How much will this help my score?

[diggingout1]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Authorized User accounts? My father has offered to add me to a couple of his cards (1 w/$5000 limit, less than 10% balance, 1 w/$20,000 limit, less than 10% balance). Also, my best friend has offered to add me to her Kay's Jewelers account ($5,000 limit/0 balance). All 3 of these accounts have very long histories (10+ years). Anyone care to guess how many points this will raise my score? I'm in the low 500's right now. In addition, I will have my delinquent Cap1 card paid in full by February 15.

Thanks!

[Trish]

Gosh, that's really hard to tell. It's such a complicated formula and it really depends on what other things are on your CRs.
It will definitely make a difference though...
I know that when I added a couple of new positive accts (and still had many negatives), my score jumped up a good 40 points. So I would expect a long standing acct to bring it up more than that.

[troybliss]

i thought the fico people stopped that thing. i thought they changed how they do the scores so that you couldnt piggyback anymore.

[diggingout1]

I think they just want us to think that.

[Trish]

Originally Posted by troybliss

i thought the fico people stopped that thing. i thought they changed how they do the scores so that you couldnt piggyback anymore.

They were going to but then changed their mind.
AUs do get factored into your FICO.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/...d-users-a1.asp

[Suffering from a Tax Lien]

Hello Trish,

Thanks for the information on that. Can anyone else confirm?

I have some credit problems, and have an offer from a family member with FANTASTIC credit to put me on some cards with very high limits and excellent history.

Will this help? None, a little, or a significant boost? I haven't taken them up on the offer only because a mortgage broker told me it wouldn't make a difference, but now I'm thinking it might. What's the current info on that?

Thanks

[diggingout1]

I've been reading some articles that indicate it could boost your score as much as 30 - 45 points per account, provided that the balance on the card is low and the history is long.

Good luck! My dad was supposed to add me to his cards last week, so I am anxiously awaiting the results!

[Trish]

Yes, I'm curious too..
Let us know how much it improves your score.