I was added as an authrozied user and my score dropped

[Anonymous]

Ok, my wife added me as an authorized user on one of her cards--without asking me---I just noticed it posted to my experian and I lost 18 points because of her balance. Is the fix a simple one by just getting removed as an authorized user? Or do authorized user accounts stay on your report even after they are shut down? In other words, did she just mess up my aaoa or is it simply inheriting a balance and if we remove me my score will bounce back? Also, to be clear--I didnt need more credit or anything, I have enough, and 2% utilization. The drop is directly from my profile inheriting her balance. And if I remove myself how long will it take to show removal from experian?

[newhis]

DW added me on 2 cards, one didn't report until 2 years later with a BT of 50% the limit and my score dropped.

She removed me as AU and from what I can tell the balance didn't hurt anymore. The cards still reported for several months.

The 2 cards age is lower than my AAoA, so I decided to dispute them to the bureaus. I can't dispute online, I sent disputes by mail. I just got a letter from TU saying they deleted the accounts from my report, I hope EX and EQ will do it too.

In short:

- if she removes you as AU the balance will not hurt anymore (I think)

- if the age is hurting your AAoA, you may need to dispute directly to the bureaus. If the age is helping your AAoA, just hope that the card stay for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response. I guess my question is basically this--this authorized user account posted a few days ago..If I remove it, will my fico scores return to what they were before?

[newhis]

If you remove it from your reports (by asking to remove the AU to the CC issuer, then dispute to the bureaus), yes, your history/report/score will return as if nothing happened.

An AU card can hurt if:

- it has a high UTIL

- the age reported is lower than your AAoA

- it will hurt more if it is a brand new card (if your 'new' cards are older than 6/12 months)

An AU can help if:

- the age is above your AAoA (remember that Amex report AU as new accounts, so even if the original card is 3 years the AU will report as new account)

- if it helps your overall UTIL

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I get it removed and everything return to normal. Any idea how long it takes to get removed from report?

[newhis]

TU answered my letter in less than 2 weeks, if you do it online it will be faster.

Maybe you can try to get removed as AU and dispute online at the same time. I think if the CC stop reporting you as AU then is no problem to dispute at the same time (just my guess).

My experience was:

- last July asked the lender to be remove as AU (DW did that)

- by October I received my free credit report and I see there is no new monthly info on the cards since August, relationship terminated (or something like that)

- was not able to dispute online, so I sent 3 letters on Feb 7

My guess is that TU already removed them from my report.