Should I be removed as authorized user

Anonymous · ‎09-06-2015

My husband has me listed as an authorized user on his discover card he opened in 2011. I was unaware until I pulled my experian report. He keeps his utilization high, so it's hurting my score. I always keep my utilization below 20%. If I have him remove me will it hurt me as far as aaoa or is the high utilization worse?

Anonymous · ‎09-06-2015

Great question. You'll have to tell us more a little more. His card was opened in 2011. I am going to say that was mid-year. So it is a little over four years old now. What is the age of your oldest account (not including the AU account)?

When you say that he keep his utilization high, do you mean overall utilization (which includes all of his cards)? Or do you mean the utilization on that individual Discover card? (What he does with his other cards doesn't affect you, just what he does with his the card on which you are AU.) How high does he keep his utilization on that Discover card? (80%? 40%?) What is your total credit limit of all your cards together (excluding the Discover)? What is the credit limit of that Discover card?

All those questions are important. For example, if your oldest account is three months, and you have a $5000 credit limit total (outside the Discover), and the Discover has a $1000 limit and it is < 80% utilized, then sure, you benefit from the AU a good amount: a lot of age for little impact on your utilization.

If the age of your oldest account is 3 years, however, then the AU is giving you no help and probably significant harm, especially if it contributes significantly to your total U.

The reason I list all these questions is to lay out what's involved in answering this kind of question (i.e. teaching yourself how to think about credit scoring). This may answer your question, and if it doesn't feel free to give us some more info.

PS. When you say that your husband keeps his utilization high, does that mean that he tends to make the minimum payment (or substantially less than the amount on the monthly statement)?

Anonymous · ‎09-06-2015

My oldest account is 1 yr 6 MO. My cl Total on MY cards is 3800. His discover cl is 1000 utilization is about 80% It only reports to EX though.

Anonymous · ‎09-06-2015

Interesting! I had no idea that a major credit card like Discover sometimes only reported to one credit bureau, but then again I learn something new every day. I am guessing that you know that the Discover line only reports to EX because you get regular access to your TU and EQ reports and the Discover isn't on there? Did your husband tell you when he added you to the Discover? If anyone else is reading this thread, and they know much about Discover, please chime in about whether this seems unusual.

Since the Discover line is only on your Experian report, you have marvelous opportunity to answer your question empirically. I.e. pull your scores from the three CRAs and see whether your EX is better or worse than TU and EQ. You are in a gray area -- the AU gives you 4 years of credit history, doesn't raise your total U much, but also gives you an individual tradeline with a high U. So I wouldn't know for sure how much of a benefit or harm it does to you.

If you can convince your husband to lower the U a little on his Discover it will be more of a definite win for the AU decision. In the long run, however, you want to get the the AU card off of your profile, since the help it gives you with age won't be substantial enough.

Do you mind me asking: does your husband tend to make minimum payments on his credit cards?

Anonymous · ‎09-06-2015

I thought it was strange to that it's only on my ex report, especially since my discover reports to all three. He does make more than the minimum, however he usually uses it again after making payments. Lowering my aaoa is my main concern. I am due for a credit steps increase next week on one of my capital one cards so maybe I will wait to see how much that is and the effect on my score before making a decision. Thank you for your help!

Anonymous · ‎11-25-2015

Could you please help me with the same question? My payment history is good. My length of credit is 4 years. My U is low (around 8%). I'm an AU on 2 of my husband's cards. His U is around 65% His length of credit is 25 years. I don't know why my credit score is so low. Should I get removed as AU? What else would I need to do and how long will it take to improve my score. Thank you very much.

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2015

I did remove myself as AU from my husband's card. It does still show as my oldest account it just has a zero balance. A couple of days after removing myself my EX score did drop 12 points. I cannot tell you with any certainty that this is why it dropped but I did not see any other changes to my report.

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2015

Thank you for your help

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Could you please help me with the same question? My payment history is good. My length of credit is 4 years. My U is low (around 8%). I'm an AU on 2 of my husband's cards. His U is around 65% His length of credit is 25 years. I don't know why my credit score is so low. Should I get removed as AU? What else would I need to do and how long will it take to improve my score. Thank you very much.

Folks here will be able to help you best if you tell us a few things:

(1) What are your credit scores? Where did you get them? When?

(2) Have you pulled your credit reports? If so, when and which credit bureaus? Have you looked to see whether the reports list any "negative information"? This would be things like late payments, charge offs, bankrupcies, judgments, liens, etc. Be sure to look for negative information on both your accounts and the accounts on which you are an AU.

(3) Do you and your husband make financial decisions together? If so, would he be willing to pay off a big chunk of his credit cards? At least the cards on which you are an AU? Paying off his cards would benefit him a lot too.