Efficacy of Authorized User

[Anonymous]

I turn to you to double check my work and point out any mistakes. So here's the situation:

Credit Score is roughly EX 730. Im good to go with everything except for AAoA (9mo) and number of accounts (3). I plan to try and snag two AmEx's (Hilton Aspire and Gold) - maybe Platinum as well, and refinance a car loan. I am Active Duty Military so it's not a huge deal for me to to have these cards (despite making enough to just pay the AF) as the AF is waived.

My mother has stellar credit, and has a PNC card that has been open for 11 yrs. 1mo. Can I have her add me as an AU to just jack up my AAoA (and bring me to 4 accounts) before applying? Is AmEx going to care that my oldest account is an AU account, or will the algorithms just factor it in and move along?

In my head, I feel like this will work, but I figured I'd double check to be sure. I know that adding accounts is still going to scalp my AAoA after this, since it's just the one card with the age, but I'd rather have ~2y AAoA after the fact than ~2mo. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

You may want to check out this thread because it seems to be YMMV. 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AU-effect-on-AAoA-FICO-08/td-p/5462182

[Anonymous]

While the AU account may not help, I don't think it will hurt.  Some lenders can see through the AU account, either algorithm wise or upon a MR, but if that's the case they'll just be looking at your profile as if the AU account weren't there... so it's no like it's hurting anything IMO by being present and could potentially help.

[Gmood1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I turn to you to double check my work and point out any mistakes. So here's the situation:

Credit Score is roughly EX 730. Im good to go with everything except for AAoA (9mo) and number of accounts (3). I plan to try and snag two AmEx's (Hilton Aspire and Gold) - maybe Platinum as well, and refinance a car loan. I am Active Duty Military so it's not a huge deal for me to to have these cards (despite making enough to just pay the AF) as the AF is waived.

My mother has stellar credit, and has a PNC card that has been open for 11 yrs. 1mo. Can I have her add me as an AU to just jack up my AAoA (and bring me to 4 accounts) before applying? Is AmEx going to care that my oldest account is an AU account, or will the algorithms just factor it in and move along?

In my head, I feel like this will work, but I figured I'd double check to be sure. I know that adding accounts is still going to scalp my AAoA after this, since it's just the one card with the age, but I'd rather have ~2y AAoA after the fact than ~2mo. Thanks!

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Go for it! It's worked for every family member I've added. It certainly won't hurt. If PNC back dates and reports AU's. You'll see the positive difference as soon as it hits your CRs!

[NRB525]

What is the reason for wanting the AU card? To try to extend AAoA?

If you are just getting started with credit, getting used to the 3 cards you have should be sufficient. If no negative marks on your file, then why do you think an AMEX is out of reach in the next couple of months?

There is nothing wrong with adding as an AU, except that it is another (fourth) card to manage, and with that you will be looking at 6 cards, 7 cards eventually? And it looks like you already have an installment loan underway?

AU would make more sense to me if one was trying to rebuild and needed a score boost from that. On a file that is simply young the AU may help a bit, but it seems to me to be too much, not necessary.

[Anonymous]

Helpful comments so far.  I share the general view that you should go for it.

A few more thoughts.....

(1)  The crucial scoring factor that this score-boosting technique affects is primarily Age of Oldest Account -- and only secondarily Average Age of Accounts.  We don't have your AoOA, though we can guess that it is probably pretty low.

(2)  You are right that adding a 4th account might have some value.  FICO places people with a small number of accounts in scorecards that sharply limit the upper ceiling of their score.  An extra account might push you into a more favorable scorecard.

(3)  What is your Age of Youngest Account? 

(4)  A crucial issue if you go with the AU technique is whether your mother would be willing to keep the card reporting a very low balance (better would be $0).  She can still use it, but the balance needs to be very low.  I would also reconfirm with her that the card has never had even one 30-day late on it in the last 7 years.

[Anonymous]

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@NRB525 wrote:

If you are just getting started with credit, getting used to the 3 cards you have should be sufficient. If no negative marks on your file, then why do you think an AMEX is out of reach in the next couple of months?

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As I read through the OP's first post, I don't think he says that he has three cards.  All we know for sure is that he has three accounts (some of which are loans and others of which might be closed).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Credit Score is roughly EX 730.

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You don't describe this as a FICO score or mention where you are getting it.  You might want to avail yourself of the $1 trial at Credit Check Total so that you can get all three FICO 8 scores.

BTW, can you clarify for us how many cards you have now?

And with the cards that you have now, do you have all of them reporting zero except one, with that remaining card reporting a small positive balance?

[Anonymous]

I am currious to hear from those who have knowledge of AU account having an effect.  In looking at the detail of the FICO 8 breakdown in the scores section of the MyFico product, it clearly says that AU accounts are ignored. In my case , I am AU on a spouse account, same last name, same address.  Screenshot shows the descriptions of Revolving Utilization and Total Balance on Revolving and how the TL is described in the account section.  I can confirm the amounts listed are indeed not including the AU account.  What I am reacting to is, it very clearly says Authorized User accounts are not included in the amounts used for the calculation. 

So, the question I have , does anyone who believes the AU is helping them have a different description than what I am seeing for these two attributes - my only thought is maybe there is a coded like "Authorized User - Familly" or something that forces the algorithim (fico8) to include the amounts of the AU accounts.  Granted , this is not going to move the needle much, but every bit counts.  thanks

[calyx]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am currious to hear from those who have knowledge of AU account having an effect.  In looking at the detail of the FICO 8 breakdown in the scores section of the MyFico product, it clearly says that AU accounts are ignored. In my case , I am AU on a spouse account, same last name, same address.  Screenshot shows the descriptions of Revolving Utilization and Total Balance on Revolving and how the TL is described in the account section.  I can confirm the amounts listed are indeed not including the AU account.  What I am reacting to is, it very clearly says Authorized User accounts are not included in the amounts used for the calculation. 

So, the question I have , does anyone who believes the AU is helping them have a different description than what I am seeing for these two attributes - my only thought is maybe there is a coded like "Authorized User - Familly" or something that forces the algorithim (fico8) to include the amounts of the AU accounts.  Granted , this is not going to move the needle much, but every bit counts.  thanks

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@Anonymous, I do not have the MyFico product - I monitor my scores and reports through Experian (and what I can get free from my FIs).   I can say that when my AU reported, I managed to isolate that data point as best I could, and I saw a 15-25pt jump in my TU & EX FICO8 scores.  In my case, it took my AAoA from <6months to >2y.      My EQ at the time was older (it had a lot of accounts) reporting that weren't on EX or TU, so I didn't see much movement there.

I *do* have variations in my score based on the utilization on that card as well (including EQ), so I do believe that it is impacting my score (I do not control the utilization on that card).    It's very much YMMV.     When I pull my reports, it does have "authorized user" under the "responsiblity" section.