Hello, I am new to the forum. I wish I would have found this website 8 months ago before I paid someone torepair my credit. Now that everything is cleaned up I am looking for ways to add positive credit history. I have applied for a secured card with Capital One and my sister said that she would add me to one of her credit cards as an authorized user. Does this still work? I was reading online about FICO 08 and now I am confused.
Welcome to Creditnet! Glad to have you as part of the community, even if you are 8 months late . You're taking the rights steps so far, and yes- adding yourself as an AU to you sister's card should help give your FICO scores a boost as long as her card has a low credit utilization ratio and some good age to it. Here's a blog post I wrote a few years ago about FICO '08 and authorized user accounts. It should help clear up the issue for you: Piggybacking: What's the Deal?
I agree with Josh, piggybacking is here to stay unless they change the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. I don't see how a credit scoring model can determine who is a legitimate authorized user by looking at a address. Children move out of the their parents houses and get married and change their last name. Without doing a back ground check I don't see how it could be done. Before your add your self to your sister's credit card I would make sure it has perfect payment history and she is able to maintain low balance (10% or less of the credit limit). Credit cards with long payment history will give you a bigger boost if you only have the new CapOne card on your credit. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Thanks Guys! That was very helpful. I will have to check with my sister about her account. Maybe she has couple more account I could be added to. How many is too many authorized user account? Could it boost me up to a 700 score? Right now I am at a 612.
You don't want your whole credit profile filled just authorized user accounts. The more authorized user accounts you add to your credit the less impact they will have for you. If you added three AU accounts with the same credit limit and payment history, the first one will give you the most points and each one after that will be a little bit less. So, adding 5 AU accounts sounds like a good idea but I would go for quality or quantity. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Add a few a first to give you scores a boost, and then wait a few months to see what happens. As soon as possible you should be getting some credit in your own name to start building positive payment history as well. You want to have a nice mix of accounts, not a credit profile full of only AU accounts. What score are you referencing at 612?
Nope, those are what we like to call "FAKO" scores. The only place to get your true FICO scores is from myFico.com.
