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AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

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Anonymous
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AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

Ladies and Gentleman,

I kindly request your expertise regarding credit scoring/rebuilding. I value any and all opinions regarding my below situation.

My DM as recently been kind enough to grant me AU permissions for her nearly 22 year old Ciit Card. Problem is she currently has a 87% utilization. The Citi card is scheduled to report on the 30th so I have a sense of urgency regarding making a decision to pull out or let it report. I received we will get her balance down but it will probably take a few months.

My current AAOA is at 3.14 years and my oldest account is 11.85 years. In April 2019 I will lose my oldest account and my age will slip further. I have 4 newly added accounts. 3 secured cards and 1 NFCU SSL as of this month. After the 3 CC additions that brings my total to 4 CC's with a $800 limit which I can safely report at 0% utilization every month - no problem.

The history of her card would double my oldest account and raise my AAOA by almost 2.5 years!

Should I ride it out and take the temporary utilization hit and enjoy the increased age? Or abandon the ship immediately. My other other question is this - I've read conflicting stories about once an AU is closed and being able to enjoy the AAOA after the fact without the utilization concerns. Is there any truth to this or does it just disappear or no factor at all. I can't seem to get a straight answer on this.

My ultimate goal is to graduate to better cards and then I don't need the AU. I was under the impression that the AU might help my approval for CC's with a higher limit. The sooner I can get to better cards the sooner I can garden IMO. After that I'd like to get to a mortgage sometime in April - May 2020.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
4 REPLIES 4
Anonymous
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Re: AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

I would not take on an AU account that's at near maxed out utilization.  You said your AoOA won't be dropping dramatically for another 6 months or so.  That gives the primary on the account that you're considering becoming an AU to a solid 6 months to pay down that utilization.  If they can accomplish this, sure thing and add the account at that time.  For now though, no need really IMO and it would do more harm than good.

Message 2 of 5
Anonymous
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Re: AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

Hey man - I really appreciate the feedback! But you told me something different in another thread. Which is it? I'm genuinely asking your opinion. 

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
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Re: AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

I think it all depends on how realistic the pay down plan "in a few month" really is and how low it will be paid down, only you and mom know the answer. If the pay down plan is solid and it can be paid down to below 28.9% and kept there moving forward, then I think being an AU can be beneficial even if you took temporary scoring hits before the pay down, otherwise I would just garden with what you have and wait for lates and derogs to fall off.
Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
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Re: AU - AAOA versus Utilization ?

I have actually ran across another scenario that might work. My fiancé has a Capital 1 that we have both contributed to running up the balance on. Well I’ve told her that I planned on getting that balance paid up being that I used it as well.

So hear me out on this scenario. Add myself as an AU to her card. She has a $8500 CL. I will pay it down to $0 this month as I promised her anyways. She’s has around 2 year history with perfect payment history.

Let my DM card report on Oct 30 with 76% utilitization, 22 year perfect payment history, $4600 CL. If AU works I double the age of my oldest account and increase AAOA by 2 years with DM tradeline. Temporarily my score might take a hit.

Keep the rest of my revolvers at $0. Allow fiancé card to report on the November 23rd - 0% utilization, 2 year perfect payment history and $8500 CL. If FICO factors both AU’s I will have at most a 25% utilization by November. While not dropping maybe AAOA under 5 years. I’d actually go from 5.5 to 5.13 AAOA.

My fiancé and I plan to ask for CL increase on her Cap 1 card which we were granted 50% increase around 12 months ago. If they grant another increase that will further help utilization and allow DM time to get balance down.

This way I pay nothing towards DM card but can still capture her history to help leverage an app for an unsecured card. Then I can get rid of her card and garden. Furthermore I have NFCU SSL technique being reported for the first time on October 30th. I have no open installenent loans at this time. So that should give me another boost?

We want to start talking with lender in 2020 in order to buy our dream home. Thoughts?

Message 5 of 5
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