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I am still working on helping my wife re-build her credit and want to add her as an authorized user on a couple of my accounts. Does anyone know if the addition of her as an AU impact her credit negatively due to new accounts? I don't know whether to go on and add her to a couple of my higher limit accounts now or wait. She has gotten three accounts on her own within the last 30 days so there are three new accounts on her report. Will my adding her ding her with additional new accounts? Thanks
For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
@simplynoir wrote:For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.
What simplynoir said is true.
Add the oldest accounts with the highest limits for best results.
They will only be "new" accounts if they are indeed new. I'm assuming yours have aged.
@Anonymous wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.
I think adding 2-3 of your cards to her report will be fine as long as she's going to let her new accounts age for the next 6-12 months. I don't think there will be any danger of issuers taking a second look at her accounts as long as she doesn't plan to apply for anything else anytime soon. You will, though, have to keep in mind for possible future applications for her the various rules some lenders have with regards to getting new credit such as Chase's 5/24 rule.
@Anonymous wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:For most credit card companies they allow the AU to inherit the stats of the primary cardholder like age of the account, payment history, credit limit, etc. so if the cards you're looking to add to your wife's credit report are old and in good standing with nice limits it will only help her.
Thanks for responding. My concern is her getting tagged for too many new accounts. She only has three new accounts. I was going to add her to two of my cards so will it show as five new accounts? I don't want her card issuers to get spooked.
How old are the accounts you want to add her to? If the accounts are 5 years old they will appear as 5 years old on her report and won't appear as new accounts and would increase her AAOA. If the accounts are new for you than adding would hurt her AAOA. So it all depends on how long you have had those accounts open.
My husband added me to his Chase Freedom Unlimited and it did impact my score negitively. He did it as a "surprise", but if I had of known I would have told him not to add me. He didn't do it to help build my credit, it was more so to give me an extra card to use in case I wanted to shop etc..
I can't recall exactly how much it dropped my score but if you really need to know I can try to go back and check my records. I was actually sad about it because I was so focused on my score growth. My scores were in the 770 range at the time, they are now in the 759 - 763 range.
Chase also did a hard pull on Experian and Equifax. So I was dinged for the new account, and 2 credit pulls.
I love Chase. But those double HPs... grrrrr!
But you benefit from the age of his card?
@grower1 wrote:My husband added me to his Chase Freedom Unlimited and it did impact my score negitively. He did it as a "surprise", but if I had of known I would have told him not to add me. He didn't do it to help build my credit, it was more so to give me an extra card to use in case I wanted to shop etc..
I can't recall exactly how much it dropped my score but if you really need to know I can try to go back and check my records. I was actually sad about it because I was so focused on my score growth. My scores were in the 770 range at the time, they are now in the 759 - 763 range.
Chase also did a hard pull on Experian and Equifax. So I was dinged for the new account, and 2 credit pulls.
Wait, you got a double HP for being added as an AU? I didn't think that was possible.