Confusing the heck out of this poor CSR. I'm AU on my boyfriend's Fusion VISA and Fleet MasterCard. The Fusion card reports on all 3 of my credit reports as AU. But the MasterCard doesn't report me at all. I called to ask them to report it (high limit, low balance and would bring my socres up). First words out of her mouth were, "it doesn't report because you're an AU." HOPE: "bZZZZZZZ...wrong answer, Love. You're already reporting me as an AU on the Fusion VISA." CSR: "ohhh...let me put you on hold..." <whisper, whisper, whisper> CSR: "what's your Fusion account number?" HOPE: "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX" CSR: "ohhh...let me put you on hold..." ......to be continued!
...continued CSR: "Hello, Ma'am? I guess I'm confused. Is it that you Do or DON'T want the information to report?" HOPE: "I DO want it to report." CSR: "Ohh...hold, please." <whistle, type to folks on CreditNet, fidget, sort mail> CSR: "Hello Ma'am? What we can do is mail you a letter showing that you're an AU on this account and you can send it to whatever CRA you like." At this point I know I'm dealing with stoneage technology, so... I just say "okay, thanks."
Hope, I am not sure how accurate this info is it's comes from Credit Expert but none the less my husband is an AU on 3 of my accounts and NONE of the balances or limits are factored into his numbers at all. I thought this would help his ratios buit not one of them is used when calculating his scores, now mind you this is CE so I am not sure about true scores but this has been wondering if I should just take him off if it isn't help any.
I am an AU on my fiance's Sears account. it has about a 3k balance (0% financing deal). When I have applied for additional credit, creditors have totaled that 3k in with the rest of my debt. So in my case it is actually counting against me.
Hmmm... interesting. So what we've got so far is that the primary cardholder's credit limit and balance don't factor into an AU's credit score unless it's negatively. For instance, his high credit limit and low balance doesn't raise my score. But if he ever maxes out the cards my score sinks like a stone? His meticulous attention to ontime payments and staying well under the limit don't raise my score. But if he ever misses a payment I bite the bullet, too? I don't get a nudge up for being AU on 3 high credit primary accounts (AMEX Platinum, MBNA Platinum Citi Platinum). But the fact that they're new accounts lowers my score? WHERE'S THE JUSTICE!!!!
hmm, here's a possibility. Maybe they don't factor into the standard CRA score, but individual lenders have their own scoring that factors it in? I added some of my family members to my Blue card to help jump start their credit and it has worked. For example, 1 person I added as soon as she turned 18. Later when she applied for credit, her first card was a Sears card (from a preapproval). Most stores don't give accounts to people who do not have a major cc. So I know the AU on my Blue helped her. Another person opened a Providian account as her first account. At the same time, I added her to my Blue. about 6-8 months later, she got a pre-approval for citibank and was approved. Another person had bad credit way in the past (hasn't checked with the CRA's, so I don't know if the negatives are still showing). At the time I added her to my Blue, she had no credit accounts. About 1.25 years later, she received a pre-approval for a Sears card and received it. So I know for a fact that adding someone as an AU can help jumpstart a persons credit history. I don't know exactly how it is factored.
