Hi, hope everyone had a good weekend. Recently, I disputed an account that I was named an authorized user on. On my credit file my score did not change with the deletion of the account (all other factors remained the same). In my experience, FICO does not take into play authorized user accounts. Has anyone else had a similar experience concerning this? What is the point of being an authorized user if it doesn't affect your score one way or the other? Dani
That's not true according to a FICO supervisor I talked with.... A couple of questions... Are you sure it was a FICO score as issued from the Equifax website? Or did you check directly with a lender? Any other scores available online are not FICO, so I can not speak to how they are calculated. The FICO sup said that because some cards like many retail ones report joint card holders as AU, they play the same in the scoring system. It's important to know when you checked your score also. If something is in dispute, FICO scores treat the info as deleted. If you disputed, checked your score, waited for deletion and checked again it would be the same #. It should be different if you checked the #, disputed, deleted and checked again. Understand? Hope this helps....
bkev, I checked my TransUnion score on August 10 - it was 796. I disputed the authorized user account (it was my Mom's not mine). The account was deleted and I received my score back on August 28 - it was 796. All other factors remained the same - no accounts had been updated since the August 10 credit report. I looked at the report very carefully and found me being an authorized user on the account did not affect my score one way or the other. Maybe I am an exception to this, but it seems rather strange. Dani
Marvin, Both times were directly through TransUnion via snail mail. I ordered my report - received it and disputed any inaccurate information. I then re-ordered another TransUnion report with the authorized user account deleted. My score was still the same. I was just wondering if my case was just a fluke or if authorized user accounts really aren't added to determine an individual's score. My reasoning is maybe authorized user accounts do not contribute to our credit scores, because technically, they are someone else's account that we have permission to use. On the other hand, if a good account does not contribute to our score a bad account should not either. I'm curious on how much weight they hold. Dani
If you got them directly from trans union, then they're not FICO scores. TU has their own proprietary scoring system. In the TU scores, maybe they don't count AU's, but I think they do count when it is a FICO score.
I understand each of the credit bureaus have their own scoring system. The only true FICO score is through Experian, which they refuse to give out. I was just curious if anyone else had this happen or does each bureau weigh items differently and why? Dani
