Currently, the second negative reason for my score on two of my CRs is too short of credit history (it is the number one reason on TU). My wife has a citi cc since 94 that has a LC of $1,600. Currently, she owes approx. $100 and there are no derogs at all. My questions: 1. Do you think that this would help my score given the negative reason above? I know about the RNG theory, but logic would say that a 8 yr old cc would help out this rating (but I also know that FICO isn't always logical). 2. Does anyone know if citi pulls a hard to set up an AU? 3. How is it reported on your CR? Is it designated as an AU; thereby not really impacting my score? Thanks again...I have had lots of questions this week.
To answer your questions: 1. Yes, it should improve your score. 2. I'm not sure if anyone pulls a hard for an AU, but I know Citi didn't for me. 3. You are reported as an AU, but that doesn't seem to affect your FICO score any differently than if it was reported as "Individual". I recently had no revolving accounts on my reports, so my mom and fiance both added me as an AU to their accounts. Having my fiance's 3 year old 92% utilization Citibank card added gave me about 40 points, and my mom's no balance 9 year old First USA card gave me about 80 on top of that. That was with no negatives (the one negative was in dispute) and a 2.5 year old car loan with no lates. When a charge off was verified, I lost 57 points.
