Removing Myself as Authorized User from Parent's credit card - Should I do it?

[Anonymous]

Hello, friends!

About myself: I am 25 years old, college graduate (BS in Business / Marketing), very steady and solid paying career, very little student loans ($2,000), and about $300 in credit card debt. I spent the better part of yesterday painstakingly going through all 3 of my credit reports one by one. My credit score averaged around 720; I've never missed a payment, always pay at least a week early and pay much more than the minimum requirement while keeping my debt extremely low.

My dilema lies in that I've been assigned as an authorized user on my parent's credit card since I was 18. Their credit score is 725+, but on a credit card or two they are very debt heavy, utilizing almost their entire $25,000 credit limit. (Opposed to myself, I use maybe 5-10% of my available limit or less) The upside is they have had all of their credit cards for at least 5-10 years, never missed a payment on any credit card that I'm an authorized user for and are in very, very good standing with the credit card companies. (They just run the balances up very high)

After going through my credit reports yesterday, I would like to remove myself from their credit cards as an authorized user and only keep the cards on file that are actually mine. I'm just curious if it will hurt my credit score? I will be removing a TON of debt from my account, but in exchange, losing a few credit cards with very long and positive payment histories. I have a couple credit cards under my own name, but I've not had them for nearly as long as my parent's have had theirs - although, my payment history is flawless, my credit score is good and I owe very little money on ANY card under my name.

Any advice would be tremendously appreciated, becuase I don't really know how to proceed forward.

Thanks a ton in advance!

[Shogun]

My personal opinion?  Remove yourself as an AU.  You've established yourself and are ready to fly.  Those AU's have done their job, now you can rely on your own accounts.  Yes, you'll lose some AAoA, but you'll gain that back in your util.  By doing this, you will be in complete control of your own finances. 

And congrats on a job well done.  

[RobertEG]

+1

A disadvantage to having accounts in your CR that do not represent your own, personal credit history is that when you app for higher or better lines of credit, it may inolve a manual review of your CR, with more being consudered that simply your four digit FICO score.

When a prospective creditor sees an AU on your report, it informs them that your score is not based only your own assessed risk.

If they desire to see your FICO score based only on your own history, they cannot do so, as they have no way to back out individual accounts from your score.

Thus, it may put your entire score into question.

Great for credit building where many lower-end creditors rely primarily if only on FICO score, but best to elininate them when you move up in score and may be subject to more scrutiny.

[tonyjones]

Will all the history of the AU cards be completely removed from all three CRA?

[HiLine]

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@tonyjones wrote:

Will all the history of the AU cards be completely removed from all three CRA?

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Yes, as if they never existed.

[tonyjones]

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@HiLine wrote:

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@tonyjones wrote:

Will all the history of the AU cards be completely removed from all three CRA?

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Yes, as if they never existed.

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Wow that really sucks

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the prompt responses!

So, the general consensus for my situation is to take my name off as an authorized user for all credit cards that I'm affiliated with under my parent's name? (I believe it's 2-3 cards) That will leave me with 2 credit cards that are strictly under my own name.

With that said, can I expect a dramatic and instantantous credit score decrease from this action? In addition, how long do you think it will take for me to actually see a difference in my credit score (good or bad) once I'm removed as an authorized user?

It definitely seems like the right move to take my name off their cards, since that will mean that I'm getting rid of $25,000 in debt that's not even my own. Plus, I only utilize less than 10% of my total credit limit on my cards, which should help bump my credit score quite a bit. (Opposed to my parent's that utilize 95%, which is the card that I'm an authorized user for)

The only thing that concerns me is my credit history; albeit flawless, is very short. My first credit card, I have had for a little over 3 years and my last and my most recent card that I applied for and use now as well is 5 months old. This is opposed to my parent's cards, which are all at least 5-10 years of history, so that is a bummer to lose since I'm an authorized user.

With all of that said, from my understanding, having a very low debt to total credit limit ratio on your credit cards weighs much more heavily for your credit score than does the actual length (time frame) of your credit history, correct? In that case, it seems like an obvious trade-off to get rid of the debt, remove myself as an authorized user and move forward.

If anyone else has further input, I would love to hear it! I definitely appreciate it.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anyone else? Thanks again!!

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with us today. Problably your parents maxed the credit cards so they can support you//  Now you have a good job, instead of thinking out the get out of their account, what's normal, probably you should help them paid down the balance. But well that's America.