If a card has a history that is longer than your average age of accounts, that will help with your average age. If it's older than your oldest account, then it will become your "new" oldest account...and that helps.
The account must have a clean payment history.
If the account holder revolves a balance, that may hurt you...unless it is a tiny balance. If they pay in full each month, that is good...but if they don't do it BEFORE the statement cuts each month, then their balance will show as your balance and can negatively affect your utilization percentage.
My husband and I are authorized users on each other's cards. We were also authorized users on an AmEx that our son has. He pays in full each month. He has great credit, but (like most of America) he doesn't pay his balance off until he gets his statement in the mail. Therefore, his balance showed on our credit reports and was calculated into our utilization. We had ourselves removed as authorized users.
It's tough to advise you how many points you could earn. There are too many moving parts to a FICO score. My husband and I each gained a few points by naming each other as authorized users. If you now have pretty high utilization, and this lowered your utilization dramatically, you could see a pretty good rise rather quickly.
I am a true believer in authorized user status. We have our grown daughters as authorized users on one of our cards. Our 16 y/o currently carries 4-5 of our cards. We believe it's part of helping them learn responsible use of credit. And, believe me...when I know one of my cards is reporting on someone else's credit report, it gives me added incentive to make sure there is no balance.
If you are interested in posting some details, we may be better able to advise.
Message Edited by LynetteM on 12-02-2009 01:44 PM
