Best option to increase score?

[jnc]

My husband and I are hoping to refinance our mortgage with cash out to pay down debt. However, his fico is under 700 currently so I was hoping we could bump it a little first, if possible.

One option is to remove him as an authorized user on my Amex card because that card has a high balance (almost 90% usage). However, it also has a decent age of credit for him (opened 8 years ago). Will that help or hurt his score?

Or, I could also pay down the balance of my Amex card a bit and leave him as a user. I can probably get the balance under 50% but that's about it.

Which scenario would help more? I'm just trying to get him over 700 at the very least before we try to refinance.  The ONLY thing holding his score down is the amount of debt we have. Once we get a refinance and pay off a lot of the debt, his score should jump up pretty drastically. But that won't really help us now

Oh, and the mortgage is only in his name so the effect on my credit is irrelevant.

Thanks,

Christine

[gdale6]

I would remove him as AU, high balances cause more of a score drop than AAoA concerns, at 90% there is also the maxed out penalty. Mortgage companies are likely to discount AUs even if you are married though there are still some that consider them.

[SouthJamaica]

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@jnc wrote:

My husband and I are hoping to refinance our mortgage with cash out to pay down debt. However, his fico is under 700 currently so I was hoping we could bump it a little first, if possible.

One option is to remove him as an authorized user on my Amex card because that card has a high balance (almost 90% usage). However, it also has a decent age of credit for him (opened 8 years ago). Will that help or hurt his score?

Or, I could also pay down the balance of my Amex card a bit and leave him as a user. I can probably get the balance under 50% but that's about it.

Which scenario would help more? I'm just trying to get him over 700 at the very least before we try to refinance.  The ONLY thing holding his score down is the amount of debt we have. Once we get a refinance and pay off a lot of the debt, his score should jump up pretty drastically. But that won't really help us now

Oh, and the mortgage is only in his name so the effect on my credit is irrelevant.

Thanks,

Christine

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50% is important. Getting below 50% on that account could give his mortgage scores a serious boost.  That is definitely the way to go.

[atarvuzdar]

I agree with Jamaica's recommendation. That said, DH and I went thru a cash out refi back in 2017 and our scores were each in the 600s. Still got a great rate and the cash out was used to pay off our CCs. Literal life changer if you can keep from racking up balances again. I posted on the impact to my score as the CC balances dropped, you can find the post on this forum. 

Good luck!