Credit Score Impacted after added as AU

[Anonymous]

I was working hard for many years to improve my credit score and finally got it to 800s. I have only 4 credit cards - (2) Citi Bank from many years ago and (2) recent from AMEX – both opened about year ago.

Few month ago, my wife applied for her personal AMEX account and added me – with my permission – as an authorized user.

I had no idea that it would be shown on my credit report, hence I was very upset when I noticed that my credit score dropped almost by 30 points in all three credit agencies.

I talked to AMEX credit department – they surely can close that AU card, but it won’t remove the record from my credit report, it will only show that I WAS AN AUTHORIZED USER for a few months period and account is closed with 0 balance.

I really don’t want to contact any of credit agencies directly to try to sort it out with them.

So, I am only having two options for now:

• Keep AU account open and see what happens;
• Close the account and try to compensate for all the negative impact that I’ve made.

Any suggestions? I am very upset over this and trying to figure out best course of action to bring my credit score back to where it was.

One more note – I will need to use my credit score around next summer 2019.

Thank you in advance!

[Medic981]

Welcome to the myFICO forums!

A 30 point drop from 800 would be 770.

For the most part, a FICO of 800 does not get you any better interest rates than a FICO of 770. 

Most likely, your wife's Amex account which you were an AU dropped your FICO as it was new credit and lowered you age of credit history. 

As the AU account was closed in good standing, I suggest that you write a goodwill letter to Amex explaining that you were not aware of what the adverse result would be to your FICO score by being an AU on your wife's Amex account. I would further explain that you have a significant loan you will be applying for in mid-2019 and you are concerned about how the drop in your FICO score would affect its outcome.

Perhaps other forum members will have better suggestions than I.

Good luck and I wish you the best.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your feedback!

I really had no idea that it would trigger my scredit score / report. I completely forgot about goodwill letter option - thank you for reminding me about it!

I haven't closed account yet, because I still cant determine if closing newly opened account would hurt my credist score even further.

Thank you again for your feedback!

[Medic981]

Having yourself removed as an AU from your wife's account should not impact your FICO scores. If you are speaking to closing your own Amex account, I would say that yes it may impact your FICO scores depending on your utilization. I advise you to have the AU account closed and removed and keep your Amex account open and active. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you again sir!

It seems like the most reasonable way to proceed.

[UncleB]

When Amex reports to the bureaus for an AU, they report the date the AU was added as the "open" date regardless of the actual age of the account, so the AAoA hit was likely what caused your score drop.

If it were me, I would be tempted to give it a little time... often the scores will bounce back if AAoA is the only issue.

[Anonymous]

---

@UncleB wrote:

When Amex reports to the bureaus for an AU, they report the date the AU was added as the "open" date regardless of the actual age of the account, so the AAoA hit was likely what caused your score drop.

If it were me, I would be tempted to give it a little time... often the scores will bounce back if AAoA is the only issue.

---

And AoYA, hence 30 points. OP said his 2 Amex were opened "about a year ago", if his previous AoYA was 12+ months, resetting to 0 can cost 15-20 points alone, besides AAoA.