Since you are the authorized user if he uses it, it will also affect your score. If the utilization is high it will affect you, if he misses a payment it will affect you, whatever he does it will help or damage your score. If you trust him enough and you know he will pay it down, leave it be. As soon as he pays the cards off your score will recover.

If you choose to get rid of the card it will keep helping you for 10 years until it drops off your report. You should think about opening your own credit card or two and built your history like that, you knever know what he will do with the cards and it is risky not having any control over what he does with the cards. 

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Is that true of AU accounts too? I was under thhe impression that if you removed AU it instantly dropped off your report.

I'm not sure what the best approach would be as far as the current cards, but with your mortgage and auto loans you should be able to get a card or 2 of your own. Where are your scores now?

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

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@CBear wrote:

When my husband and I divorced last year, I asked him not to close any accounts so that I could use them to work on my individual credit. He's been "OK" and not had any late payments, etc. However, I didn't realize that HIS utilization rate would affect my score the way it has.. My FICO reporting is showing me at 110% credit utilization. I have only a mortgage and an auto loan, no credit cards. So, he's making the payments, but carrying high balances.

My question is: should I remove myself as an Authorized User on these accounts - they are in good standing, and I don't have any credit. (Mortgage and Auto Loan haven't had missed or late payments for several years.)

Will it ding my score - or improve it - to not have the high utilization? It's not my utilization - but, the accounts ARE in good standing. Which would benefit the FICO score most?

Dropping the good standing accounts that are showing high utilization? Or keeping them because they're in good standing?

Thanks in advance!

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Is there civility between you two?

Nice thing about AU accounts is that you can be removed, and then re-added at a later date when balances are more "stable."

Just to clarify, seeing question from another responder, yes, AU accounts can go *POOF* if you dispute them as 'not yours/no responsibility' with the CRAs. Safest bet is to have the primary call their card CSR to *terminate* your access, that way the lines will stay. If you're trying to remove them from your reports, dispute away, but EQ likes to hang onto things....

[zerofire]

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@CBear wrote:

When my husband and I divorced last year, I asked him not to close any accounts so that I could use them to work on my individual credit. He's been "OK" and not had any late payments, etc. However, I didn't realize that HIS utilization rate would affect my score the way it has.. My FICO reporting is showing me at 110% credit utilization. I have only a mortgage and an auto loan, no credit cards. So, he's making the payments, but carrying high balances.

My question is: should I remove myself as an Authorized User on these accounts - they are in good standing, and I don't have any credit. (Mortgage and Auto Loan haven't had missed or late payments for several years.)

Will it ding my score - or improve it - to not have the high utilization? It's not my utilization - but, the accounts ARE in good standing. Which would benefit the FICO score most?

Dropping the good standing accounts that are showing high utilization? Or keeping them because they're in good standing?

Thanks in advance!

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Ok I see a few issues right here. First you dont have any of your own revolving credit. This means when you want to save some money by getting rewards for your spending your currently getting nothing. Second you and he are divorced now which means you have no control over what he does in any way. Its nice to have a civil ex but credit scores are individual so you should separate yourself from him immediatly. If you are an AU on his cards you need to be removed. If you are a cosigner anywhere for him get released from the obligation. Now his accounts can stay on your report for up to 10 years after the closing or removal of AU as long as you dont dispute them with the reporting agencies. Reporting agencies like to clean their files but in this case it will stick around for a while as long as you dont give them reason to remove it. You need to understand that as an AU if he misses a payment, is late, files bankrupcy, or even has high utalization it can affect your credit as well.

[Anonymous]

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@zerofire wrote:

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Now his accounts can stay on your report for up to 10 years after the closing or removal of AU as long as you dont dispute them with the reporting agencies. Reporting agencies like to clean their files but in this case it will stick around for a while as long as you dont give them reason to remove it. You need to understand that as an AU if he misses a payment, is late, files bankrupcy, or even has high utalization it can affect your credit as well.

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I had my wife add me to a Freedom Chase card as an AU, then I decided to run that card up taking advantage of the points and interest free period of time.

The card took down my AAOA, and the debt increased my utilization.   So I decied tor remove myself.

IMO the last resort is to dispute anything with the CRAs, the first action I took was to request from the Chase CSR that they contact all three CRA and have me removed as an AU.  Which happened and it was all one phone call with no need to follow up, so it was easy.  If you contact the CRA to dispute something, they will have to contact the card company to research it,  who knows if the timing will be correct and IMO it's the long way around your goal.

My Vantage 3.0 score went up about 40 points, HOWEVER my fico 8 scores didnt' seem affected at all.

I have read numerious posts that claim AU don't really have an affect on Fico 8 Bankcard scores, which is what most credit card companies use.

I don't have any negattives on any reports that I have access to , so I don't know if they treat negatives in regards to a AU any differrenty.

My wife is an AU on many of my cards, yet her fico 8 scores  ranged from 673 - 753 while her Vantage scores ranged from  700-788.

I first made her an AU on one card because she had no credit cards, lived in Thailand, she was my fiance I thought it was a good backup for her.  And since we planned on getting married in Thailand and she would likely fly to the USA by herself, for me it's scary to travel Internationally without a credit card, so I was thinking ahead. So she a AU while living in a different country and with a different name. The only tricky things was that I had to have the card mailed to me in the USA and then mail it to her. They won't mail it  to a different address, whch seems like a good safety measure.

I will likely take her off some cards we don't use much just so I can tear up cards that are sitting around and not being used.

She now has three cards in her name,  Chase, BOA and AMEX.  The best way I have found to get credit for a new credit file is to open a checking account, maybe a saving account, and the bank will push their credit cards on her.  And the banks give you $100 - $300 to induce you to open a checking account, then bonues to open a credit card.

She now gets much more offers for credit in the mail than I do, AMEX Blue cash was the last card she just recently  got, they gave her a 15K CLI and her credit score is 687 according to AMEX.  My credit scores are ~ 800 Fico 8, but my highest CLI on a new card was 14K, but I already have 100K of credit and 15 cards.  SO I am guessing the carrd companies want her as a new credit customer but don't see a need to send me offers as I already have most major bank cards, despite my higher scores and lonnger history.  Her AAoA is less than a year with cards in her own name, but over 7 years if you count AU card via the Vantage 3 model, while I am about 5.5 AAOA on all models, with my oldes card being 29 years while her oldest card is one year.

Chase Freedom gave her 4K, BOA gave her 1.5K, then AMEX gave her 15K CLI.

A lot of datapoints to consider.

[rmduhon]

It depends on the credit card as to whether or not the AU stays on the reports. Cap1 will remove the reporting on the next cycle.