Score Effect: Adding DH as AU and Vise Versa

[Anonymous]

Hi MyFico Fam,

My DH has some debt we’ve been working on. His scores right now are in the low to mid 600’s across all CRA’s while mine, listed in my siggy are significantly higher and 100% clean. I’m just curious, If I were to put him as an AU on my account and vice versa, how would that effect both of our scores?

[dragontears]

Depends on many factors such as 

Age:

If the card is younger than your/his AAOA most likely a score decrease, if it is significantly older can be a score increase. 

If the AU card is less than a year (or is an Amex) and your youngest revolver is over a year you will incur the new account score penalty. 

Utilization:

If the AU card decreases total utilization significantly it can increase the score. If the AU account has high utilization then expect a decrease in score

Payment history:

Any late payments on the AU account will cause a score decrease 

[Anonymous]

It would depend on the nature of what was added if it counted. mainly they’re added for age so if they’re not significantly older they’re not gonna offer a significant benefit.

[Anonymous]

I see. My accounts are much younger than his. However I wouldn't want to be put on his accounts yet due to the few negatives he has on file. If I would add him as an AU though, it would decrease his AAoA significantly. 

[dragontears]

Keep in mind that utilization is a "bigger piece of the pie" than age so it is possible that even a young account could increase his score if his utilization is 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, dragontears!