getting removed as an authorized user to bring up score??

[enerey]

Hi, everybody I have a friend who is trying to bring up his score enough to buy a house and were not sure what to do. He is an authorized user on about 5 of his mom's credit cards unfortunatly they are all now at about 90% ut. would it be better for him to try to get these off his reports, he only got them because he had no open accounts and now he has 2. strangely they are only reporting to experian. thanks for all your help.

[Anonymous]

Does he have any CC accounts?

Is his mom planning to pay those down soon?

5 CC accounts at 90% util each can't be helping much.

What is the age of the accounts?

[enerey]

He has a crown jewelers account from 09/08, a credit card from 02/09, and no his mom will not be paying them off anytime soon. They were all opened back in 04 so that is why we were not sure if we should try to remove them. His other accounts are pretty new. thanks. 

[Anonymous]

How Your FICO Score is Calculated

15% is length of credit history.

30% is amounts owed.

Would you like this thread moved to "Understanding Your FICO Score" board so you can get better responses?

[enerey]

sure. thank you.

[Cinnnamon]

You should tell him to apply for accounts in his own name, since they have change the laws of "piggybacking" aka being authorized user on an account. Creditors don't too much look as authorized users as if he was joint any longer. So the AU (auth user) has no score actually. Auth users are not responsible for the accounts as if he was a joint users. So that's a powerplay in the field. If he became a joint user he would have a credit score and be responsible for the account rather than not. So best advice to be added as a "Joint" user. Or for him to get accounts in his own name to increase his score.

[nothingman02]

We all know FAKOS are worthless but they might be of a little help here.

What is the experian FAKO score? What are the FAKO scores on the other bureau reports calculated by Experian? Is it better with the experian or the other two. CCT (by experian) does consider AU accounts for scoring purposes.

The UTL is hurting the scores but the Payment history and the Age on those a/cs are helping. It would help if the UTL could be brought down to atleast a  little < 70%. 

Again, FAKOS are worthless scores. But the study here is only on whether the impact of the AU a/c is positive or negative specifically on your friends credit reports assuming that they are otherwise identical.

[RobertEG]

With all other things remaining equal, it is hard to give a definitive answer.  %util counts twice as much in FICO scoring as does age of accounts, For example, 30% of 850 is 255 points while 15% of 850 is only 127.  With an average %util of 90% and with 4 of six revolving lines at 90%, you could easily be losing more ponts for high %util than the entire possible score for length of credit.

But there is another, and potentially greater, risk in remaining on the AU accounts.  That is in the area of payment history, which counts even more in credit scoring (35%).  What is the piior payment history on the AU accounts?  That might be hurting a lot.  And, with such high current util on those accounts, what is the risk that you may pick up additional lates in the future?  As an AU, you have no control over that.

While FICO reversed their initial decision to eliminate AU accounts from credit scoring, their current plan is to permit continued inclusion if they can determine that it is based on a relationship with the cardholder and not just one commmercial procured.  Mom as the cardholder should permit its continued use in credit scoring, should you decide to retain AU status.

And dont forget that application for a mortgage loan wont be evaluated solely upon a FICO score.  The lendor will do a manual review, and might even choose to discount them on their own as not being indicative of your personal demonstrtion of credit risk.

With all things considered, I personally would dump the AU status.

[enerey]

Thanks for all your replies, he is going to go ahead and try to get himself removed from these accounts.

[nothingman02]

Wait a minute! Without the AU a/cs, your friend's credit would be really weak. I recommend confirming their impact on your friends scores before getting them off.

If the payment history has any lates wahtsoever, there is no question about it that the AUs have to come off. But otherwise, I am confident those AU a/cs are helping with the payment history and the age more than the UTL is harming. If you can pull all 3 reports from a single source (so they have the same scoring methodology for all 3 bureaus), you could compare the FAKOS. CCT does consider AU a/cs for scoring purposes and you mentioned that the AU a/cs are only on EXP. Hence, if you pull your 3 repors from CCT and check those scores, you'd get an idea if the AU a/cs are helping the EXP. If the EXP FAKO is significantly higher than the other two, I'd recommend keeping them till your friends own a/cs reach their anniversary.

At that one year point, along with your friends own a/cs, these AU a/cs will help in securing some decent prime CCs after which the AUs can be taken off.  Also though, as mentioned, AU a/cs will usually not be considered in a manual review for any kind of loans or credit. You would want instant online approval apps for CCs.

But again, if there are any lates whatsoever, you could try and get those AU a/cs off right now as they would not be helping.