Will being an authorized user help my score and AAoA

[Mad12345]

I'm fairly fresh out of bankruptcy (chapter 13 discharged end of June 2019), but I have a few credit cards and other accounts in good standing. My scores are not bad considering, but all of my accounts are very new and I have a thin file with low limits. My brother offered to let me be an authorized user on one his credit cards. All of his scores are over 800 his CC limits are over $10,000. My question is will being an authorized user help my AAoA and boost my scores. I'm using the AZEO method that I read about on this forum. Any advice will be appreciated.

[Jnbmom]

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@Mad12345 wrote:

I'm fairly fresh out of bankruptcy (chapter 13 discharged end of June 2019), but I have a few credit cards and other accounts in good standing. My scores are not bad considering, but all of my accounts are very new and I have a thin file with low limits. My brother offered to let me be an authorized user on one his credit cards. All of his scores are over 800 his CC limits are over $10,000. My question is will being an authorized user help my AAoA and boost my scores. I'm using the AZEO method that I read about on this forum. Any advice will be appreciated.

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Which credit issuer is it? Some don't backdate like AMEX. It all depends on the bank.

[Ficoproblems247]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

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@Mad12345 wrote:

I'm fairly fresh out of bankruptcy (chapter 13 discharged end of June 2019), but I have a few credit cards and other accounts in good standing. My scores are not bad considering, but all of my accounts are very new and I have a thin file with low limits. My brother offered to let me be an authorized user on one his credit cards. All of his scores are over 800 his CC limits are over $10,000. My question is will being an authorized user help my AAoA and boost my scores. I'm using the AZEO method that I read about on this forum. Any advice will be appreciated.

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Which credit issuer is it? Some don't backdate like AMEX. It all depends on the bank.

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I thought when you added someone as an AU that your entire reporting history from that card, both positive and negitive, transfered over to the AU's file. Is this only the case with some lenders? Are there some that start the AU from scratch in reporting on that card instead of giving the original reporting history for it, including opening date? If that's the case, I have had a complete misunderstanding on that process up until right now.

[Anonymous]

Yes some lenders do things differently like American Express.

And 0P, as long as it has low utilization and no negatives, it should help your mortgage scores and possibly the newer scores, if it’s not discounted.

[Anonymous]

Any account that is older than your AAoA will help your AAoA.

OP, you said your file was thin.  How many total accounts do you have (open + closed) on your CR?  I think when you disclose that number you may indeed find that you don't have a thin file.  You already mentioned 4-5 accounts (open) in your first post, so if you have any closed accounts as well your file isn't thin.

As far as potential AU account addition benefit, it would have to be a clean account (no negative items) and one where the cardholder always reports very low utilization.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Mad12345 wrote:

I'm fairly fresh out of bankruptcy (chapter 13 discharged end of June 2019), but I have a few credit cards and other accounts in good standing. My scores are not bad considering, but all of my accounts are very new and I have a thin file with low limits. My brother offered to let me be an authorized user on one his credit cards. All of his scores are over 800 his CC limits are over $10,000. My question is will being an authorized user help my AAoA and boost my scores. I'm using the AZEO method that I read about on this forum. Any advice will be appreciated.

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Assuming his utilization is low and the account is old, it will help your scores a bit.

But you don't need it. You're doing fine on your own.